Deka lives a kingdom called Otera where girls and women are treated like chattel and subjected to a purity test during puberty that will determine if they are pure-bred or demons. The unfortunate ones whose blood runs gold rather than red are either killed, outcast, or, if lucky, selected to join the alaki, an all-women military corps where they are trained to fight for the Emperor for a period of 20 years. Otera’s enemies are monsters known as deathshrieks, and Deka learns that she has a special gift: She can control them with her mind and voice. Her natural talent is nurtured and further trained by an older woman Deka calls White Hands, who teaches her not only to channel her power but also about the Gilded Ones, long-ago goddesses who once ruled Otera. In battle after battle, Deka is used by the Emperor to vanquish nests of deathshrieks, and gradually, she finds that she can not only control them, she can understand their language—and the word they most often hurl at her is “Traitor!” Discovering why they call her this upends everything Deka has been taught to believe in this fast-moving, West Africa-inspired fantasy. The story has a bit of romance and a lot of action, but its true strengths lie in the closeness and camaraderie of the women warriors, and in its strong feminist message as Deka joins those working to challenge the status quo. (Age 12 and older)