The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna is a feminist-fantasy dream! I am so taken with the plot and it’s amazingly vivid world! I cannot wait to see where this one goes next. Fans of Children of Blood and Bone will dig this amazing world of strong females fighting against foes near and far. The twists and turns are somewhat expected, but are done so well that I’ll let it pass. Pick this one up fast!

Deka is a 16 year old, who must pass the Ritual of Purity, in order to become a member of her village. The ritual ceremony will determine whether her blood is pure or not. If it runs red, she will become full fledged woman, but if it runs gold, she would deemed be impure and will have a choice either to be executed or join the emperor’s army.

The Gilded Ones was one of my anticipated reads of this year and it didn’t fail to impress me. I loved totally Dekka, she was so fierce and admirable. The author was also successful to make the side characters interesting. I also totally loved the female friendships in this book and the way the author developed them.

The world building in this book was incredible and was at it’s finest. The author described everything in a great detail, which made it easy to understand and enjoyable. The book also explores themes like colourism, racism, patriachial society.

I usually find YA books predictable, but this one was full of twists and turns. I liked the magic system, it was well developed and original. The romance was the major drawback in this book, I wasn’t invested in it, it could have been executed in a better way.

Overall I totally enjoyed reading it and I would definitely read the sequel. If you like books with fierce female characters, then I totally recommend this book

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher! Thanks! All opinions my own.

Book: The Gilded Ones

Author: Namina Forna

Book Series: Deathless Book 1

Diversity: Black main character and ownvoice

Rating: 4/5

Recommended For...: ownvoice, ya readers, fantasy lovers, feminism reads

Publication Date: February 9, 2021

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 432

Recommended Age: 16+ (Sexual harassment, Racism, Death, Gore, Violence, Sin Atonement and religion, Ptsd, Rape mentioned, Weight gain and not eating discussed, Menstruation, and Slavery illusions)

Synopsis: 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.

Review: For the most part I thought this book was really good. I really enjoyed the fast-paced storytelling, they always felt like something was happening and that really kept my interest piqued throughout the book. I thought the characters were very well developed and the world building was masterfully done. I also loved how well detailed and developed our main character was and the interactions that she had with other characters in the book felt very genuine. The plot of this book is also super intriguing and when she start to book you won't want to put it down.

However the worst some things in the book that I didn't like. The fast paced nature of the book did well to keep the story going, but also it made it really hard to understand what was fully going on all the time. It felt like I was running a marathon reading this book and I feel like there should have been places in the book that were slow down to explain some of the more intricate details at this book. I also felt like the book relied too much on the trope of the chosen one and how the chosen one is not who they seem to be. I really like that trope and it worked really well for this book, but I felt like the book leaned into it a little bit too much and it took away some of the uniqueness of this read.

Verdict: It's a great read and I love the strong feministic vibes!

This book shouts GIRL POWER in full force!

The Gilded Ones is a story of a 16 year old girl Deka, who lives in a misogynist and patriarchal society. For all girls coming to age, they undergo a purity ceremony where their blood is tested to determine if they will become a member of their village. On the day of the ceremony, Deka’s blood runs gold and is deemed “impure”. She is forced to death but is rescued and taken to a training facility to become part of an all female army known as “alaki” who all blood runs gold as well to fight for the empire against their enemies! However, as she becomes more in-tuned into her magical abilities and strengths, Deka realizes there are secrets the empire is covering up and would do anything to keep them hidden!

What stood out to me the most was the themes of acceptance, female empowerment, sisterhood, friendship, and disruption of traditional gender roles!

Some of my favorite quotes were:
-”No matter my origins, there is worth in what I am.”

-”Like the goddesses who created me, I am completely divine--a creature neither deathshriek or human, with the ability to mimic both. I can be whatever I want to be.”

-”The way I see it, we all have a choice right now. Are we girls, or as we demons? Are we going to die, or are we going to survive?”

I highly recommend and can't wait for the second book in the series!

The Gilded Ones follows Deka, a young girl living in a deeply patriarchal society where once all girls turn sixteen, a priest cuts them to determine whether they are pure or not. It is simple – if the girl bleeds red, she is deemed pure, but if she bleeds gold, she is deemed impure. If the impure girls get lucky, they are killed on spot, if they aren’t, they will be sold, tortured, enslaved, and killed over and over again. Because girls with golden blood are demons, they will heal, and are almost impossible to kill.

