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anyaemilie 's review for:
The Gilded Ones
by Namina Forna
Thank you to Delacorte (via NetGalley) for the ARC!
First off, I would like Book 2 immediately, please and thank you!
I enjoyed this one so much. I often have trouble with fantasy books that are set in entirely new worlds because they can become overly complicated and involve a lot of world building. Honestly, I have put fantasy books down before because they have been too confusing and intricate with the background before they even got to the plot. Not so with this book. It is simple and easy to grasp the culture of Deka's world and the kinds of things she has to deal with in her day-to-day life. So when that world is turned upside down and Deka finds herself being carted away from the only world she's ever known, you're already hooked.
The problems in Deka's world will not be unfamiliar to anyone: women are thought to be inferior to men, and are taught this their whole lives. Their main goal in life is to marry well and produce children. They serve the Infinite Wisdom, which tells them that women are meant to do this and that they should not desire more. They cannot hold jobs or be educated or have opinions of their own. Deka has accepted this as her lot in life and hopes to make it through a ritual blood ceremony to prove that her blood is pure, allowing her to move on to the next step in a girl's life: finding a husband.
When Deka's blood runs gold, however, the color of a demon's blood, her village turns on her and her entire life changes in a moment. Deka is tied up in a cellar and bled repeatedly, because her blood, while impure, is worth money. While imprisoned, she is approached by a women who gives her the choice to remain in her village and suffer, or to come and fight for the emperor with other girls who bleed gold like she does--other alaki.
Deka leaves and discovers more about herself than she ever thought she would, uncovering more power than she ever believed she had, and emerging from under the hold of the Infinite Wisdom, slowly realizing that her gender is not what was holding her back; it was the men who were afraid of girls like her who held her down.
This book is has been called a combination of The Handmaid's Tale and the Dora Milaje from The Black Panther, which is a great hook, but Deka's story is so much more than that. It's about her realizing how much she was being held down by her society just for being born female, as well as how much power she individually had hidden inside her. It's a punch in the face to patriarchy, and such a fun, adventurous read in a thoroughly original fantasy world. I gasped out loud in places, I cheered, and I really cannot wait for other people to read this book.
First off, I would like Book 2 immediately, please and thank you!
I enjoyed this one so much. I often have trouble with fantasy books that are set in entirely new worlds because they can become overly complicated and involve a lot of world building. Honestly, I have put fantasy books down before because they have been too confusing and intricate with the background before they even got to the plot. Not so with this book. It is simple and easy to grasp the culture of Deka's world and the kinds of things she has to deal with in her day-to-day life. So when that world is turned upside down and Deka finds herself being carted away from the only world she's ever known, you're already hooked.
The problems in Deka's world will not be unfamiliar to anyone: women are thought to be inferior to men, and are taught this their whole lives. Their main goal in life is to marry well and produce children. They serve the Infinite Wisdom, which tells them that women are meant to do this and that they should not desire more. They cannot hold jobs or be educated or have opinions of their own. Deka has accepted this as her lot in life and hopes to make it through a ritual blood ceremony to prove that her blood is pure, allowing her to move on to the next step in a girl's life: finding a husband.
When Deka's blood runs gold, however, the color of a demon's blood, her village turns on her and her entire life changes in a moment. Deka is tied up in a cellar and bled repeatedly, because her blood, while impure, is worth money. While imprisoned, she is approached by a women who gives her the choice to remain in her village and suffer, or to come and fight for the emperor with other girls who bleed gold like she does--other alaki.
Deka leaves and discovers more about herself than she ever thought she would, uncovering more power than she ever believed she had, and emerging from under the hold of the Infinite Wisdom, slowly realizing that her gender is not what was holding her back; it was the men who were afraid of girls like her who held her down.
This book is has been called a combination of The Handmaid's Tale and the Dora Milaje from The Black Panther, which is a great hook, but Deka's story is so much more than that. It's about her realizing how much she was being held down by her society just for being born female, as well as how much power she individually had hidden inside her. It's a punch in the face to patriarchy, and such a fun, adventurous read in a thoroughly original fantasy world. I gasped out loud in places, I cheered, and I really cannot wait for other people to read this book.