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The Gilded Ones (Deathless, #1)

Namina Forna

Start date: April 3, 2023

Finish date: April 30, 2023

Discussion: Book of the Month

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Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Oct 15, 2021 Emma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: re-read

ALL THE STARS!! Absolutely gobsmackingly good! This book was full of surprises- and girl power! I spent the vast majority of the book on the edge of my seat or scratching my head trying to work out what the hell was going on. The book is filled with a cast of thousands with a special mention for Ixa. I can’t wait for the next book!

36 likes · Like · see review

Dec 07, 2020 Aly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, 2020, romance, 2022, netgalley, ya

This was amazing! I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. It has so many great elements; a strong POC lead, a feminist, down with the patriarchy storyline, and women supporting women. I highly recommend this!

Deka is just a girl on a farm, waiting for the purity ceremony so she can officially be recognized as a woman. Her life is upended when it's discovered that she's an alaki, a demon with gold blood and the ability to heal from death. She's sent away to train with other girls like her ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Mar 11, 2021 Priya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2021

This has to be one of the best stories I have ever read; the characters, the world, the bonds, the conflict and all the concepts that make up the narrative are so wonderfully stitched together.
It is set in a world where patriarchy and misogyny rule, where girls are judged as pure and impure and have to follow rules laid down by men for their own convenience. For Deka, it is even worse because she is considered an alaki, an anomaly, one who must be destroyed.
The journey to survive once she is 'ou ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2021 Dr. Andy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: changed-my-life, mental-illness-ptsd, queer-rep-wlw-unspecified, read-2021, audio-narrators-i-love, black-rep, bipoc-author, queer-side-character, bookclub-read, rainbow-shelf

What an epic debut!!

The Gilded Ones is about girls blessed with the gifts of immortal, called alaki. Deka has lived in fear of her blood ceremony where she'll either bleed red and be deemed pure, or bleed gold and deemed impure and sentenced to death. When that day comes, she bleeds gold and her death watch begins. But when a mysterious woman comes to find her and asks if she'd like to live, Deka begrudgingly agrees to come and become one of the emperor's immortal soldiers.

This world was AMAZIN ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2021 Meg rated it it was ok

This book was interesting. It is a very feminist book, but had a lot of bullying and violence.

Things I liked:
- Interesting plot. I haven't read anything like this before.
- Big feminist plot.

Things I didn't like:
- I didn't connect with the characters too much.
- At times, it was too much gore for me.
- I did not enjoy reading about the bullying and the violence. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review