On the day of the ceremony, Deka’s blood runs golden and as a consequence she is trapped in a cellar and killed nine times by the village’s elders. Every time she is harmed, her body heals itself. One day a mysterious woman frees her from the cellars and takes her to the capital to train with people like her, the Alaki, girls with cursed blood, healing properties, incredible strength and speed.

“The way I see it, we all have a choice right now. Are we girls, or are we demons? Are we going to die, or are we going to survive?”

According to the emperor’s wishes, Deka trains with the other Alaki to form an army of deadly warriors that will rid the country of its enemies: Deathshrieks, pale monsters that attack villages all over the empire, steal their girls and kill every man in sight.

And Deka shall lead the demon girls into battle because she is an anomaly even among her fellow soldiers. Her powers are depthless and she soon becomes the emperor’s hero.

“All this time, I’ve been afraid of my ability, when instead I should have been regarding it as a treasured weapon.”

I enjoyed every aspect of this book very much! It had a very diverse cast with many characters of color. Many, if not all of them were very well developed and made me invested in learning more about their growth, which is very hard when it comes to books with a large cast. Namina did a great job in making all the characters distinguishable and unique in their own ways!

The world-building was also well done. The author described everything in a great manner which made the whole thing easy to understand and enjoyable. Even though the plot was very unique, I had some issues with the pacing of the book, especially during the beginning, but as the book picked up pace, everything was perfect!

Also, did I mention that there is a sapphic romance in this? I loved how it did not overshadow the main plot and still kept fighting for equality and friendship as its main focus.

Overall, The Gilded Ones was a wonderful book which not only kept forward a wonderful story, but also dealt with many issues like racism, xenophobia, misogyny and inequality which are still very relevant.

“No matter my origins, there is worth in what I am.”

Representation: Queer Black MC, POC li, Black, Asian, and Brown MCs and SCs

Trigger Warnings: Beheading, dismemberment, blood, graphic violence, mentions/allusions to sexual assault, religion-based persecution, misogyny

YA Fantasy fans!!!! This one is for you! I want to scream with joy during and after this book! Girl power, feminism, Black girl magic is in full force in every scene but it does not come easy and that's what makes this book worth it! Deka is a 16 year old who's cast out of her community after being found impure during her ritual ceremony. She ensures heartbreaking trauma, physical and emotional abuse from her community but is rescued and trained to fight against enemies that are now attacking the very community that casted her out. Deka's faces many adversities while fighting to over power a patriarchal system and help her ancestors get back their power, female goddess ancestors might I add. Sexism, misogyny, racism, bigotry, manipulation are just a few of the things Deka and her friends are forced to mentally and physically confront and they find that becoming true warriors and allies means unlearning everything she one thought was true about her life. One major theme that stood out for me is the concept of family, specifically that family does not need to be the group of people you're born into but the people you choose, the people who remain loyal to you when they have every reason not to, the people who won't judge you by your flaws but by your heart. Of course we get a tiny slice of YA romance but I'm happy it did not overshadow the central theme of female empowerment. The writing is brilliant and the plot is well executed and holds you, it's fast paced so you might not feel like you're getting enough from each character but I clearly understood their role and purpose. The content can be triggering as it contains graphic descriptions of violence, torture, rape but never the less, great book and I'm waiting on this novel to hit the big screens as it deserves.

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Gilded Ones is a fantastic debut fantasy novel. It’s got some tough subject matter, but it’s exciting and intriguing with a lush world and lovable characters.

For you if: You like YA fantasy, especially African fantasy.

FULL REVIEW:

“We all have a choice right now. Are we girls or are we demons? Are we going to die or are we going to survive?”

Thank you Delacorte Press for the advanced copy of this book on NetGalley. I loved it! The Gilded Ones is exciting and fun to read while also dealing with dark and heavy central themes — in a way that feels true without overpowering everything else the book does. It’s also got a great central mystery that I thought was set up well. I really liked it!

