Life got in the way and I could not finish the book. Thanks to the publishers for the chance to read the book.

I had a bit of trouble getting through this one despite it starting out with an intense series of events. I was completely invested in the characters and the story. Maybe it was just the wrong time for me, as I found the pacing a bit slow for my tastes. Still, it was a great read and I love these characters. I absolutely devoured The Gilded Ones, so maybe that was part of why I struggled here. There seemed to be a lot of buildup for the next book and not as many things resolved in this one.
Love the writing style and descriptive narrations.

The Gilded Ones was a book that I did not expect to love, but I did! I'm so excited that its sequel, The Merciless Ones, was just as good!

This is such a great follow up to the first. I loved seeing more of the magic system and lore and really found it to be so fleshed out. This also really helped the book stand on its own as a complete story and not just the ramp up for the third. I also liked how the character growth and the growth of their powers were so intertwined in this book. This is such a close group of friends and seeing that growth together even as relationships shifted throughout the story was really well done. I love these characters and love how much their bonds dive this series. All around wonderfully done.

The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna is a thrilling and empowering read that will captivate fans of dark, adventurous fantasy, particularly those who appreciate strong female characters, feminist themes, and stories of heritage reclamation, as it delves into the epic struggle of a powerful heroine fighting to save her kingdom from a sinister force.

The Gilded Ones trilogy took the fantasy world by storm with its West African-inspired world and fierce, unforgettable heroine. In the sophomore novel The Merciless Ones, author Namina Forna remarkably expands her richly-conceived universe while ramping up the intensity, heartache, and addictive dramatic tensions.
Picking up shortly after (6 months) the revelations of the first book, The Merciless Ones thrusts us back into the unforgiving patriarchal kingdom of Impri. Our brave protagonist Deka is now a fugitive on the run, her status as the empire's first female fighter-angel (or "alaki") making her a dangerous symbol that threatens the ruling men's stranglehold on power.
From these opening pages, Forna masterfully layers social commentary into an utterly propulsive plot fueled by mythological mystery and visceral action sequences. Her Impri remains a richly-developed realm of blood-tinged magic systems, deeply-entrenched misogyny, and simmering resistance that you can practically feel emanating off the page.
But it's the characters that truly make this series soar. Deka remains an unforgettable force as she continues evolving from naive village girl into a tenacious rebel leader. Her found family of fellow women warriors offers incredible representation while never feeling like mere symbols. And the men whose paths intersect with Deka's are compellingly multifaceted, their cruelties and frailties laid movingly bare.
With soaring battles, wrenching betrayals, and revelations that will shake readers to their core, The Merciless Ones is that rarest of sequels - displaying a remarkable mastery of spiraling stakes and unstoppable narrative momentum. There was a slower pace, and a successful build up of tension and it was clear groundwork for future conflict was being laid. Regardless of these necessities, Forna has crafted a true feminist fantasy, melding biting social critique with pure escapist thrills.
For fans of N.K. Jemison world building and wordcraft, but made for the YA readers, young and old!

Stop the goddesses from destroying the world!

In Otera, 17yo Deka and her group of Alaki women warriors, set out to free Melanis who is the Light of the Alaki. They find her being burned in the temple. Once freed, male warriors enter the temple to stop her escape and to kill the alaki that helped her. As soon as Melanis is freed from the fire, her body begins to heal and her wings sprout just in time to save everyone from the vicious warriors but then they resurrect and fight again. The alaki can’t fathom how they’re coming back to life but the Goddesses tell them it’s the power of the golden throne, the Angoro. Deka will face the unknown and discover more about herself than she has ever imagined as they search for the mysterious Angoro.

Likes/dislikes: I feel that the story is drawn out. I do like the ending. The characters are a nice variety of personalities.
Mature Content: G for kiss.
Language: PG for 6 swears, no f-words.
Violence: R for bloody deaths.
Ethnicity: Deka is dark skinned, Brita is pale skinned and the following are all mentioned:
copper skin, midnight dark skin, reddish brown skin, bluish purple skin, and bluish black skin.

