Order of Namina Forna Books

Namina Forna is an author who debuted in 2021 with the release of The Gilded Ones, the first in a series. Forna is originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa. She moved to the United States at age nine and has traveled between her two homes ever since.

Her debut novel, The Gilded Ones, was an instant bestseller and drew her work comparisons as a YA fantasy equivalent of the great Toni Morrison. That is a high compliment and well deserved. Her book is haunting and brutal while also being completely relevant to the world we now live in. The book is a dark feminist fantasy tale where the girls are outcasts by blood and warriors by choice.

Publication Order of Deathless Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

If You Like Namina Forna Books, You’ll Love…

• Tomi Adeyemi
• Leigh Bardugo
• Alexandra Bracken

The Gilded Ones is the first book in the series of the same name and the debut novel from Forna. The book follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Deka. She lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will decide everything. Her village tests the blood to determine if she can be a member of their village, if it’s red she can stay. She has an unnatural intuition that sets her apart from the others, but she yearns for her blood to test red. However, on the day of the ceremony her blood runs gold which means banishment and a consequence worse than death. A mysterious woman comes to town and offers her a way out: she can leave and join an army of girls just like her, fighting for the emperor. The girls are called alaki–near-immortals and they have rare gifts. Daka makes the decision to leave the only life that she has ever known and join up with them. She’ll soon learn that nobody is quite what they seem.