Date of Completion: 29/03/2021
As someone who is utterly shameless about her love for books with pretty covers, I must first mention that this book looks beautiful! The melanin POPPING on the cover plus the gold accents and the green edges have me completely mesmerised.
To make things even better, this book proves to be far more than a pretty cover as it delivers great content. Namina Forna’s writing is both engaging and effortless. The world-building is skilfully incorporated into the fast-paced storyline with no noticeable information overloads. This is especially praise-worthy as Namina introduces a number of original and interesting concepts.
The same gift they praise you for now, they will kill you for later
Besides the writing, I also love that Namina explores feminist themes such as oppression and the patriarchy. Not only are readers presented with the empowerment of young girls and women in a misogynistic society, but there are also clear examples of women empowering one another. This is something I wish more books would do shamelessly as it is awesome to read.
It was especially great to follow the transformation of the main character Deka from a docile, naïve girl to this strong, confident character. These changes are very realistic as they occur gradually and in response to the different things Deka experiences. Time and time again, we see how past incidents influence how she interacts with others and how she perceives herself. This is also shown (to a lesser extent) with the other characters, but sadly, their stories are not as fleshed out as Deka’s.
Even the romance in this book is nice as there is no instant love or love triangles. Additionally, at no point does the romance take over the storyline with unnecessary anguishes and mis-communications. Instead, what we have is a tentative friendship that slowly develops into a cute relationship.
All these days, I have been praying, submitting, in the hopes of belonging somewhere, and here I have it – the answer, the one I have been seeking
Now, despite my glowing opinions of this book, it did take me a while to get into as it starts off a little slow. Thankfully, things pick up pretty quickly and I soon found myself unable to put this book down. There’s action, mystery and conspiracy afoot – what else could a girl ask for?
In short, do not be deceived by the blurb of this book which presents it as a typical Young Adult (YA) fantasy novel. ‘The Gilded Ones’ is much more than that! Namina cleverly combines YA fantasy with various themes such as misogyny, racism, abuse and trauma. Although it did take me a little while to get into, I am really glad I fell for the pretty cover and decided to pick this book up.
Do you agree or disagree with anything mentioned above? Let us know in the comments below.
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