The Gilded Ones, by Namina Forna

 

The Gilded Ones is a fierce tale of friendship and loyalty in a strikingly original world. In Otera, "impure" girls bleed gold, proving their demonic nature, and yet no girl knows if she is impure until the Rite of Purification, when, if she does turn out to be impure, she is summarily given the Death Mandate. What a powerful metaphor for the impossible double standard used to repress and control women in so many cultures!

When Deka finds out that she is impure, she is given the opportunity to escape a truly horrific fate, only to face a possibly even more horrific life training to defend the empire against monsters. There is a lot of quite brutal violence and abuse in this book, so much so that I became desensitized to it, which I don't think was Forna's intention. (Apparently she based a lot of the book on her childhood experiences in Sierra Leone during a civil war. Considering the reality of what women do face every day in many parts of the world makes this book extremely difficult to read.) 

The nature of these gold-blooded girls, or alaki, is very strange, and I wasn't sure I was convinced at first, but Forna develops her mythology solidly and keeps us invested in the characters. The training school scenes focus on the developing friendships between Deka and the other alaki trainees, and I loved these interactions and relationships. There are some great magical beasts, too. There are perhaps a few too many really significant revelations in the last part of the book—things are suddenly moving very fast and everything gets turned upside-down pretty quickly—but it all mostly ties together, and there are some great fist-pumping moments for all the characters we care about.

Great themes of what makes someone monstrous, and wonderful, empowering female friendships.