A review by mrtvavrana
The Eternal Ones by Namina Forna

adventurous emotional inspiring slow-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? No

3.0

The final book in the Deathless trilogy takes us on the final adventures with Deka and her friends. 

I really liked The Gilded Ones, but The Merciless Ones proved to be disappointing. I had some hope left for The Eternal Ones, and while it definitely picked up, it was not enough to make me love it. 

Overall, I have to say I loved Deka's storyline.

Starting out as a scared little girl, she slowly became a warrior, a leader, a daughter of the goddesses, and now she is about to fulfil her fate and become a god herself. I think we need more books like this, books that empower and show girls and women that they can be anything. I liked that Deka´s growth was steady. I also really appreciate that she was not hurt and tortured in order to advance a man´s story (looking at you, SJM). 

Similarly to The Merciless Ones, the plot was very predictable and slow. There were some moments when I considered pausing the book. For the longest time it felt like nothing was happening, and then out of nowhere—the final battle is in full swing. 

This book has brought us even more queer, non-binary, intersex, (?) and transgender (I think?) characters, which I genuinely found weird and a bit overwhelming. Somebody was coming out every other chapter. It was so chaotic and hard to follow. Not to mention all the main characters stayed cishet up until the end. 

One thing that really bugged me while I was reading The Merciless Ones was how much space the romance between Deka and Keita takes. This, again, did not change a bit. The romance just felt like a filler because the author needed to hit a word count. We also got more romance between other characters. 

I think that despite how powerful the story seemed, the ending did not do it any justice. It was pretty underwhelming, and I found it lacking in so many ways.

I also did not understand why Keita and White Hands of all people chose to become gods; it went completely against everything they believed and stood for./spoiler> 

Deka is still insufferable and annoying until the end. The whole time I kept wondering where that incredible heroine disappeared to. 

Overall, I think this was a decent read. It was fast and fun, and the characters were lovable (for the most part), but I think the first book set the bar too high, and I set my hopes too high, and my expectations were not met.