Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.

The start of a bold and immersive fantasy series for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther.

Listening Length

12 hours and 46 minutes
Author

Namina Forna
Narrator

Shayna Small
Audible release date

February 9, 2021
Language

English
Publisher

Listening Library
ASIN

B082FRT7YX
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	12 hours and 46 minutes
Author	Namina Forna
Narrator	Shayna Small
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	February 09, 2021
Publisher	Listening Library
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B082FRT7YX
Best Sellers Rank	#8,299 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #36 in Dark Fantasy for Teens #43 in Epic Fantasy for Teens #213 in Literature & Fiction for Teens

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

3,318 global ratings

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BookLoverUpAllNight

Young girl to golden warrior

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 4, 2022

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Young adult fantasy dystoypian society where young girls coming of age go through the Rites of Purity to show they bleed red and are pure. Those who bleed gold are cast aside as demons as they are unhuman near immortals. Girls and women don't have the same rights as their male counterparts as they are taught to be wives and mothers and out of sight always with a male chaperone. Deka whose mother was a Southerner dark skinned from the south married her father who is a Northerner with blond hair and blue eyes lives in a Northern village and has always been an outsider. All the men she believed in has let her down, her father and her male friend Ionas. All girls who have gold running through their blood are picked up and sent to a camp and trained as warriors to fight creatures threatening mankind. If they refuse to fight as a warrior they are killed once they figure out what method of death will kill that particular girl as death isn't final they are killed in the moment but their body rejuvenates until they bleed blue which is the final death. All of the girls are assigned a male protector and assigned to Deka is Keita. A lot of great surprises through to the end. What is presented as the world dynamic is not as it seems. Looking forward to book #2, the Merciless ones and learn more about Deka, Keita, Katya, Britta and the rest of the group.

2 people found this helpful

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Ro Jo

A good read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 16, 2023

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First, the cover on this book is GORGEOUS. Bought it for my daughter and she read it over the winter break in 2 days..she loved it now I think I will read it

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Amber Harris

loved

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 18, 2023

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A book I couldn’t put down. Unexpected twists and exciting scenes played through my head the entire book. I can’t wait to read the next one

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Original and creative world building and premise

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2022

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The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna is an original fantasy novel with rich world building and the classic hero's journey. Deka of Irfut is set to undergo her coming of age "ritual of purity" to tell if she bleeds pure (red blood) or if she has gold blood--the blood of women allegedly descended from demons.

Deka is quickly and unceremoniously ripped from her quiet life of religious conformity when she endures a traumatic and life altering event that sets her on a journey to become an alaki, or one of the Emperor's elite solider unit tasked with killing all deathshrieks (demon-like creatures who attack the empire of Otera.)

During her harsh and brutal training, Deka forms deep bonds with women who have also bled "impure." Not only does Deka become a deadly warrior, but she also discovers dark supernatural abilities within herself: the ability to use "the voice" (think Dune) to control deathshrieks. Not only that, she can sense when the creatures are near, as well as enter a trance-like combat state that gives her exceptional focus. Perhaps the most unsettling thing about being an alaki is being nearly immortal. Deka discovers, through brutal means, how many gruesome and disturbing ways she can "die" without dying (they are called near deaths for alaki, while all alaki can also have a true death.) Instead, alaki enter a healing "gilded sleep" that can last for weeks to repair their body. But Deka is unlike other alaki in that virtually every brutal attempt (dismembering, fire...) will not kill her.

For YA, The Gilded Ones is very dark and filled with violence (which doesn't bother me so long as it relates to the story and character development, which it very much did.) Namina Forna's world of Otera is fully realized with varying cultures, legends, belief systems, and creatures. While it does follow the classic hero's journey of other "chosen one" YA novels (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc.), the story itself is very original, creative, and sets itself apart by going to those dark places. What's more, The Gilded Ones very much weaves within its story the dynamics of racism and sexism within the context of the empire and its religious framework.

