warriorbarrd reviewed The Gilded Ones #2 by Namina Forna
Review of 'The Gilded Ones #2' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
The men were right I guess?
Considering how much I LOVED the Gilded Ones, I’m in shock. The themes of the first book are gone. The powerful female narrative was destroyed. The retcon of characters to make them trans/non-binary was shoehorned in, the relationships between the characters all felt contrived and rushed, and worst of all - the abusive, insane men of the first book were “right.” The goddesses are evil after all. They do actually eat children and apparently them thinking lowly of men makes them evil - despite what the men in Otega did to women for centuries, we’re supposed to be like “oh poor baby boys :( ignored :(“
I’m honestly destroyed. The Gilded Ones was IT for me. The Merciless One was a pathetic, tone deaf mess, the opposite of what the central themes were in the first one and putting yet more misogyny apology into …
The men were right I guess?
Considering how much I LOVED the Gilded Ones, I’m in shock. The themes of the first book are gone. The powerful female narrative was destroyed. The retcon of characters to make them trans/non-binary was shoehorned in, the relationships between the characters all felt contrived and rushed, and worst of all - the abusive, insane men of the first book were “right.” The goddesses are evil after all. They do actually eat children and apparently them thinking lowly of men makes them evil - despite what the men in Otega did to women for centuries, we’re supposed to be like “oh poor baby boys :( ignored :(“
I’m honestly destroyed. The Gilded Ones was IT for me. The Merciless One was a pathetic, tone deaf mess, the opposite of what the central themes were in the first one and putting yet more misogyny apology into the world.
I doubt I’ll read the third. The book I loved was twisted from an empowering, awe-inspiring look at systemic misogyny and female liberation to … this.