The story is about a 16-year-old girl named Deka. When the ceremony to reveal whether her blood is “pure” or not goes wrong, she’s faced with a choice: Remain the subject of persecution and unspeakable violence (those with golden blood can be killed over and over again without permanently dying, and their blood can be sold for a lot of money), or join the emperor’s new army of “demons” and earn a future of absolution. But as she trains for an upcoming battle, it becomes clear that she’s different, even among others with impure blood. As she learns more about herself, she learns that what she’s always believed is only a shadow of the truth.

I found the narrative style in this book to be slightly different from what I’m “used to” — a little more … straightforward? it’s kind of hard to name — but definitely not in a bad way. I think it’s a combination of the YA genre and a West African storytelling style. I settled in quickly and loved the story all the more for it. But it did help me guess smaller plot points before they were revealed. Given that, I was all the more impressed by the book’s final reveal, when all the smaller puzzle pieces were finally put together in a way I hadn’t imagined. The ending was big and exciting and satisfying!

This one’s not without its trigger warnings: confinement, plenty of blood and death, and others. But as usual with well-written YA, I was so impressed that it managed to tackle these topics without feeling like a heavy book overall.

All in all, a fantastic debut. I’ll be over here, eagerly awaiting the second book!



TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Violence/blood; Torture/confinement; Rape/forced prostitution; Death/grief; Child abuse

I think this had a great premise and I honestly could see it as a tv series or show, but for some reason it wasn’t working for me. Maybe it was the first person narrative. It started off a bit slow, and while I usually like books set in a school/warrior training setting, I just can’t bring myself to pick this one up.

The Gilded Ones was dark, often quite brutal, but it was hopeful, too. Deka finds out that she carries the blood that will make her worse than an outcast in her village. Her neighbors, friends, and even family turn their backs on her, and she figures she's destined to suffer until the end of her days, at the hands of some pretty severe and vile torture. But when she's given the opportunity to leave her town and her oppressors, she may be able to find her agency.

Deka meets a lot of other like-blooded women along the way, which I loved. They form their own sort of family, and I thought it was such a fabulous message that Deka could find a new family here, a chosen family who will treat her with the love and respect she deserves. In turn, she is fiercely loyal to them. She even encounters some men who don't agree with the way the women are being treated, which was refreshing. I really don't want to give too much away, because I really enjoyed where the story went, so I am keeping this purposely short. Deka learns so much about herself, especially about her own strength, as the story goes on.

I found the magic and world systems pretty easy to understand once I got into the story. The author did a great job of making the whole world come together in a way that was believable, and exciting. Deka is a phenomenal character, and I adored the friends she made along the way. And while Deka didn't always know who she could trust, neither did the reader, which makes for an intense reading experience.

Bottom Line: Loved Deka, super intrigued about the world as a whole, eagerly awaiting Book 2!

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book as much as I would have hoped. The story didn't draw me in, and I felt like there was a severe lack of character development. It was a struggle for me to get through, which is a shame as I was so excited for it.

I think I might be the only person who wasn’t wowed by The Gilded Ones. I had high expectations and was really looking forward to this one, but found it a bit of a letdown. The writing is often clunky and overly simple, relying on exposition for worldbuilding rather than developing it within the story more naturally; it’s an epic fantasy, and has the epic scope to draw the reader fully in, but I never felt like I got past a really surface-level feeling for the space, the cultures, the whole world.

Despite its shimmeringly beautiful cover, The Gilded Ones is brutal, emotionally and physically (LOTS of violence and gruesomeness; seriously, check trigger warnings before you read this one), and honestly for me that’s a positive in this book - the things Deka has to deal with are truly horrific, and her PTSD is well-portrayed. Also a strong point, as many other reviewers have noted, is the focus on friendships between the girls, the sense of sisterhood between them.

And I suspect that some of the things that were negatives for me might be mitigated in the sequel (less reliance on infodump to create a world we’ve already been introduced to), while the positives should continue, so that’s promising for anyone who found this first volume a little weak but a story worth continuing on with.

In the end, though, it just wasn’t for me, despite being one of my most eagerly anticipated YA releases this year.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advance review copy.

Content warning ahead of time before you pick up this debut. There is instances of violence, torture and death.

