Namina Forna

The epic, hotly anticipated sequel to the instant bestseller The Gilded Ones about a girl with the power to remake her world—or destroy it. 

“Fans of Children of Blood and Bone, Mulan, and the Dora Milaje from Black Panther are going to adore [The Gilded Ones].”—BuzzFeed 

It's been six months since Deka freed the goddesses in the ancient kingdom of Otera and discovered who she really is... but war is waging across the kingdom, and the real battle has only just begun. For there is a dark force growing in Otera—a merciless power that Deka and her army must stop. 

  

Yet hidden secrets threaten to destroy everything Deka has known. And with her own gifts changing, Deka must discover if she holds the key to saving Otera... or if she might be its greatest threat. 

  

The Merciless Ones is the second thrilling installment of the epic fantasy series in which a young heroine fights against a world that would dare tame her.

The Merciless Ones

vmknmy

4/5 
I read The Gilded Ones about a year ago and could not remember anything from it, so I went into this one with only remembering like 3 things lmao, didn't even remember Deka's name until it was mentioned a few pages in or something like that, and I also didn't remember who anyone was at first. 

 one of the things I liked about the book was the characters- they were all so distinct and ngl after reading a few chapters I remembered who most of them were because the way they were written made them memorable in a way, especially Britta and the way her dialogue is written that shows how she has a different accent than the rest of them, which is just really cool to see :)))

 I also really liked the representation in this book, with how the author introduced trans and non-binary characters into the story and how they had people who were "more of a they than a she" and also (view spoiler)[ how the Singular was introduced as an "our" and "they" and how they were all genders I think that's what the book said? cant remember lmao  (hide spoiler)] and how they introduced a few characters as being trans (at least that's what I read some of the parts, idk I'm stupid :') ) I also liked the wlw and mlm characters, as they felt like they had more of a purpose in this book rather than just being thrown in for diversity like i felt the first book did, but this one had so much diversity in terms of sexuality and gender which was just really cool to see :)))

 The plot in this was also good i think, i liked how there were twists and how things didn't go as they planned. I also liked the fact that Deka had to uncover the truth about the godesses, and how she had to come to terms with it and how it unsettled her that she had been lied to and decieved, which really helped with her character development. It also had a lot of death, with some quite important deaths happening, and one almost made me cry which is rare so i guess that makes it good ? idk

 The world is so well developed and so many details are explained and it really develops the culture of Otera and how they explained customs, social norms and social ettiquete is so detailed and aaa the world is really well made
 
 i enjoyed the book and ill probably read the next one but i didn't love it as much as other books ive read so like 4 stars

The Merciless Ones

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