The Merciless Ones continues on with a strong story of Deka and the war that is waging across her kingdom. I really love how Forna continues to dive deeper into the lore of the deathshrieks as well as the conflict we see Deka and her friends endure as they try to figure out who to trust. Such a strong sequel!!

The Gilded Ones, PHENOMENAL, this one.. second book slump. I feel as though Forna could have easily just left it at a standalone book, as the first book ended nicely. Maybe if she took the first 10% ish of this book and put it at the end of the first, it would have been perfection. I started this book with probably too high of hopes because of the first one, but then I was like, nope.. it’s the book. After the first bit, it started to drag. Nothing was happening, and I found myself spacing out and noticing I was about 30 pages ahead and didn’t recall anything that had happened. The end was great though! Forna’s writing continues to be beautiful and the African Folklore will always be one of my favorites!

wow OMG ... WHAT !! Kicks right off from book 1 and is just action packed fast pace loved it. would definitely recommend

While I enjoyed the fresh concept of “The Gilded Ones,” I wasn’t as compelled by “The Merciless Ones.” The story was quite action-driven and I didn’t care about any of the characters or see them mature or grow throughout the book. Action scenes were followed by more action scenes without down-time to get to know the characters or empathize with their struggle.

I really enjoyed "The Gilded Ones," but i didn't feel this one wasn't as good. I honestly can't put my finger on what was missing, There was a lot of running, fighting and Deka uncovering the lies she's been told in the book. It felt like a majority of this book was focused on world building or history building. Which make me hopefully that the third one will be really good.

I continue to love high fantasy series rooted in West-African folklore and magic, and the GIlded Ones series falls directly into that category. I love high fantasies with strong Black female main characters, and I really enjoy the world Namina Forna creates and the magic system that she established in book one. The Merciless Ones is book 2 in The Gilded Ones series, and picks up where book one leaves off in the aftermath of the battles and discoveries that Deka has made about herself and the world that she lives in. I really loved book one, but I struggled to get as invested in book two. I still really enjoyed the writing, and the characters, but I think I just struggled with the pacing of the character development compared to the plot. Overall this is still a really enjoyable book, and I recommend if you loved book one that you should still check out book two.

Full transparency to say I DNFed at 50%

That being said, this book and series just is not for me. I was neutral about the first book and thought reading the second one would be good. I was wrong.

I did not enjoy the characters or the writing. I felt very no thoughts head empty while reading it that this review isn’t good because other than wasting my time I have no other thoughts.

-I thought book one was good and I gave it 4 stars, however I could not get into this book and only am giving it 3 stars
-Definitely suffers from Second Book Syndrome and was as exciting and interesting as book one
-The ending was good though

this was… enjoyable but not nearly as much as the gilded ones. i was kinda disappointed or let down because it really had so much potential as a sequel.

With Otera in turmoil, Deka is forced to determine just who she is and whether she is the key to freeing her people… or if she is their greatest threat. But with a dark, merciless force growing amongst her enemies and secrets being shielded by her allies, the real battle has only just begun.

The Merciless Ones is every bit as action-packed, suspenseful, and breathtaking as The Gilded Ones with a beautifully built world, admirable prose, and a thrilling plot. Forna transports the reader back to Otera and refuses to let them go until the final page is turned. Deka remains a formidable narrator with an undeniable voice and compelling journey. As she navigates both allegiance and betrayal, she carries the reader with her, perfectly showcasing how even your most trusted allies can deceitful. Forna’s use of Deka as an unreliable narrator is everything I love from the trope and keeps you on your toes with plot twists.

Beyond an exciting read, Forna maintains her ability to write relationships of all kinds. Not only is the central romantic relationship swoon-worthy, but she doesn’t let that detract from strong female friendships and a classic case of a found family. Being able to deliver both with equal weight is something I really respect and found one of the best parts of the book. Speaking of diversity, I appreciate Forna writing about LGBTQIA+ characters in a casual, normalised way. The Merciless Ones presents transgender representation and a wlw couple in a way where no one even bats an eye which I think is incredibly important to establish in YA literature.

All in all, The Merciless Ones is certainly a must-read addition to the Deathless series.

The Merciless Ones proved to me that a book could be well developed in its continuation and maintain the primordiality of the first, as in the books by Leigh Bardugo and in the stories by Brandon Sanderson. The cultural issue and all its development while within an engaging writing and an exciting story made me love reading it.
4.0 stars

Fabulous, flawless, everything a sequel should be but rarely is. Thank you so much to Namina Forna for these incredible books.

Yet again I love to see this high fantasy books with black female main characters. I have to say for some reason it was hard for me to get into this book. I think I should have re-read The Gilded Ones, I had forgotten more than I anticipated had to really claw back into my memory to remember who people were and what Decka's relationship to them looked like.

This dragged on a bit, but without spoilers, the end of the book was amazing.

I can't say this was a favorite book for me but I can imagine handing both the Gilded Ones and the Merciless Ones to an avid fantasy reader. Maybe it'll read better if you can read then back to back.

I'm not sure. I'm still a Namina Forna fan, but this wasn't my favorite book.

This book continues where the first left off successfully and seems to start an intriguing new account in Deka's story. I found myself unable to continue past the first 15% partially due to what may be a looming book slump but also because I may have been fine with where book one ended.

Unfortunately, I could not get into the second in this series after the first totally blew me away. It felt like the same beats were being reused, just with different characters in this one.

The Merciless Ones picks back up as Deka, her friends, and their new allies are at war with the kingdom that had lied to her about the truth of her identity. However, Deka begins to suspect that she is being lied to again--this time by the goddesses she has trusted and revered.

The Merciless Ones starts a bit slow, and it took me a bit of time to get my bearings. I could have probably used more of a refresher of where the last book ended. That said, this sequel turned out to be fast-paced and deliver even more twists than Book 1. Also in keeping with the first, Forma delivers plenty of social-political commentary, especially on gender. Whereas the first book was fairly black and white (good v. evil, women v. men), Forma introduces more complexity and nuance this time around, problematizing binary gendered assumptions.

From a social-emotional standpoint, there is a lot of strong intrapersonal and interpersonal growth happening in this follow up. Deka begins to realize that even strong, borderline divine entities like she is becoming still need meaningful relationships to be nourished and whole. She learns to rely on and trust her closest friends, and she is able to forgive past harm by her father.

Ok, so, this book ended up being one that I just couldn’t get into and in the end I ended up not finishing this book. I think since it’s been so long since I read the first book, I had forgotten a chunk of what had happened. So, for much of this book I was thinking to myself ‘who’s this character again?’ or ‘what the heck is going on again?’, that after a while I decided to give up and set the book aside to finish at a later time.

The Gilded Ones was such a wild ride that diving into book two gave me all the twitchy-fingered joy. Unfortunately, I found this installment disappointing.

I still love Deka and all her raw and beautiful self, and I also love her friendships and ties to those she respects and admires. But the slow pace in this one had my mind wandering. I get it, Deka needs a bit of a breather after what went down in TGO, but like book one's, readers need that hook and I wasn't seeing it.

Deka's power also became an issue for me. She's just now coming into them, but she reads like one who's had them forever. I know this may sound strange, but I like to see a protagonist struggle with their newfound power. One doesn't grasp the concept and role with a snap of his or her fingers. Also, the deus ex machine just giving her more power every time something harder comes along. I see this a lot in YA fantasy and I'm starting to wonder why so many authors do this.

The course of this series seems to have shifted dramatically, but I do hope book 3 will steer us back on the path.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

In Merciless Ones, the sequel to Namina Forna’s The Gilded Ones, we continue to follow Deka and her friends through their trials and tribulations.

As it is a sequel, I don’t want to give too many plot details. I was a little disappointed with this book compared to how much I loved the first one. The magic system became more complex, but it was not really explained. It seems like powers were appearing conveniently whenever a problem needed to be solved. I still liked the characters, but I think character development was pushed aside a bit in favor of action. I enjoyed reading about the divine entities and learning about their past. I will still continue the series, but this installment was a slight let down for me.

Still recommend The Gilded Ones for fans of diverse YA fantasy!

I absolutely loved the first book in the series, and unfortunately while I think Book 2 had a lot to offer- this book was in sore need of a stronger edit. The world-building that was sooooo sharp in Book 1 suddenly became very convoluted. There are a LOT of smaller elements added to the world that seemed to be thrown in to make a more complex narrative, but I think this story could have been strong enough without them.

Another stylistic choice that I understand but didn't care for was the rambling internal dialogue of Deka as she becomes increasingly separated from her friend group. There were a lot of repeated thoughts and some of the writing around Keita became cringeworthy. The best way I can describe it is that the author doesn't trust Deka or the readers to catch on to much at all, and therefore everything is over-explained and heavy handed. This was not at all the case in the first book.

While I am surprised at the vastly different direction we are being take in (vs the first book), I am still absolutely rooting for this series and its beloved characters. There was a lot of really stuffing imagery written in this installment- I loved these portions (floating waterfalls, etc.).

Thanks so much to Delacorte and NetGalley for the review copy, I am excited to read the conclusion of the trilogy!