The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Namina Forna’s The Gilded Ones is an epic fantasy set in the kingdom of Otera, centered on Deka, a sixteen-year-old girl whose life is defined by a rigid, patriarchal society governed by the Infinite Wisdoms. Deka lives in the remote northern village of Irfut, where she prepares for the Ritual of Purity, a ceremony that determines whether a girl is “pure” and fits into society by bleeding red, or is an “impure” demon who bleeds gold. Deka has spent her life as an outsider due to her appearance; while her father is a Northerner with grey eyes, she inherited her mother’s dark Southern skin, making her a target of suspicion and malice from villagers like the spiteful Agda. Her anxiety is compounded by the memory of her mother, who died of the red pox three months prior and whom Deka resembles in ways she feels must remain secret.

On the day of the Ritual, the village is festive but tense, as rumors of deathshrieks gaunt, silver-pelted monsters with lethal screams attacking the borders have reached even the remote north. During the ceremony at the Temple of Oyomo, deathshrieks launch a sudden and horrific massacre in the village square. As Deka watches her father and the jatu (the emperor’s elite guards) be overwhelmed, a primal power surges within her. She lets out a layered, inhuman command that causes the monsters to freeze and retreat, revealing a terrifying truth. In the aftermath, Ionas, a boy Deka admired, stabs her on her father’s command, and her blood runs a shimmering, metallic gold.

Deka wakes up in a dark cellar, shackled and broken, where she learns she is alaki, an “abomination” that cannot die by conventional means. For several months, she is subjected to the Death Mandate, a religious decree requiring the execution of impure girls. She is executed by the village elders and her own father nine times through beheading, burning, and dismemberment, as they harvest her golden blood to sell for profit. Her father, consumed by disgust and shame, eventually disowns her entirely, wishing she had stayed dead. In her darkest moment, a mysterious woman known as White Hands an emissary of Emperor Gezo arrives to rescue her. White Hands offers Deka a choice: remain to be bled by the elders or join the emperor’s new army of alaki to fight the deathshriek migration. Desperate for absolution and the chance to be human again, Deka accepts the offer on the condition that her father be told she is dead.

Deka begins a long journey to the capital city, Hemaira, accompanied by another neophyte named Britta, who becomes her first true friend. They travel in a wagon pulled by equus, horse lords named Braima and Masaima, who are surprisingly gentle vegetarians. Britta explains that alaki are considered descendants of the Gilded Ones, four ancient demons who once preyed upon humanity. During the sea voyage, Deka falls into a month-long gilded sleep, an alaki healing state that repairs all her wounds and erases her old scars. Upon arriving in Hemaira, she is overwhelmed by the city’s grandeur, characterized by lush hills, arching bridges, and the massive waterfall known as Emeka’s Tears.

At Jor Hall, the administrative center for the jatu, Deka undergoes a formal intake process where her hands are permanently gilded with a specialized gold to mark her as the emperor’s property. She is partnered with a recruit named Keita, a young noble and the Lord of Gar Fatu, who initially views her with cold suspicion. The alaki and their uruni (partners) are taken to the Warthu Bera, an elite training ground where they are transformed into warriors. Deka is joined by other bloodsisters, including the fierce Belcalis and the Nibari twins, Adwapa and Asha. Training is brutal and intensive, involving daily runs that allow Deka to discover her combat state, a condition of heightened senses and superhuman speed.

Deka’s curiosity about her mother leads her to the Heraldry of Shadows, where she confirms that her mother was once a high-ranking Shadow (assassin) who retired under mysterious circumstances. This revelation connects Deka deeper to the Warthu Bera, as she realizes her mother wore the umbra (shadow symbol) on her favorite necklace. Tragedy strikes when Katya, a red-haired bloodsister, is killed by a deathshriek leaper during an ambush at the school. Deka’s grief triggers an explosive use of her voice, and she discovers she can command even wild deathshrieks. Keita witnesses this and, rather than betraying her, promises to protect her and help her master this power in secret.

As Deka trains privately with White Hands, she learns to enter a deep combat state where she can manipulate energy to command deathshrieks without succumbing to exhaustion. During a raid on a deathshriek nest, Deka discovers a small, blue, shapeshifting creature she names Ixa, whom she adopts as a pet and protector. Her success on raids leads her group, the Death Strikers, to be invited to the palace by the emperor, who rewards them by placing them at the front of the upcoming campaign. However, Deka begins to notice unsettling changes: her eyes turn completely black when she uses her power, and her skin occasionally takes on a leathery, deathshriek-like texture.

The campaign in the N’Oyo Mountains brings devastating revelations. Deka discovers that deathshrieks are not mindless beasts but intelligent beings with their own language and religion centered on the Gilded Ones, whom they view as goddesses rather than demons. During a massive battle, Britta is mortally wounded by a spear. In a desperate act, Deka uses her power to command Britta to live, effectively pulling her back from the edge of a final death. This act of divine-level power is witnessed by the army, leading Emperor Gezo to brand Deka a traitor and order her execution.

In the chaos, Katya returns as a deathshriek and reveals the horrific truth: alaki and deathshrieks are the same kind. When an alaki dies her final death, she is reborn as a deathshriek; the emperor has been using the alaki to commit genocide against their own sisters to prevent them from freeing their mothers. Keita, in a final act of love and loyalty, volunteers to execute Deka. He beheads and dismembers her using a solution that mimics the “blue” of a final death, successfully faking her demise so she can resurrect and escape.

Keita takes Deka’s regenerating parts to a secret salt mine, where they are found by White Hands and an army of elder alaki and deathshrieks. White Hands reveals her true identity as Fatu the Relentless, the Firstborn alaki and the true mother of the house of Gezo. She explains that Deka is the Nuru, a divine deliverer created by the goddesses to free them from their thousands-of-years-long imprisonment. White Hands admits she has manipulated Deka’s entire life even facilitating her birth through her mother to prepare her for this moment.

Deka, now fully aware of her divinity, dons celestial armour and rides Ixa into the final battle at the mountain temple. She confronts Emperor Gezo, who reveals himself as a “true jatu” a male descendant of the Gilded Ones with superhuman strength and speed who has suppressed women to maintain power. Deka defeats him, realizing she can command even the true jatu with her voice. Using a golden dagger and her own blood, she performs the awakening ritual, freeing the four goddesses: Anok, Beda, Hui Li, and Etzli. The goddesses return to their true forms, vowing to rebuild Otera into a land of harmony and equality. Deka and her friends Keita, Britta, Belcalis, and the others establish themselves as the guardians of this new world, prepared to reclaim every inch of the kingdom from the remaining forces of oppression.