418 pages
Published 2021
Read from May 5 to May 12
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
I had high hopes for this book. I mean, its cover art is absolutely impeccable! It began promisingly, establishing a central premise that remains all too relevant as regressive misogyny continues to strip half of our society of their fundamental human rights and autonomy. Women, in this book's secondary world as much as in our own, are considered inferior and subservient beings, needing the control of men backed up by a religious hierarchy that just happens to align with the interest of a misogynist ruling class. Certain women are cursed with "demonic" golden blood that reveals itself in their teens; this heritage gives them superhuman strength and, to an extent, allows them to shrug off death. Therefore all teen girls are tested for this "impurity," and those with golden blood are killed repeatedly until their "final" death is found. Certain girls get recruited to fight on behalf of the emperor, using their superior strength and knack for survival to fight off an encroaching horde of monstrous beings called "deathshrieks," their differences shunned unless they prove themselves useful to the power structure.
Sadly, this sort of metaphor is just as applicable today as it would have been in the 1970s or '80s.
The Gilded Ones begins to drag in its middle third, succumbing to YA stylistic tics that don't gel with my tastes. Every character interaction is punctuated with smirks, scoffs, snarls, shrugs. The action scenes are perfunctory, lacking any real tension or cohesion -- which would be fine, except they keep happening, especially once our main character Deka begins going on campaign against the deathshrieks. The final revelation of Deka's true nature and purpose was visible a long way off, which made this stretch feel particularly repetitive. Like, we all know where this is going, just get us there!
It's a shame that the flowering of diversity and fresh perspectives that has graced YA fantasy hasn't yet fully extended to adult fantasy. Most of what I didn't like about this book might have been fixed had it been pitched toward a different, older audience.
The setting has promise, and I'm interested to see where the series can go from here, since (slight spoilers) this book seems to end with Deka's main purpose in life already resolved.
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