Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs. But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity--and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death. Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki--near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat. Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be--not even Deka herself.

- Goodreads -

We start out meeting Deka and her father, in their lives leading up to the blood ceremony that will determine if Deka's will become a member of her village. This matters a lot to her because she is already different from the others in her village. Her mother was from a different village, so that makes people wary of her. On the day of the ceremony, nothing goes as plan and by the end of the day, she is now part of an army of girls called Alaki, who have immortals with rare gifts. We follow her throughout her journey to the training grounds, meeting other soldiers, and learning what's really going on. I found the world and 'magic' systems the coolest part of the story. The fighting scenes were also well done, it felt like I was right there watching the action. I felt that this book talked about many themes and topics, but the one that stood out most to me what society and women. I enjoyed how this book handles and developed that thought the pages. The first part of this book is all about her and the other girls and what color their blood will be if she bleeds red, she is deemed pure, if she bleeds gold, she is deemed impure. It also deals with race, abuse, trauma, and more; all I feel is done in a good way. Once, we get to the training part of the book we get to learn and see more of this world. There is an f/f relationship, that felt real and that I was all for. In the cast of characters, we meet a large mix of races, but they are all well developed. Deka, Britta, Adwapap, Belcalis are just a few characters that I enjoyed reading about. This is a story of underdogs, about learning to rise up. There is also a side plot of romance for the main character, but that was light. The writing is wonderful! It's violent, strong, powerful; paints a bight world with a colorful bunch of characters. 
Overall, The Gilded Ones is like a mash-up of Children of Blood and Bone and Kingdom of Souls, but better! Out of these three books, The Gilded Ones is my favorite!