Namina Forna
Autor(a) de The Gilded Ones
Séries
Obras por Namina Forna
Pozlacené (Pozlacené, #1) 1 exemplar
Associated Works
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1987-01-09
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- Sierra Leone
- Local de nascimento
- Sierra Leone
- Locais de residência
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Sierra Leone - Educação
- University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts
- Ocupações
- writer, film and tv
producer, film and tv
novelist - Agente
- Alice Sutherland-Hawes (literary)
CAA (film, TV)
Membros
Críticas
Listas
Prémios
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 5
- Also by
- 1
- Membros
- 2,010
- Popularidade
- #12,807
- Avaliação
- 3.9
- Críticas
- 50
- ISBN
- 36
- Línguas
- 6
The Gilded Ones is a strongly feminist YA fantasy. The author grew up in Sierra Leone. This is her debut novel, the first in a trilogy, although it can be read as a stand-alone book.
In the world Forna has created, girls are purity tested at age 15 with a blood-letting ceremony. If they bleed red they are deemed pure and granted a life of submission and servitude to their husbands. If they bleed gold, however, they are either sold, enslaved or killed outright, although sometimes this takes multiple attempts as the gold-blooded ones have magical self-healing properties. The torture is fairly brutal and may not be an easy read for some, but probably paves the way as an explanation for later events. Forna has said she has loosely based this on her experiences growing up in Sierra Leone during her civil war. After she is found to be “impure” Deka is finally offered an escape from her torture by the arrival of a mysterious woman who takes her to the capital city to train her as a warrior. Instead of killing the gold-blooded ones (the alakai) the Emperor has decided to use them instead to kill the deathshrieks, deadly monsters who raid the cities and slaughter people. Here Deka becomes part of a training group of ethnically diverse girls who share the same gold blood. She befriends the loyal, warm-hearted Britta, feisty twins Adwapa and Asha, and the fierce and proud Belcalis. Deka gradually makes discoveries about herself, her heritage and the special powers she possesses.
“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?”
The story was gripping, especially the first two thirds. I found the ending rather rushed and neat. I’m not a great fan of a twist that needs lots of explanation to make it plausible. The romance was probably an unnecessary addition as it distinctly took second place to the strong female friendships. Overall this was an inspiring feminist read that dealt with racism, xenophobia and misogyny along the way. I liked the way it took Deka time to come to terms with who she was, and cast off the traditional stereotypes and roles she had been raised to believe in.… (mais)