My only criticisms are that side characters (perhaps only with the exception of Britta) were many, which meant they were two dimensional at best. I sometimes got people confused because not much information had previously given about them save superficial details of hair/eye/skin color.

3 people found this helpful

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Moyo

A MUST READ BEYOND ALL OTHER MUST READS

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 6, 2022

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This book is a must read above any other must reads! As an avid lover of fantasy and mythological books, this one takes the cake. The writing is beyond superb! The way the author sucks you into the story I truly felt like I was side by side with the protagonist,Deka! I have never experienced a book that I cried, laughed, screamed, and gasped along with the characters.

This book tackles sexism, religious faiths and begs the question to always question everything. It made me feel empowered and I’m not even an Alaki 😂😂 For me it also empowered me in reminding me about the struggles women face and how black women are something so magical and powerful we are feared.

Needless to say this is a MUST READ! If you are considering buying it. Stop considering and JUST do. Trust me you would regret it.

I’m still trying to catch my breath. I Just finished the book after getting it 3 days ago so the overwhelming joy, sock and tears are still fresh.

Point is JUST BUY THE BOOK! You wouldn’t be able to put it down or when you do put it down you’ll dream and lock forward to when you can continue reading it again.

And yes I definitely bought the second installment of the book. Can not wait to continue the journey with The Gilded Ones.

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Myrna E. Traylor

A tale of female empowerment

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 21, 2022

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I was delighted by this rousing adventure. Although it is geared for young adult readers, I enjoyed the world-building and feminist story-telling. There was a simplicity to the story that almost felt as if I were reading a Grimm’s fairy tale, but one grounded in the experience of women of color. Trigger warning: there are scenes of incredible violence against young women, very consistent with common acts of our own patriarchy. This book may be problematic for survivors of physical or sexual violence.

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Top reviews from other countries

RebeccaBrenna

Beautiful fantasy with heartbreaking moments

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 10, 2021

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Thanks to NetGalley and Usborne Publishing for an ARC of this book. Honest review.

Namina Forna’s debut novel had a cover that caught my eye from first glance. The cover, however, is an understatement for the beautiful and painful writing within.

Deka is taken from her hometown after bleeding the gold blood of the ‘impure’. She is tortured, killed, and tortured some more in the name of religion and for the wealth her golden blood can provide. Her journey to a training ground for other alaki (presumed demons) leads her to discover her own power and strength, but also provides the challenge of accepting what she is despite being told how evil her species are all her life.

The Gilded Ones doesn’t shy away from violence and gore, with graphic imagery used artfully to fully explain the struggle both Deka and the other girls and recruits go through. Forna makes you feel angry and sympathetic for the treatment of the alaki (and later something else…). She also includes an interesting take on feminism within the story, showing how a patriarchal city was created and how control is needed in every part of life. This is woven through the text and highlighted by the suffering of the characters, and their need to prove themselves. In her fantasy style, this is not thrown in your face, but built up carefully through the characters’ experiences. You feel such a bond to the group that their fight becomes yours.

Much of the language of the book is haunting, and can still be related to real world struggles. The settings remind me of classic fantasy, but her new creatures and ideas elevate the story and make it her own. Deka is a great main character with excellent development in so many ways.

An excellent 5 star fantasy read.

8 people found this helpful

Rashmi

Bold and powerful and utterly gripping

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2021

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Did I read this book or did I dream it? The Gilded Ones is bold and powerful and utterly gripping. The world that Namina Forna has created is so deeply compelling and this story is an epic in every sense of the world. It's a book that just doesn't let you go. I'm still thinking about it. Still turning things over in my mind, piecing everything together, contemplating this world and its fascinating cast of characters. I'm going to be pushing this book into the hands of everyone I know. It has completely blown my mind.