Deka is hoping that the blood ceremony goes off without a hitch for her. However, when she bleeds gold instead of red, she is inexplicably tossed into an army of people just like her with gold blood. She’ll soon embark on a journey to the capital with surprises that she didn’t expect.

I had certain expectations for this book and it all kind of went in different directions. The world building, first of all, was well done and made me envious considering it is a debut. World building for a novel, let alone a series, is hard to do and takes a lot, but I think Namina did a fantastic job. There wasn’t a time where I felt confused about the plot or what this or that was in connection to the world she created.

I was a bit uncomfortable with the scenes that depicted torture and violence. I’ve read a few books in the YA genre where the violence can toe the line of new adult, but this was a first where I cringed and tried not to get a visual in my head. That was probably the only part in the book that had me wishing it didn’t happen or that it had been toned down. That’s just my way of thinking, so I can’t say that it will be the same for other readers. But, I do want to caution those before they turn the page. Others have thicker skin than I do.

I loved Deka and the girls she worked with. Yeah, there was some romance in there, but I wasn’t focused on that aspect of the story. This book was, as the author describes, more about feminism and patriarchy. I expected it to be “girl centered” based off of the cover. You know, a female character that the reader can connect with and root for because of her strength and mental build. What’s inside the book overpowered my expectations with the power the author created, so I’m very pleased with that. That and the world building is what solidifies this book for me, so I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel.

The firs half of this book held such promise. It had a great cast of characters, an interesting world, and a high stakes plot. It's after the 60% mark where it starts going downhill. I was reading it, and having a hard time figuring out what the end plot (climax) was going to be, and once it happened I understood why. There was no connection between the halves. The first half was going one way, and then it totally flipped to go another way. It felt like I was reading the second book, and in a 432 page book, it felt way too rushed. There were a lot of things that were rushed. The character development of Deka, our main character was the biggest one. It felt like in one chapter she went from being a scared little flower, to cutting her hand, showing her gold blood, and declaring herself a demon for the world to see. There was also no sense of time. I have no idea how long they trained for. It felt like a couple of weeks before they were charging at the front of the army to fight the creatures. I think this is because everything came easy to Deka. She was perfect at everything so fast, that we didn't get to experience her challenges, so it felt like it flew by, or was a really short amount of time.

I honestly don't know if I'm going to pick up the sequel. The new plot doesn't really interest me much because it feels like it's becoming super cliche. I'm also really sick of fantasy worlds that treat women like crap. It's fantasy, you can make your world literally any way you want, why does it have to be misogynistic?

"Today, you’ll show them you belong.”

The need to belong, this is the core of the YA fantasy "The Gilded Ones." Deka, the protagonist wants to be recognised as a part of her village, as one of them villagers; she wants to belong, desperately and completely. A ritual takes place in the village that promises her her human desire and she clings to that hope. If her blood turns out red she is pure and will belong, if it's not red, she is impure and will be banished or sent away to a brothel. She despises even the thought of coming out as impure but who can control their fate after all.
Her blood runs gold, glimmering through her skin, the shiny cursed gold that changes her life forever.
The narrative opens up with Deka's desperate need to belong, for her blood to run pure to validate her identity as a human, this is because of her appearance. Imagine being born and raised somewhere and still being treated as a stranger, this is what happens with Deka. The constant need to belong and the voicing out of that need throughout the first few pages of the book can easily drive any reader mad but it has serious underlinings of the presence and the danger from the Other, which resonates Deka's entire being. This Otherness has serious consequences for Deka since it snatches away her identity. She is shunned by the society, humiliated time and again and looked down upon. This Otherness is all but conceptualised on the appearance of Deka.
Her journey starts after she chooses her desire and she meets an entire army of women's and girls like herself, impure and outcasted by the society. She forms a strong bonding with the girl warriors and this marks the growth of Deka as an individual, her discovery of the self. This self-discovery is an ongoing process, a slow and steady one where she finally starts coming out of the shell of patriarchy, and recognises her worth for who she is with the girls around her having bore witness to a great deal of such things themselves.

