BOOK REVIEW: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

5⭐️

#gifted Thank you so much to @penguinbooksya for sending me a copy of this amazing book!❤️

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, so I was so anxious about reading it due to my expectations being so high, but wow! I cannot believe this is Namina’s debut. Firstly, this cover is so beautiful. While reading it I’d sometimes close the book just to stare at the cover before reading again (am I weird?🤨)

“Are we girls or are we demons? Are we going to die or are we going to survive?”

The storyline follows Deka where she prepares for the Ritual of Purity - a blood ceremony for girls of the Kingdom of Otera after their 15th year which determines whether they are pure or not. If they bleed red, they are accepted into their village. Deka wants nothing more than to feel a sense of belonging in Irfut, her village, as she has always felt somewhat like an outsider as she looks more like her late mother, who was a Southerner, and not a Northerner like her father and the rest of the Irfut community.

But then Deka's blood runs gold, and she loses everything she ever wanted and is seen as a demon by her family, friends and community. She has to choose between death, or fighting alongside other girls just like her to save Otera from monsters which have been attacking the villages. Soon Deka is on her way to Hemaira, the capital, to begin her training as an Alaki. What she finds there is beyond anything she could ever imagine.

“Who better to fight a monster than another monster?”

I love that Namina used her writing to bring awareness to gender and racial discrimination and to motivate her readers to be the positive change in the world and to believe that they can be the heroes in their own stories.

I absolutely fell in love with the world, the characters and the story.

Deka is such a great and easy-to-love character and her growth throughout the book was amazing! She proved herself to be someone you can truly depend on and she loves those nearest to her deeply and would do anything for them. After everything she had been through, she stayed strong and started believing in herself. She also became extremely brave, determined, loyal, strong and has such a fighting spirit. No matter what gets thrown at her, she keeps her head up.

"No matter what you do - no matter how badly you hurt her, grind her beneath your feet - she'll heal."

I absolutely love Britta too and the sisterhood she and Deka shares, as well as the other alaki. They have such a strong bond. Not to mention Ixa. I need Ixa in my life 🥺

I didn’t see any of the plot twists coming at all and thus I was at the edge of my seat throughout, always rooting for Deka and the rest of the alaki. I cannot wait for the rest of this series!