6 people found this helpful

Yoni van't Zand

Action-packed debut with a memorable cast of characters in need of some final editing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 25, 2021

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** True rating 3,5/5 **

Ok, I had some hurdles to overcome going through this book. Those who are closest to me will know my first issue. I just don’t like books that have been written from a first-person perspective. I don’t know what it is but there is only so many times that I can read: “I did this…I say this…I felt this,’ before losing my mind. Granted this is a personal preference at best and doesn’t say anything about the quality of the book.

That quality is foremost shown in the world-building. Looking over Deka’s shoulder, who only knows the lies she has been fed for as long as she can remember, we discover more with every page we read. We learn about the hierarchy and social confines, the geography of Otera, the god (or should I say gods) that have walked the land and how everything neatly fits together. We learn about the patriarchal system that is meant to keep women down, especially those who are ‘unpure’, who are abominations in the eyes of the most high. Giving up a hint of a Handmaids tale vibe which I, for one, approve of.

However, the ‘unpurity’ of these women is one of the other things I do take issue with when it comes to this book. Apparently, those women who bleed gold, are demons, forsaken by the one true god. So far, no problem. I can see that, I can accept that.

The problem starts when the author wants us to believe these women, well girls really, only find out what colour their blood runs around sixteen years old. Sure we are offered a flimsy explanation that says they are not allowed to handle knives from the time they turn fifteen. Sure we are told the richest girls are hidden away in padded retreats, safe from sharp edges. Let’s be real though, that is not the only way a girl would ever see her own blood. Show of hands from girls who had their first period before sixteen, please? Show of hands from girls who are incredibly clumsy (like me) and have had countless cuts and scrapes from paper, their own fingernails, doorposts, their own glasses, the list goes on.

What happens to these girls who know they have gold coursing through their veins. Do you want us to accept each and every one of them will meekly let themselves be led to the slaughter? Yes, they have been oppressed, but to completely miscount self-preservation goes a bit far. Why aren’t girls purposely injuring themselves to find out what they have inside them? Making plans to escape this kingdom that hates them to their core. Why aren’t loving families sending their daughter away to safety? Surely not everyone hates their own progeny.

While we get some answers to these questions, they are few and far between. Not to mention that the answers we do get, feel lacklustre.

When we get past this, however, we are left with an interesting plot and a set of characters we quickly grow to love. I have nothing but praise for some of the Alaki. Britta my darling, Belcalis my poor damaged soul, White hands you cunning devil. The praise this book has been lauded with truly is due to your presence.

The friendship between the Alaki is perhaps the most redeeming thing about this novel. The kinship between Deka and Brita. The protectiveness Deka feels over Belcalis, who certainly doesn’t make it easy for people to get close to her. The raw grief when Katya is ripped from this world without a goodbye. The unbreakable bonds, women helping women. That’s what makes this story.

It is so good, it even makes me overlook the young adult romance. Which, trust me is an impressive feat.

Not to say that Keita and Deka are a bad paring. They are innocent and cutesy sure, they are ‘unlikely’ lovers, those who aren’t meant to be. But, and this is a big one: they hit every young adult trope that you can think of:

-       Downtrodden commoner who only recently discovered they possess immense power: Check

-       Person born into nobility who shirks his responsibilities by joining the army: Check

-       Bonus points for having a tragic backstory where one or more family members died a gruesome death; Check and Check

-       A meeting under dire circumstances causing tension between them: Check

-       Slowly falling in love as they share their vulnerabilities: Check

In my humble opinion, it would have been better if these two had remained friends. No need to add a few stolen glances and rushed kisses. It doesn’t add to the story, so why add it at all.

Finally, I have to talk about the plot twist. Who doesn’t like a fat, juicy one? One that seemingly came out of nowhere. ‘Seemingly’ being the keyword. A plot twist only feels satisfying if the author has sprinkled breadcrumbs throughout their story. Skillfully masking these hints that have been hidden in plain sight. Leaving you feeling duped and dumbfounded when all is finally revealed. You could have seen it all along, you should have seen it all along, but you didn’t.

