Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - The Merciless Ones

A beautiful continuation to The Gilded Ones, with plenty of twists and turns to keep your brain jogging to keep up! I put off reading this book for a little while as I was concerned it wouldn't be able to live upto the engagement and quality of the first book, but this was on par with the first book all the way!

I loved how the story took things you thought you knew from the events of The Gilded Ones and turned them on their head once more. Truly I have no idea what to expect the final book will tell but I am certainly looking forward to it! I loved watching these girls and some of the lads grow into their own and becoming these fully fleshed characters while exploring some back stories and flaws.

The only downside is, like the first book, I felt the pacing was medium except when I hit the last quarter or so of the book. The pace seemed to quite rapidly pick up here, it was still written very well, I just would have prefered more time spent with their characters and the stories they have to tell.

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lucy_shanners's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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story_goblin's review

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I was slightly concerned at the beginning because

something seemed off and uncomfortable about the Mothers

but once it became apparent that that was on purpose, I got even more into the book than I expected to. There are very few (no?) other books that so deftly address the nuance and complications of true conflict like this one- maybe Hunger Games, but it's been too long since I've read them. All the characters have differing and complex reasons for participating in the conflict they ways that they do, and precious few (only 1, which is honestly arguable) of those reasons are "I'm just evil". As much as I want and need stories that give me hope that humanity can find a way to stop destroying everything, many of those stories oversimplify into villain vs hero. This book does not. I am slightly worried about where the next book is going-

Deka being a goddess instead of humanity's rescue being human despite the very strong religion corrupts messages

- but Forna surprised me with the first two books, so I'll absolutely give her the chance to surprise me again.

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dhwani's review

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A perfect sequel to The Gilded Ones (which I rated 5/5 too), The Merciless Ones is dark, adventurous and thoroughly thrilling. It follows the story of Deka, who has finally freed the goddesses but still has to do much more than that to ensure the safety of people in Otera. Enraged by her actions, the jatu are killing and torturing the women even more so, and Deka has to stop it. She comes across a lot of new things which she was never certain existed, hence, with her bloodsisters and the uruni by her side, she is sent on a mission to find an artifact that the goddesses are certain is the reason behind the peculiarities seen among the jatu and the new deathshrieks.

However, as she goes about this journey, she encounters a lot of people who make her question her loyalty to the mothers. She discovers powers she never thought she possessed, and a lot many truths are revealed to her. On the other hand, there is also the enigma of the symbol that makes her lose her senses and the story behind it. She knows that whatever she is against is no common army she can defeat easily, and her only weapon to get out of this battle alive and save the people of Otera is herself.

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t remember the previous books easily when a sequel is released, and I didn’t have enough time to reread The Gilded Ones. This book, although, summarised the previous points such that I recollected everything perfectly and the elements leading up to the building of the new story weren’t lost. Deka’s character was my favourite, like always. She is written in a way that lays her vulnerable with both her strengths and weaknesses. Her powers don’t mean that she forgets the trauma she has from what happened to her.

The side characters were also all so well-written. I loved getting an insight to their backstories and despite having so many side characters, none of them were useless or just standing by.

I also liked the fact that unlike other liberal feminist stories, this one focused on the problems faced by all the genders and people instead of the usual man-hating feminism that the mainstream is reverting towards. The values set in this book were so good and I liked that part the most. AND WE LOVE TO SEE BADASS WOMEN FIGHTING AJHBHSB ALL THE CHARACTERS WERE SO SO COOL IMAGINE HAVING POWERS AND FIGHTING TOGETHER AS A TEAM TAKE MY HEART ALREADY!!!

There were also so many plot twists and THE ENDING HABJHHJNFJDSB I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL TO BE HERE ALREADY!!!

I totally loved this book and please read it and let me know so we can scream about it together!!!

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