'The Gilded Ones' is a strong feminist narrative which sucks the reader into its world of the fantastical in that it has the girls' standing together, voicing out their hurtful past and bonding over the same, pulling themselves and the others up to be great warriors with their supernatural powers fighting against the deathshrieks and the patriarchy. The characters bore into the reader, leaving a lasting impact on their minds. It gets brutal and chilling with the gruesome and vivid descriptions of violence, death, war, body dismemberment and what not. It does shy away from exploring the difficult topics of coping with life threatening situations, the impact of restricted movements within the society and the constant disregard of one's identity and the consequent self-hatred.

The characters experienced wholesome development, especially Deka who comes full circle from wishing to die to willing to live. The heavy misogyny that Deka herself divulged in really challenged me to even attempt to reading it further and I'm happy I did because it only got better putting across important notions of sel-worth, self-love, and hope. The romance was short but great for it brought hope of a positive change rather a ray of sunshine in Deka's dark (past) life. There were a few places where a little explanation or detail would have helped, like why what happened happened and a few obstacles would have been great along with the characters not buying into stuff too easily like they did.
I'll look out for the brewing romance in the sequel. I do have high expectations from the author after reading this book. All in all, it's a must read for fantasy lovers.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna is a wonderful West African folklore/fantasy novel that balances multiple real-world themes and fantastical magical elements with a razor sharp precision. Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, inequality, trauma, and more are all mixed in this empowering story that offers diversity through a cast of complex characters, including an incredible lead.

And similar to Bethany Morrow’s superb A Song Below Water series, this book interlaces and intertwines all of its contrivances, integrating them with the story’s central themes in a natural way.

Now, the pace of The Gilded Ones is vivacious with Namina wasting very little time getting to the “journey” aspect of the story. She treats the passage of time freely and without real meaning with weeks and months flying by, again, shoutout to the trim. And there are no Back to the Future first act exposition dumps either, as you literally learn the remaining vital bits of information on the last few pages. No, Namina takes a methodical approach with the facts, with the reader learning in real time with Deka as she uncovers the truth of her past, present, and future. This leads to a satisfying ending that does leave you with a sense of both finality and hope. For that reason, The Gilded Ones works just as well as a standalone as it does the first chapter in a longer series, which it is.

Like fellow contemporaries Jordan Ifueko and Dr. Nnedi Okorafor, Namina writes what she knows, in this case, West-African folklore and magical realism. She creates a tapestry around this expertise that is both mesmerizing and entirely addictive, weaving in a somewhat unique magic system, a strong sense of found family, disparaging dogmatic and barbaric theism, and taking patriarchy to task with a vigor not often seen.

In a word, this book is POWER.

For my full review, please click the link below.

I've been so excited to read this, and it did not disappoint. A beautiful story of grief and grit, betrayal and belonging, trauma and triumph. Truly outstanding!

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THE GILDED ONES is a wonderful example of how YA can thoughtfully tackle heavy, even dark topics. Prevalent themes included: gender-based violence; racism; sexism; misogyny; and ostracization.

Not to say it was all (or even mostly) dark! There were beautiful themes of friendship, solidarity, developing one's own identity and sense of self, justice, and belonging. And let me just say, this book is feminist af! The examination of oppressive patriarchal structures was *chefs kiss*.

But what stood out for me was the way that the book handled trauma. Deka, our 16 year old protagonist, is already an outcast in the North because of her dark skin. Early in the book, she experiences a series of traumatizing events that leave her emotionally scarred. Rather than glossing over it, the book explicitly addresses how her PTSD manifests. Critically, Deka learns not to suppress the trauma but move through it to begin healing.

I found that to be a beautiful message, that is often lacking in fantasy books. The Gilded Ones delivers this message with care.

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Thank you Hear Our Voices Tours and Penguin Random House for the gifted e-ARC!

