A review by om_sammy
The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A solid addition to the trilogy! I will say that for the first third of the book, I had a hard time getting into it and enjoying it as quickly as I did with The Gilded Ones; I found Deka to be annoying in some ways (especially when she would say "after all, I am the Nuru" to justify her behaviour in any way). To be fair, I do understand why she was like that, but it made it difficult to like her character as much as I did in the first book because I felt as though she lost some of the backbone that she grew. However, as the plot picked up and more was revealed to Deka (who really likes to bury her head in the sand), that backbone came back with a vengeance and I got to enjoy watching Deka come to her own conclusions and make her own choices once again. The storyline builds beautifully, and really makes connections to real life, which makes it that much more heart-wrenching. I can't wait to finish the trilogy!