Tag: fiction

The Eternal Ones: The finale of The Gilded Ones Trilogy by Namina Forna

January 29th, 2026

I have finished reading #TheGildedOnesTrilogy as January comes to an end, and I am pleased with having such a great start to the year in books.

The last book in the series is The Eternal Ones, and it set out to answer the question: Deka holds the power to defeat the gods, but can she become one?

Something stuck with me on Deka’s evolution, she started out as a young girl just turned sixteen wanting to be declared pure by the gods at Oyomo so she could continue in the expected order of women to get married, have children and serve their husbands- and then she bleeds gold and is declared a demon, only to learn that she is a by-product of the gods and she has to fight deathshrieks- and as the war intensifies she learns that everything she knew about the benevolence of the gods were lies, and that there were many more gods.

Yet, for someone who was cast out, looked down upon and killed eleven times- she could choose vengeance instead of granting the people choice…it’s interesting that she had the power to destroy and compel people to worship her and grow stronger as a result, but instead she gave them the chance to choose and honoured their choice.

It’s been a splendid journey and I am so team Deka! This trilogy stays in my personal library as an absolute favourite. There is a character that I believe made this epic even better and that’s White Hands, don’t call her Fatu- because if anything is true about her as a warrior and strategist is that she doesn’t get angry, she gets even.

I cannot end this flowery review without sharing a phrase or moment that I would remember from this book, and that is the conversation between Sayuri and Deka where she says:

And do you know, madness is illuminating. Because when you no longer think like others, you are forced to think like yourself. To see things in ways you might not have seen before. To see the truth. And that brings understanding, painful though it may be.

Have a great day and I can’t wait to delve into the next read.
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna: Insights on reading

January 9th, 2026

Outcasts by blood. Warriors by Choice.

I saw these two phrases on the front cover of the book and I couldn’t resist getting the whole trilogy. So, I walked out of TextBookCenter with three books and a smile on my face because I couldn’t wait to read about female warriors. Let me tell you, I just finished reading The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna.

The story starts out with a coming-of-age ceremony, The Purity Ritual, where girls who turn sixteen are presented before Oyomo, and the priests make a cut above their chests and if the color of their blood is pure red, they are pure and if it’s anything else then they are cast out. Deka, the heroine of this story, is nervous- we meet her in this chapter and she’s anxious because she lost her Mother and her Father is ailing, so she prays and prays that she is pure until her turn comes and she bleeds gold!

Suddenly she’s a demon- they kill her not once or twice but nine times and she comes back to life and that proves everyone but her right- she’s vile, a demon spawn and as she is trying to make sense of it all, she is rescued by White Hands, a lady who promises her absolution is she agrees to train as a warrior for the Emperor to fight Deathshrieks…and as her journey unravels so does her understanding of who she truly is and why she wields so much power.

“Don’t you dare. They might need us now because we’re valuable, might pretend to accept us, to reward us- but never forget what they did to us first. If they did it once, Deka, they’ll surely do it again, no matter the flowery promises they give.”

And let me tell you, Deka fights!

I love how the author wove the history of The Gilded Ones into the book, of what oppression did to the women in the book- and all through we get Deka asking questions and not settling for answer simply because they are given, she probes and probes and doesn’t let go- and perhaps that’s what makes her an interesting heroine.

I loved this first book and can’t wait to start reading the second one- The Merciless Ones- because I want to know what comes next for Deka and the Gilded Ones.

Have a great weekend.
Here’s why I hope you read We Were Girls Once by Aiwanose Odafen

August 15th, 2025

It’s been a while since I read a book that was all about girlfriends- and when I bought this book, all I wanted was to know about the bond between Ego, Zina and Eriife.

What would make three strong women look back and say, ‘we were girls once?’
This curiosity was not just quenched, it was nourished and enriched by a front row seat into their upbringing- their dreams, hopes and friendship and even the moments that should have broken them and from Nigeria to the UK, USA and back home- across a decade, they were still those little girls deep down asking the world and the society for better- to see them as valuable people, to believe them, to do better for them.

We have no say in the circumstances of our birth, the very things that determine the people we become: our parents, our families, our country.

Told in three parts, you get to see the world through the eyes of each of the characters and this was what I loved most because where Ego storms through the world, Zina borders on reckless ambition while Eriife carries the burden of the world on her shoulder-living for everyone but herself.

Beauty was a double-sided curse. It announced your presence, generated an unwanted buzz and desire within others that you had no control over; it created assumptions about your person, it meant you were hated for a face you didn’t create, even by your own mother.

This is the kind of book you read with your girlfriends, in that book club and talk about it as you snack on something tasty-and better yet have each person come dressed representing a personality of the characters.

You can buy a copy: On Amazon or if you are in Kenya you can place an order with TextBook Center– got it for Kshs 1390.
Radiance

January 21st, 2024

I was just passing by, minding my own business, scrolling

Liking, sharing to my story, laughing out loud but never commenting.

No, there is something about reels, that doesn’t require your opinion but captures your attention

And I for one get lost in those cat videos,

But that was until this…until I found myself looking for radiance,

I stumbled upon this and suddenly my opinion wasn’t mine alone,

It had to be shared, posted, bared, revealed, told, typed…whatever

http://www.pexels.com
Home

July 10th, 2023

I woke up to the thought of you,

And it hit me that home can be a person.

Georgios Tsatas took this @www.pexels.com
Words

July 2nd, 2023

And so the wise one said, “words get forgotten, if you don’t use them, they eventually die.”

So, if you love them- tell them.

If you are tired, say it.

If you are scared, say it.

Tiffany Freeman took this: http://www.pexels.com
Feeling

June 9th, 2023

I saw this,

And it reminded me of a feeling,

Nothing grand, just calm…
Like the Wind

May 22nd, 2023

You come to me like the wind,

soft, harsh, cool, tender, chilled.

You come to me unhinged,

reckless, sensual, cheerful, unbothered.

You come to me in a bind,

tormented, sick, weary, blind.

You come to me,

It’s always you who comes…and you never ask why, how, when or where.

You find me in my dreams, across the street, unbound.

You find me in the shadows, across the hills, bound.

You come to me like the wind,

How is it then that I haven’t learned that I can’t keep what’s free?

Image courtesy of Pexels.com: Kubra Dogu
Seasons

April 14th, 2023

I subscribe to different versions of myself,

To the girl who laughs, reads a book, drinks coffee, listens to music, dances in shorts.

I subscribe to all of them,

To the moments when I feel less than I wish to,

When I set my phone on airplane mode and shut out the world and curl up in my duvet and sleep,

To the nights when I watch endless episodes of Korean Drama,

To the nights when I listen to Bach and write…or Mozart and weep.

I subscribe to different versions of myself,

Because, like the seasons that grace the heavens and the earth, these too shall pass and these too are beautiful.

Lizzy Honey: http://www.pexels.com
A short story

April 9th, 2023

My mother named her daughters after the virtuous women in the Bible; Abigail, Rachel and Maria (also known as Mary) and her sons, well since we hail from one book and one womb, she named them David, Elijah, Michael and Emmanuel…our house was the home of great and holy people until the day Elijah was arrested for stealing Otis’bicycle.

DIALO Photography on pexels.com