Deka is a 16-year-old girl who lives in fear and repression from the Infinite Wisdoms, which scrolls condemn women and girls into a life of piety and purity. However, on the day of the Ritual of Purity, she is found to be impure and sentenced to death. When a mysterious woman with white gauntlets saves her, takes her away from her village, and immerses Deka into the world of training for the ultimate battle against true monsters.
The Gilded Ones first-person novel is written from the perspective of our heroine, Deka. We learn about the world of Otera and the patriarchal rules that rely on the submission of women. We also learn of The Gilded Ones, demons or goddesses, that created vicious creatures ravaging Otero called deathshriekers. This is a marvelous debut novel that builds the world around Deka, her past, her inner-strength, and the friendships that forge through suffering. There are war and torture scenes that are viciously gruesome and violent, which can be triggering. My only gripe is with some of the relationships such as love interest where the connection Deka has with Keita feels very summarized (telling the reader vs. showing us). There were a lot of military-type scenes and I wish we could have seen more of the friendships between Deka and the other recruits through the training. But the cover is gorgeous and the message of rising from the ashes of suffering was inspirational. Looking forward to the rest of this series and how the world Namina Forna created will unfold.

I received an advanced copy of The Gilded Ones through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!

The thing Deka has spent her entire 16-year-long life fearing has come to pass. When she completed her blood ceremony, her blood ran gold instead of red, marking her as an outcast. She will never be an accepted member of her village and could face worse consequences for her impure golden blood than she can imagine. Just when all hope is lost, a mysterious woman finds her and offers her a chance at a different fate. Rather than staying to face the ramifications of being different, Deka could go with the woman and join a band of girls like herself. With special abilities and golden blood, the Alaki are the only chance the empire has at salvation, yet they are those who society has rejected. But, when Deka reaches the capital to train to become one of these fierce women, she realizes that the world is far less clear-cut than she would’ve ever believed.

You can get your copy of The Gilded Ones today from Delacorte Press!

This stunning copy of The Gilded Ones came in a Fairyloot box back in June, and is easily one of the prettiest books I’ve ever owned! Lucky for me, the story was every bit as lovely as the book’s exterior! I adored following Deka’s character arc and watching as she grew into her own strength. I was also especially fond of the system of magic that the author wove into every element of the story. Namina Forna has crafted an irresistible new series that I can’t wait to follow in the future!

My Recommendation-
If you love magical and intricate fantasy worlds, you won’t want to miss The Gilded Ones! This book would be perfect for fans of Children of Blood and Bone or The Red Queen!

Thank you immensely to Hear Our Voices Book Tours, Namina Forna, and Penguin Random House for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Namina Forna’s debut YA Fantasy couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. The amount of unique and beautiful literature coming out of the Black community is just a breath of fresh air after reading novels about mostly white main characters since the beginning of my reading career. It makes a huge difference in the quality of your reading when you’re reading about someone who looks like you and has the same features as you.

In this coming-of-age fantasy novel Deka has faces so many challenges mentally and physically. Forna’s writing makes Deka’s situation so believable and tangible. I could feel all of Deka’s emotions and the pain that she would sometimes go through. The skill that it takes to build a world for a novel should be celebrated every chance that we get. I completely understood the society and world that Deka lived in within the first third of the book and Forna compounds on that information and we get deeper into the story. There was absolutely no info dumping and all the information presented was relevant.

The character development for all of the main cast of characters was really well thought out. I loved the sisterhood that Forna portrayed within her novels and how the girls developed and changed with each other. Each of the girls was just as unique as the next and it was so pleasant getting to know all of them through author’s words.

I would definitely recommend this book for fans of The Rage of Dragons and Black Panther. If you are looking for a MC that will kick some a** while having great character development, this is definitely the right book for you. The pacing will make you never want to put this book down.

A compelling and almost poetic YA fantasy that emphasizes feminism and female empowerment. A deeply imaginative book that brings to light the misogyny within society and the transformation that comes with believing in oneself. A relevant and unique reading experience!

Dekka hopes to be claimed pure during her right of passage, but when the day comes she bleeds gold and the town calls her a demon, casting her out immediately. After days of torture, a mysterious woman shows up and brings Dekka to the capital to be trained as a warrior. As soon as she arrives, Dekka finally comes to the conclusion that she’s different than everyone else, able to do and see things others cannot.

There is so much mystery surrounding Dekka. I kept reading late into the night trying to figure out her many secrets. This book offers beautiful world building, a touch of romance, and positive female friendship. There are so many great messages in this book and I love the authors emphasis on female strength and unity. I fell in love with so many of these characters. The only negative was a couple flaws in the plot, but other than that, this was a thought-provoking and beautiful story.