Have you ever come across a book that has been deeply loved by the community, but you were too scared of picking it up? The Gilded Ones was definitely such a book for me. This is why I was so happy that we picked it for the March #BookTalkWithWifey readalong, because now I had no excuses to dive into this world, and be left speechless.

The Gilded Ones is a high fantasy series filled with strong women, diversity, mythology, and an unjust world that will make you angry. The question of the patriarchy and what it can do to women, and what it does to woman is one we constantly encounter between the lines of this book. Questions such as the one of purity are being explicitly thrown into this book, questions of equality, of rights, of the do's and dont's are a constant reminder of what we need to ask ourselves, too, outside of this world.

All of the above are being answered and shown through the main protagonist Deka who after her blood reveals to be gold not red is proven impure. Her only choice is to suffer the Death Mandate or leave and join a group of warriors who are like her. What follows are weeks and months of training, battle, and more questions while the alaki warriors are being prepared to kill and erase the empire's biggest threat.

To say I loved this book would be an understatement. The hype and love The Gilded Ones is receiving across several book communities is one this story deserves. The message this book conveys is strong, and cuts deeper than a blade. There were moments where I had to pause, calming myself to not let anger take over me. And then there were moments filled with so much hope and love that I found myself smiling and laughing. The strongest aspect were the females who found themselves all in one place after they were doomed impure and had to live through traumatic experiences. Their determination to live, their hope for a better future, but also their friendship carried the story throughout the book. I have enjoyed their bonding, the trust they put into each other, their understanding and acceptance they held for the other, and have never felt a story carry out the message of women supporting women as much as this one. As one reads their stories, finds out their pasts, sees their strength and weaknesses, the wish to become as strong as they are grows bigger and bigger.

When I first grasped the extent of the unjust worldbuilding, I couldn't imagine how I would be able to finish the book. Women needing to prove being pure, seeing as lesser, confined to their homes, veiled, called out names, abused, raped, killed. And still, there was hope in it. First some sprinkels between chapters, then glowing on each page, shining through each line. It became hard to put down the book, the destiny of this women became personal, I wanted to know what would happen next, what they will need to endure, how they will surive it.

The reason why I am not rating this story with five stars is the pacing. Very often, time jumps happen throughout the stories that maybe didn't necessarily take away anything from the plot, but could have served to flesh out the relationships and the characters' development more. To name an example, we see barely the beginning of the training session that is supposed to last weeks before it says that the time has passed. While I usually enjoy fast paced stories more, there were moments where I wished for the pace to slow down, to give us more time to pause and give more room to deepen the development. Especially in the beginning it threw me off. This also goes for the romantic aspect of the story. As much as I didn't anticipate and expect a romance happening, I was excited to see it, and was glad it was a minor storyline. Still, I felt it would have needed more time to explore the relationship as it quickly developed, and I wasn't able to immediately feel for the couple.

This, however, doesn't change the fact that is story has captivated me. I'm very excited to see where Deka's journey will continue in the sequels, and what world will await us there after the ending of this book.