The Merciless Ones

Product Information

Everything about this design - the colours, illustration, and text font - works perfectly to create a stunning cover. I am even tempted to get a physical copy of this book, so I have both gorgeous books on my shelf! 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. There’s a lot of action in this book, but there’s also a lot of Deka’s internal growth. There’s no question she’s having a rough time with her position, whether that’s within her friend group or with the alaki or the Gilded Ones. This is a story of betrayal and trust, connections to friends and kin, and resilience. The amount of growth that Deka goes through in a relatively short period of time is rough on her (and me, the reader, as well!). There’s something about this author’s writing that just draws me in and fully immerses me in a character’s head, and it makes the joys and the heartbreaks especially poignant. It's been six months since Deka has freed the goddesses and discovered who she really is. There are now wars waging across the kingdom. Otereans now think jatu are traitors to the nation. Deka is called a monster. I loved The Gilded Ones and was so excited to jump right into the second book. While I did enjoy some aspects of this, I was overall a little disappointed.

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. This sequel to The Gilded Ones starts off with a bang and the violence, horror, and brutality that our heroine Deka goes through is pretty much nonstop. I adored and devoured this book! There is intensity and adventure in every single chapter. The pace of the book gradually increases and the last few chapters are filled with anticipation and power.The story plunges straight into the action, with a brief recap and update on the situation in Otera seamlessly woven in. As the characters go from one violent mission to the next, the continuous action and twists are well-balanced by emotional scenes. This made the story fast-paced but also highly entertaining and engaging. Besides this, I loved the message of equality, which was well-explored and even more satisfying than the previous theme of dismantling the patriarchy. However, so much goes on in this story that I was too overwhelmed to remain deeply invested in the final fights. Overall, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS 😍😍😩😩🤌🤌 From the gorgeous writing to the fast-paced & twisty plot to the well-developed characters, everything was done SO WELL!! The Merciless Ones was such a satisfying sequel that has gotten me SUPER excited for the third book. I can’t wait until it releases!! But even though I’m frightened by it, I’m not daunted. Because I have my friends, all of them now powerful beyond imagining. When I falter, they’ll be there to support and guide me. When I stumble, they’ll be there to take the next step.

Deka had no room to grow because she was just Power Level 10000 the whole time and Belcalis and Keita have to call her out ONCE for prioritising her feelings over everyone else's but she doesn't seem to really learn from it. It just felt boring. Characters will die and there'll be a tragic, gut-wrenching death scene...only for them to respawn in the same chapter.Deka has taken her place as the Nuru, the chosen one of the Gilded Ones, the four goddesses who have promised to overthrow the misogynistic priests and bring peace to Otera. But if this is a step toward peace in Otera, then why does everything feel wrong to Deka? Her divine powers set her farther and farther away from her friends, women and girls across Otera are being killed in response to the revolution she started, and the Firstborn seem outright dismissive of anyone who isn’t alaki. Even worse, a dark force is at work to oppose the goddesses, and it seems like only Deka and her friends can stop it. But nothing is as it seems, and Deka will be faced with one impossible decision after another.

Next, the writing. AAAAHHHH I ADORE THE WRITING 😍😍💕💕 It’s so beautiful & descriptive, and has this lovely magical quality to it. I LOVED all the gorgeous descriptives and the way it plunged you right into the story. The worldbuilding was elegantly woven into the narrative and introduced in such a great way. I thought we’d learned so much about Otera in The Gilded Ones, but there was actually so much more!! The action scenes were really well-written and so were the emotional ones. I now really want to read more of Namina Forna’s work, because her writing is just TOP NOTCH 🤌🤌 There is also so much talk of memories and how pain and trauma molds and shapes us, so again, it’s an interesting and almost strange choice the way the alaki and other supporting characters are seemingly forced aside like Deka no longer needs them or is too important for them, even though that shared trauma and healing was pivotal for all of them in the previous book. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... The foremost among them is Idugu, a militaristic version of Oyomo, the sun god worshipped in Otera. Let’s just say Elder Kadiri and his ilk are arguing that those like Deka need to be exterminated once and for all, and are whipping up the majority population into a killing frenzy, with religion as the main weapon. Make no bones about it, this world is not nice and it certainly isn’t pretty. Having fought valiantly to sever the bonds that held her prisoner, Deka and her friends have escaped their cruel patriarchal society and are set to rebuild their lives with the newly freed goddesses who promote equality and peace.Sadly, this really didn’t live up to its predecessor and falls into several of the traps and issues that second books in a trilogy suffer from: super powered MC, contrived plotting meant to force a turning point in the series, large info dumps for a super expanded world, slow pacing. The story is unending in its brutally, which always takes me by surprise (but shouldn’t), considering its target audience. The world Deka and her friends inhabit is cruel and unforgiving and it often takes me a hot minute to reconcile with the things these characters have to do to survive. The Merciless Ones is recommended for upper school students as it contains violence and threat. Both this and the first novel would make excellent front facing books for dynamic shelving in a library and they would also make good summer reading recommendations. I am sure this will be as popular in the school library as the first book.