The plot twist in The Gilded Ones, isn’t that. The plot gets twisted alright, but there is little building up to that moment. One of our main characters isn’t who she pretended to be, fine. Making her all but omnipotent, less so. Turning sworn enemies into blood sisters at the drop of a hat, no thank you. Introducing a new, equally matched ‘race’ to suit the story, ehh I’ll pass. It just doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t fit the larger narrative.

Now don’t get me wrong, overall this certainly isn’t a bad book. I would go as far as to say this is quite an exemplar debut novel. It is just that it could be much more, a lot better. If some of the plot holes were correctly addressed, if some of the side characters were given more interesting adventures, if we could just get more build-up to the grand reveal, it would be amazing. A dash more struggle during the ultimate clash wouldn’t hurt either. As it stands, it’s just ok.

Who knows though, perhaps Forna will blow us all out of the water with the follow up to this action-packed debut.

3 people found this helpful

David Jebb

West-African inspired epic that lives up to the hype!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 25, 2021

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What an amazing surprise this book was.
It feels like every YA book these days is hyped up the max, and recently I've been disappointed by so many titles.
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna lived up to the hype and took me out of a recent reading slump.
I loved the worldbuilding, the main character Deka, and the mythology she has created that adds depth and sense of history.
Deka has lived her life under the shadow of being darker-skinned than the other girls of her village and has banked on the Rite Of Purity to cement her place as a pure, red-blooded, human woman ready to marry.
But the Rite reveals she is instead a golden-blooded demon, or alaki, and she is rejected by her village, friends, and even her father.
What follows is an amazing coming-of-age tale that mirrors many of the horrors and trials of women and girls in our own world.
I found myself rooting for Deka as all of her reactions are rooted in reality: she is not a tough-as-nails heroine who takes it all on the chin. She is horrified by her situation and her pain is real. We the readers grow alongside her, see her overcoming her challenges and becoming a hero, rather than some insta-hero.
So if I loved it so much, why four stars?
I felt the supporting characters to be a little two-dimensional. Often they have no motivation of their own, and are not as fleshed-out as Deka. Some I got mixed up, and one or two I forgot about until their name popped up again.
However, I would strongly recommend this book, and I honestly can't wait until the next book, The Merciless Ones, is released in 2022.

3 people found this helpful

I. Jones

A great fantasy novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 22, 2021

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I would say I’m not a great fan of fantasy novels, but then I remember how many fantasy novels I’ve read since the Narnia books and Lord of the Rings in a long-ago childhood. However, The Gilded Ones is certainly not a children’s book and I wouldn’t classify it as “young adult” fiction either. It has plenty of relevance of someone of my advanced age.
Reading fantasy novels does involve some suspension of disbelief (and pedantry). There’s a convention that an imaginary world in an imaginary universe should have time periods that are identical to planet Earth’s. There’s also a convention that characters who don’t have the technology for clocks will be able to count off seconds and minutes. Get past that and Namina Forna takes you into a cleverly imagined world which has enough detail to make it real but not too much. That in itself is a reflection of the writer’s art. Too many fantasy writers feel a need to pad out the narrative with long lists of long-dead rulers and other distractions. This author gets straight to the point.
Having said that, you don’t get all the detail up front. As the narrative develops, new and often surprising details are released into your consciousness – and into the consciousness of the narrator, Deka – and things become more mysterious before they become clearer. I won’t say anymore about the plot. Suffice to say it is well-crafted and leads to a satisfying denouement.
One thing I can’t help doing when I read a fantasy novel is trying to discern how much it relates to or derives from contemporary reality. Here we have a deeply patriarchal society fuelled by a religion that teaches female subjugation. The religion is clearly an amalgam of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with a priesthood, purity rituals and a holy text. Girls are forbidden education and women must wear a mask and be chaperoned when they go out. You later discover that there was a more female-oriented religion but that has been suppressed. That is the crux of the novel so I’ll say no more.
The author is planning a sequel early in 2022 and I will definitely be getting it.

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