Now that Deka knows the truth of the death shrieks, she's on a mission from the Goddesses to free all of the lake and take back the power in Otera. However, there seems to be another power rising that is taking over all of the males and raining hell on the women of this world. Deka finds herself facing war again, but something isn't adding up. Are the Goddesses lying to her about their histories and what they want? Or is this new power instilling this disruption and fear as a means to conquer Otera? Things are dark, bleak, and horrific; the characters all witness and experience indescribable horrors and must keep moving. We see the moments that they fear what they've been through is too much for them, and we know the choice to keep going. Each of the characters has their trauma and ways of handling it, and though we mainly see through Deka's experience, there's never a moment where it feels like the darkness is ignored for the sake of a fast plot.

Overall, this was an improvement from book 1 (which was already good!), and in many ways, this was precisely what I had hoped it would be. If you struggled with book 1, I would recommend trying this one. Especially if you love corrupt gods, found family, an animal companion (I love him, your honor), and a main character who constantly has to accept that everything she knows to be true is very possibly a lie.

My students and I loved the first book, The second one is even better. Not often do I like the second better than the first, but this one has done that. This book pulls you in right away there is a lot of action. I did get confused in spots, you just keep plugging away and figure it out. This is not my normal genre but I just love this series. I can't wait for the third.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and Namina Forna for the opportunity to read The Merciless Ones in exchange for an honest review.

The Merciless Ones is the second novel in the Deathless trilogy, following The Gilded Ones. Taking place six months after the events of The Gilded Ones, Deka, the alaki, and the deathshrieks are on a religious quest to bring down those who oppose the goddesses.

When the gods, referred to as the Merciless Ones, begin speaking to Deka, she begins to question everything about the quest the Gilded Ones have given her. With an assortment of items to seek and/or destroy and priests to bring down to reduce the power that worship offers the gods, Deka has a lot to figure out. On top of keeping her friends and lover, Keita, safe, she must figure out the best course of action. That is what is expected as the Nuru, a direct link to the goddesses.

Deka's war and the loss seem to become too much of a risk when her memories and the memories of those around her seem to be warped or blocked, slowly unraveling odd truths. With the goddesses, alaki, and deathshrieks relying on Deka's choices, she must see through the fog of secrets surrounding her and everything she knows.

An interesting middle installment that takes a major shift from the first novel. It mostly focuses on the religious war between the Gilded Ones and the Merciless Ones, with something greater on the horizon. The end has a nice setup for an exciting final installment to conclude this action-packed, plot-twisty series.

An enjoyable read for a young adult audience into stories full of battle and strong female characters.

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as The Gilded Ones. This was dark and violent and confusing in spots. I will definitely read the next one though.

I liked this one, but I think I liked the first one more. This usually happens for me though in trilogies, so i will definitely be picking up the third one. Definitely a favorite series of mine.

I thought this was a duology and that I would get a conclusion in The Merciless Ones, but I only got higher stakes, a journey that expanded the already rich world in this building, a found family feel for the characters who were absolutely bad**s. I absolutely loved this and I love Deka.

I enjoyed this sequel. It was just as good as the first book and served to explain a lot more of the backstory and set up for the finale well. I actually went into this series thinking it was a duology so I was initially upset that the ending set up for another book. However, I do really like this world and these characters so I realized how eager I am to read more in this world.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed this title a bit more than I did the first one. This isn't my favorite duology but I didn't hate it. Honestly, I wasn't the biggest fan of this but again, better than the first title. I found it to be a bit confusing and it was hard to draw myself into this world.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

I loved the first book in this series, and I loved continuing the story even more. Namina Forna is a fantastic writer, and I love being immersed in her worlds.

DNF. *Thank you Netgalley for this review copy* I really enjoyed book 1 in this series, but just could not get into the 2nd one. It is like our main character lost ALL her humanity and just kept leveling up whenever it was convenient with all these new powers. It felt very different from book 1, and so much was changed that I just wasn't enjoying myself and had to put it down.

his was an anticipated release, I read and loved The Gilded Ones so much and I was itching to get back into Deka's world and see what she does next. However. This story... wasn't quite what I expected.

At lot of the humour and wit of The Gilded Ones, and the friendship bonds that Deka and her friends have, seems to be a little missing here. Instead, the focus switches over the (excessive) use of Arcane Objects and Divine Gifts, which never really made an appearance in Gilded.

I wanted to love this like I loved the first. But it was so much world building that I got lost in the specifics and couldn’t get invested in the plot. I’m hoping the third one brings back the action!