Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

303 reviews

lpothan's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Grief, Pedophilia, War, Abandonment, Confinement, Genocide, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, and Misogyny

bammys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

nicjmorrow's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A complicated world where there are so many people to hate. This book was amazing! Interesting world building, a powerful main character ego believes and grows into her own strength and who learns to lean on others and even finds love, platonic and romantic. The world building is AMAZING and complex but not overwhelming. Honestly amazing, diving right into book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, War, and Grief

yomireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Deka is a compelling and emotionally rich protagonist, and following her evolution from meek, religiously traumatized girl, to powerful warrior inacting change is very rewarding. There are a few instances where time lapses by and the character growth isn't shown on the page, so sometimes the shift in personality feels a little unearned, but never to the point of unreality. I do wish the internal conflict and empowerment of escaping toxic self-hatred and purity-culture (literally in this case) was better represented. Nonetheless, Deka's growth makes for a gripping story. 

The plot itself initially presents itself as a generic: "kill the evil monsters and become heros" archetype, but takes the questions a critical reader might take issue with, and makes it the key component to this compelling narrative. It does present as a little frustrating to have these questions that feel almost like plot-holes (don't worry, they're not) and have the protagonist lagging behind the reader as what feels like blatantly obvious suppression of truth. Truly, the reveal by the end shouldn't have taken so long to uncover.

There are a few things I could nit pick about, but I'm holding out hope that much of my feeling of unresolved or unconfronted problems in the narrative will be addressed in the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

graceful_nate's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

literally amazing. i am gobsmacked. ashamed i put off reading this boom for so long 😅 just ordered the 2nd one and cant wait to see where the story goes. So beautifully and heartbreakingly relatable in both implicit and explicit ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Torture, Gore, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing

yaelaed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, War, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Confinement

bookaddictlt's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

caroliiineb's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Rape and Vomit

soline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is sooooo good, everyone should read it. I didn't expect so much from this book, because I didn't hear a lot about it, I didn't even know the plot. But let me tell you, my jaw was on the floor for EVERY plot twists and revelations. The tension that Namina Forna attempt to create is so good.
It has the perfect Hunger Games/Divergente vibes. Little advice: put on some badass movies' music, the difference was AMAZING.

I cannot wait to read the end of this series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Blood, Murder, and Death

Minor: Child abuse

yourfavebookhoarder's review against another edition

Too gorey

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment