I thought this was a fantastic continuation but of this story and I can’t wait to see what is store next.

Last year's The Gilded Ones knocked me on my feet - Deka is a fabulous protagonist. She is strong and ethical and vulnerable. The world building and magical system were unique, intriguing and at times jaw dropping. That all held true for this sequel - I thought it would be hard to keep the type of intensity and uniqueness for book two. The first book tackled the idea of indoctrination, blind faith and racism; this one continues those themes and really tackles sexism, gender roles and identity. You are not beaten to death with these messages but inspired to think about them as you see parallels between Deka's world and our own. 

The pace is a little slower than the first book but that's because there is so much for Deka to absorb. It doesn't mean there isn't lots of action, those scenes are plentiful but in between there is so much revealed to Deka about her true nature and the nature of her people. There are so many heartbreaking moments and emotional revelations. I generally prefer reading dialogue but a lot of the reveals are Deka in her own in her head so you get long sections of explanations, which made the reading a little duller for me. I still loved the ideas and this series as a whole.

Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.

The second book in a series is often the hardest one. And while The Merciless Ones doesn't fully fall prey to the sequel slump, neither does it reach the heights of the first novel. What it does, however, is expand the story and mythology in complex and fascinating ways. The first novel was largely about the oppression of women in Otera, but The Merciless Ones begins to explore the ways that everyone is harmed by patriarchal systems, which leads to some great character moments for Keita. The Merciless Ones is much more interested in gender identity and sexuality than The Gilded Ones, as well as the dangers of tribalism and power's ability to corrupt. But while there are so many great ideas explored in the novel, but the pacing often felt slow, the twists predictable, and Deka's struggles with PTSD and relationships with others felt under-developed and heavy-handed. The book ends on a cliffhanger that sets up the third book nicely, and I do still have complete faith that Forna will deliver an epic finale.

This is, completely unsurprisingly, a staggeringly amazing sequel to 'The Gilded Ones,' which was already one of the best debut YA SFF books I've ever read. 'The Merciless Ones' doesn't disappoint, and even surpasses the first. I can't wait to get this into as many readers' hands as possible!

This is an amazing follow up to The Gilded Ones! Deka is a great protagonist. I can’t wait for the next book to come out!

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, "The Gilded Ones". I thought that the world Forna created was incredibly full and, while I read a handful of books where the color of ones blood determines your future, I thought that in this world, she took it in a completely fresh direction. I loved the big reveal at the end and I was more that curious as to where this second book would go. The world seemed so fully built and I didn't know how Forna would be able to build upon what she had written without it becoming repetitive.

As much as I hate to say it, I felt that "The Gilded Ones" did fall into what I've heard as the 'second book slump'. There was so much foreshadowing that the reveals that were so well done in the first book felt very predictable. A lot of the time I find YA trilogies to follow the same formula and this did just that. Since it was a second book it mainly served as a set up for the finale, and where the first one built a great world, Deca discovered something that made her "question everything". One thing I very much enjoyed in the first one, the foundation and strength of many characters relationships, were not as well done in this second installment. And the romance was very much YA trope-y.

Overall, if you are a fan of YA trilogies then this book is definitely for you. It checks all the typical boxes and I think that's where it went wrong for me. It didn't necessarily feel fresh like the first one did. I loved the setting in the first one in the war camp, this one was spent travelling with a lot of repetitive battles.

After starting to free the goddesses and discovering her true identity, Deka is tasked with ensuring the rest of them are free. But the task proves difficult when everyone thinks you’re a monster and a war rages on in your country. Being named a traitor to your nation makes everything more dangerous, even as you’re trying to save them.

However, as Deka releases the other goddesses, she starts seeing strange symbols everywhere. Symbols that repel her powers and make her lose all of her senses. Deka knows that there is a dark force is out there, threatening the mere existence of humanity. And her powers grow stronger, it will be up to Deka and her army to stop it to save humanity.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte for an advanced copy of this to review! The Gilded Ones was one of my favorite fantasy books from last year, and with that ending, I was excited for the sequel. I loved the way Forna expands the world in this book, even adding more diversity in the characters and some interesting plot twists.

Picking up six months after the first book, this book doesn’t waste any time jumping into the action. Forna is also a master at crafting worlds. There’s so much detail that went into creating this world and mythology and I was really impressed. Where sometimes description can weigh down a fantasy novel, Forna does it in a way that helps in moving the plotline forward.

Unfortunately, I do think this book falls prey to second book syndrome. While I appreciated the world building, the pacing felt off at times. After the first scene, the beginning feels a little slow. I also am not sure that this necessarily needed to be a trilogy? I actually didn’t even realize that it was going to be until I got to the end of the book.

Will I read the third book when it comes out? With that ending, probably! Even if I just stick around to see how these characters will evolve in the future, because I am hooked.

3.5/5 stars

This book was an excellent follow-up to book one, The Gilded Ones. It picks up 6 months later and immediately dives right into the action. I love books that are fast-paced with a lot of action and of females fighting against the patriarchy. There are moments where you can get a little lost as to where we are and what’s going on which can be a little frustrating. But overall, interesting and fun read! Great middle book of a series.

The Merciless Ones picks up where The Gilded Ones left off, with Deka uncovering an Earth-shattering secret about the true nature of deathshrieks and war breaking out across the empire. Deka must contend with unexpected challenges as she fights a new battle she did not realize she was facing.

It took me a little while to connect with the plot of this book, but once I got into it, I could really appreciate the direction Namina Forma is taking this trilogy. The ideas explored in the second half of this story about equality and gender remind me a lot of Naomi Alderman's The Power, another great book that delves deeper beyond the surface of fighting the patriarchy. The relationship between Deka and Keita is such a solid example for young readers, with each leaning on the other for support and discussing their problems in a refreshingly healthy way. Deka's relationship with her bloodsisters is also a wonderful example of the power of female friendship, and each of these remarkable girls is an inspiring character in her own right.

Thank you so much to Random House Children's Books and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This may very well be my favorite series ever, of all time. I re-read the Gilded Ones to refresh my memory before beginning this one as I’d gotten an ARC very early and it had been nearly 2 years since I read it. It held up and the sequel continued to absolutely blow my mind. The depth and strength and bond of the characters is unparalleled. There are so many twists and revelations that I never saw coming. This book took on gender in the most interesting way I’ve ever seen it explored. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. And like the first book, The Merciless Ones left me so eagerly anticipating the next book, it’s almost physically painful to wait. “Live forever. Live in victory.”

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved the first book however this book didn't hold up as well for me. I give it 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up to 4.
Overall this book kept my attention so it is interesting. However the characters felt more flat in this book and it seemed like to many events were trying to be squeezed in. Still worth a read and I'm excited for the third book.

This book was a bit tough to read. The book picks up six months after the first one, and it just dives right into it. There's no real introduction to the story, just fighting right off the bat. If you read my review of The Gilded Ones, this one is just like it. The plot points jump around pretty quickly, so you start to get pretty confused. I had to go back and start a chapter over again because I had no clue where we were or what was happening. The characters and their stories were just meh once again. There was no real progression with Deka. I thought by now she would be figuring out who she really is, and where she really came from, but it looks like we won't be getting that until the third book. The last 70% of the book was the best in my opinion. There were so many revelations that were coming out, we were finally getting some sense into what was going on. There was just so much jam packed into some chapters and then other chapters nothing was happening. If things were spread out a little more, things would have been less confusing. The romances between the characters were a bigger part of the story than the first. This is where the story leans more towards a YA genre than anything. When something happened to one of the characters, I just didn't care, oops. There's one heart wrenching moment, maybe heart wrenching to other people, but, for me, I felt no emotion whatsoever. Am I going to pick up the third and final book of the series? Why not! I'm this invested so far, and I want to see what happens!

Deka once believed she was cursed. As soon as the blood in her veins began to flow gold, she was convinced that the only way to rid herself of this curse was by ridding the world of deathshrieks, terrifying creatures. But now she knows the truth the men of her world have been hiding. They’ve been hiding the four goddesses who created both the deathshrieks and the girls whose blood flows gold. Deka has freed the goddesses and is now their champion, determined to free all other women in the world and let the goddesses rule once again. But there is a powerful artifact being used against them. As long as the powerful men continue to use this artifact, Deka and her companions cannot succeed. But what is this artifact, exactly, and what other truths are concealed by both gods and men?

I received an advanced reading copy of The Merciless Ones in exchange for an honest review.

The Merciless Ones is a young adult fantasy novel by Namina Forna. It’s also the sequel to The Gilded Ones, which I read and reviewed last year. And after the ending to The Gilded Ones, I knew I had to read the sequel! So what did I think?

So, as you might tell from the summary above, this review may contain major spoilers for The Gilded Ones. If you want to avoid those, I’d suggest not continuing to read this review.

From the very beginning, this book dives into action and it just doesn’t let up. Deka leaps from battle into battle, along with her friends. There are a few quiet moments in between all of the fighting, but by the end I couldn’t help but think about how exhausted she and the others had to be throughout this book. So much happens!

And especially so much unexpected stuff happens. At the very beginning, we see Deka being traumatized from everything that has happened to her. After all, at the beginning of The Gilded Ones, she gets murdered over and over. That is sure to leave a mark, and it does get discussed in the previous book. But while starting the book, I was so certain that it would be Deka fighting that trauma all while she struggles to fit the new role given to her, that of the savior. And while part of the book is about this, it’s also about so much more!

Forna did not let up with the twists, both in the action and in the background of this world. That’s something I really appreciated about both The Gilded Ones and The Merciless Ones, that we get a world that appears fully formed, with a culture, a religion, and, more importantly, a history. All of these come together to form the characters and their beliefs, and their actions. And when those beliefs are rocked to their very core, as they were at the end of The Gilded Ones, we see the characters forced to change. I feel like these books are fascinating both in their actions and in their studies of character, and what one will do when faced with the unthinkable. I’m not certain many of us would be able to react as Deka does!

Something else to enjoy about this book? It might be the middle book of a trilogy, but also never suffers from second-book-syndrome, where the entire plot of the middle book is meant to connect books one and three. While The Merciless Ones does contain plots that are meant to arch over the entire series, the main plot is completely self contained. It’s a full book, and it only made me more excited to read the third. We don’t even have a title for it yet but I’m so excited to learn more about it!

The Merciless Ones is an excellent follow up to an already exciting debut, and I look forward to see how the trilogy concludes! I’d recommend this to any young adult fantasy fan. They’ll have a great time with it!

The Merciless Ones will be released on May 31. You can preorder your copy from Delacorte here.
Advertisement

The Merciless Ones opened with a gruesome scene of female curses as our favorite girls wreak havoc on the patriarchy. From the first page to the last I was glued to this book. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is written by my wonderful Spelman sister and is highly anticipated. I read the Gilded Ones in about two days, and the Merciless Ones was definitely on brand. In an effort to not give spoilers, I simply want to say buy this book! As an avid reader of trilogies I often anticipate the second installments to be… monotonous. There's often a lot of exposition and recalling of the events from the previous book: this is not that. While Forte does use these strategies, The Merciless Ones gave me more action and twists than the average second book. Please trust me, and preorder this book now: your mind will be blown by the end and you’ll be itching for the third book.

What I loved most about this book is its positioning of monstrosity. Throughout the text our perspectives of the monster and villain are blurred. I have used this text to theorize my dissertation so I’m so glad I read it when I did. I also loved how Forte complicated our notions of racist and sexist power dynamics.

What I would have loved to see is about 50 more pages because I did get the feeling that the last few chapters were moving too fast.

THE MERCILESS ONES showed me no mercy. I experience severe emotional damage at times during this book, and I loved it. THE GILDED ONES was one of my fave books last year and TMO picks up right on its heels. Deka has freed the goddesses and knows who she is, but when a dark force arises in Otera everything Deka thinks she knows about herself, her world, and her goddesses is called into question and everything she loves could be destroyed. I loved seeing Deka and her friends again. I have a special affection for this crew that I developed in book 1 and I loved seeing Deka surrounded by people who love her. As a character, she's come such a long way and the character development here is masterclass. I love the sweet romance between Deka and Keita, and there was a point in this book, I won't say what, where this pairing caused me emotional damage. When you read it, you'll know. It was a clever plot twist that threw me for a loop and the way that Forna manages her big plot moments is just something I love because it keeps me on my toes. Everything I loved in TGO, the magic, worldbuilding, pacing, all was just as formidable in TMO. Seeing characters challenged the way Deka is challenged is something worthwhile. Can't say much about that without spoilers. But for some reason, I had it in my head that this was a duology, but there is another book?! It ends on such a cliffhanger that I just wanted more. TMO is a story about a girl who must continue to fight to exist against gods and men, and must face truths long buried to survive. I can't wait to see what happens next.

The Merciless Ones is the middle book in Namina Forna's YA Fantasy "The Gilded Ones" trilogy, which started with last year's The Gilded Ones (Reviewed Here). I really liked The Gilded Ones, which was a brutal feminist YA fantasy set in a patriarchal West African world, featuring girls whose blood bleeds gold and who are treated like monsters for it, except when they're drafted into the Emperor's armies against the monstrous Deathshrieks that seem to be attacking the innocent villages of the people....and a heroine among them who discovers truths about herself and the world that reveal this patriarchal society is lying about how things are. It was a brutal book, with characters suffering horribly from brutal dismemberments, abuse and rape as backgrounds (but never on page), but it worked really well as a feminist tale of women who desired to find a place for themselves eventually fighting back for themselves, with only two real flaws: an underdeveloped surrounding cast and a lack of anyone who didn't fit into a cisgender binary, an issue with gender dystopian books these days.*

*As a Cisgender reviewer/reader, I missed the lack of trans characters as a problem in my initial review, which I wrote two years ago, but one of my favorite reviewers, Alex Brown, pointed this out in their review on Tor.com here. Given the issues of TERFS and trend of gendercide novels being done very poorly these days, this is a bigger issue that I should've recognized.

The Merciless one still struggles with the minor character problem, but thankfully, and impressively, not only features multiple trans characters, but deals quite heavily with the issue of gender and what that means as a central theme. Whereas the first book's themes were very much in line with the standard misogynist dystopia novel, this book takes things in a more universal and interesting direction, forcing heroine Deka to reconsider the revelations from the first book as she's faced with new threats from all sides...as well as new powers. It's a fascinating novel that really surprised me, and so I really didn't care too much about the issues with minor characters, as Deka's own journey and what it portends is simply incredible, and the book ending on a cliffhanger that is going to make me desperately need book 3 as soon as possible.

TRIGGER WARNING: Homophobia and Transphobia, rarely overt or on page, but these are major themes here as the book deals with each. In addition the book remains brutal and bloody, even again as it never directly portrays any abuse/rape, but merely references them.

Spoilers for book 1 are inevitable below:
------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Six months has passed since Deka discovered she was the Nuru, the daughter of the Mothers - the ancient goddesses who once kindly ruled the kingdom of Otera before they were imprisoned by the by the Jatu, men with their own magical enhanced strength who followed the misogynist teachings of the "god" Oyomo. Since then she and her fellow Alaki, along with their deathshriek comrades and the few men who have joined them, have been trying to fight a war against the Jatu to free all the women of Otera....but they have been stymied by strong Jatu forces wielding an Arcane Object that keeps the Deka and her allies out of their capital city and stronghold.

But when Deka and her friends go on a mission to save one of the Mothers' ancient generals, they are confronted with the impossible: Jatu wearing a strange symbol on their armor that seems to disrupt Deka's abilities and who resurrect just like Alaki, and who seem to have male deathshrieks of their own - something that should be impossible. Even worse, these new Jatu claim to be following their own new male god, Idugu, a being who the Mothers insist does not exist.

To figure out what's happening, Deka and her friends attempt a daring mission to kidnap an Oteran elder for answers....but in the process Deka's powers begin acting strangely and affecting others in new and unexpected ways, ways that suggest that what she's been told by the Mothers may not have been wholly true, and that divine beings like the Mothers aren't exactly what she and the others have been led to believe....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gender dystopian novels can be very easy to do poorly - suggesting that gender is biological, or that women are superior to men rather than equal, etc. etc. The Gilded Ones ended in a way that suggested this could possibly be its implications. There were no openly transgender characters, our heroine and her friends were Alaki, women gifted with strength and magical fighting ability that were beyond that of men (although a secret group of men actually was equal to them), as well as the ability to resurrect both in human form as well as in monstrous deathshriek form. The goddesses themselves were female, and appeared to have been imprisoned by jealous greedy men who took pleasure in imposing a society that oppressed women and forced them into a secondary role in society. The story was done well mind you and given how patriarchal society is in this country and in other countries (such that in Sierra Leone where Forna grew up), it wasn't the worst concept to show women fighting back and as being stronger, but the implications could have been troublesome if taken to a logical conclusion.

The Merciless Ones does NOT do that, and instead takes things in a very different direction. In the months since Deka has lived among the Mothers and tried to help them create their new/old society, she begins to realize that their utopian vision has issues: a one trans woman general is seemingly not accepted as much as she should be, the men who have joined their cause are looked at with disdain, and the Mother's offers to women are often as much to make people magically forget their pasts rather than actually providing help to go forward into a better life. This is a story that makes very very clear that gender is not determinative of anything - that men can be gentle and kind and "weak" and women can be fierce, that people should be able to love whomever they like, and that just as men aren't superior to women, neither should women be held superior to men, whether they be cis, trans or anything else - in contrast to what the Mothers' society seems to be implying. I'll talk more about this in a spoiler section below*

*Spoilers in ROT13: Gur gehgu guvf obbx erirnyf vf gung gur Zbguref jrer va snpg bapr sbhe bs n frg bs svir ntraqre tbqf, jub fcyvg vagb gjb traqref gb gel naq orggre haqrefgnaq naq qrny jvgu uhznavgl; bayl sbe gur srznyr unyirf gb vzcevfba gurve znyr unyirf va n cbjre teno (gung jnf bayl cnegvnyyl whfgvsvrq) naq gura vzcbfvat n fgevpgyl bccerffvir zngevnepuny fbpvrgl...hagvy gur znyr unyirf sbhaq n jnl gb svtug onpx naq gbbx guvatf gur bgure jnl. Gur zbguref jnagvat gb tb onpx gb gung fbpvrgl, jurer gubfr jub nera'g obea srznyr ner bccerffrq naq gerngrq ol yrffre (yvxr gur genaf jbzna Juvgr Unaqf) vfa'g nal orggre guna gur znyr'f bccerffvba naq sbeprq fnpevsvpr...naq gur fbyhgvba yvrf va gur svsgu tbq, gur bar jub vf ntraqre (traqrerq gurl/gurz), jubfr ningne gheaf bhg gb or Qrxn. Va fubeg, gur obbx hfrf vgf fgbel gb fubj gur snyfvgl bs traqre'f inyhr va nal frafr, fubjvat gung traqre vgfrys vf n ebbg bs pbasyvpg, jvgu vg frggvat hc na ntraqre fnivbe va gur svanyr (rira vs Qrxn' qbrfa'g vqragvsl urefrys nf fhpu).

The result is an incredible novel, filled with action, a tremendous character journey for Deka, and again themes of gender and human value, love and forgiveness that are just incredibly well done. This is a book that took a premise that started as showing the power of women over men, and moves in this novel to a critique of the very concept of gender itself, and of what gender even means if anything, as its heroines and heroes struggle to survive and find answers. And the story takes a number of surprising turns, it uses its predictable twists in excellent fashion and its main heroine Deka is done really well. Again the side character are a bit limited and often forgettable simply because there are so many of them, but the glimpses we do get into those characters' stories are often really well done, as we see the many ways these characters survived, thrived, and found their own loves and peace. I cannot wait for book 3 at this point.

THE MERCILESS ONES by Namina Forna is the much-anticipated sequel to the NYT Bestseller, THE GILDED ONES. Deka begins this book in a very different position than the last. She is the honored Nuru, daughter to the Goddesses, and her mission is simple; liberate all the women in Otera and bring her mothers back to power. In order to do that, though, she must take down Elder Kadiri, one of her biggest foes who likes to bleed out young girls publicly for sport. However, when Deka has her chance at revenge, she discovers things aren’t quite what they seem, and in order to figure out what to do next, she’ll have to get to the bottom of what’s really going on.

What this book does expertly is take a lot of political and human issues we are facing in the current world and weave them into the book’s plot, so the audience can interact with them in a new way. It’s effective because it reinforces and challenges viewpoints by making them seemingly fictional, and therefore, removing the emotional attachment, so readers can place themselves in the character’s shoes. This indirect social commentary is a convention of this genre, but sometimes it can be so light-handed the audience misses the correlations. That shouldn’t happen with this book.

Unlike the debut novel, THE MERCILESS ONES is a much slower read that took me weeks to get through. In this, Deka is on a journey of self-discovery and truth, and while there is action, this sequel is not a page-turner. It’s contemplative and exploratory, which is reflective of both the themes and topics the author explores, but also of Deka’s state of mind. That being said, there are still plenty of surprises, plot twists, and unexpected developments that unfold slowly, building up to the final scene, which is perhaps, the most shocking.

THE MERCILESS ONES is not only a satisfying sequel but also a great meditation on the real world, particularly in regards to those who wield power. In many ways, it may not be the exact book we were expecting, but it’s the one we needed right now, and it’s laid a solid foundation for an explosive third novel. I’m excited to see where Forna takes Deka next.

A solid 4 stars for this follow up to The Gilded Ones. I think this one was much better than book one. I felt more for the characters and I felt a real connection to the story. Action and shocking events await the reader.

Highly recommend!! My first book to read by this author but definitely not my last!! Uniquely and beautifully written, this story and its characters stay with you long after you finish the book.

Thank you to #NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before publication date in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to see this book available for review. I had the first in the series on my TBR, and getting selected to review this one was just the push I needed to read The Gilded Ones. I flew through book one and immediately began book two. My expectations were REALLY high since I loved the first book in the series, and I was not disappointed. I did end up liking book one more than book two, but both of them were excellent reads, and now I have the long wait until book three comes out.

This book continues Deka's story, as she comes to grips with who she is and the lies people around her have told her all her life. She grows so much as a person in this book, finding love and forgiveness, along her journey to find herself.