Title: The Merciless Ones
Author: Namina Forna
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publishing date: 31st May 2022
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

CONTENT WARNING: Violence, blood, torture, homophobia, misogyny, death of a parent

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. But the real battle has only just begun and Deka must lead the charge. Deka is tasked with freeing the rest of the goddesses. Only as she begins to free them, she begins to see a strange symbol everywhere in places of worship and worn on armor. There’s something unnatural about that symbol; just looking at it makes Deka lose her senses. Even worse, it seems to repel her powers. She can’t command or communicate with the new deathshrieks. In fact, she can’t even understand them when they speak. Deka knows freeing the goddesses is just the beginning. She can tell whatever dark force out is powerful and there is something sinister out there threatening the kingdom connected to that symbol–something merciless–that her army will need to stop before humanity crumbles. But Deka’s powers are only getting stronger… and her strongest weapon could be herself.

A big thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for including me and sending me a copy to review for this Blog Tour!

Click here to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on this tour!

Book Links:

Goodreads – Amazon – B & N – BookDepository – Indigo – IndieBound

My thoughts: The Merciless Ones is a fast-paced story, full of action, found family and plot twists that would make your head spin (in a good way). After the cliffhanger ending of the first book, The Gilded Ones, I was so excited to read this to find out what happened next, and wow it was so good!

All the characters go through major changes in this book, especially Deka. She becomes so much stronger, both physically and mentally through her journey of self-discovery and learning her true destiny. She learns to enhance her powers and discovers new ones in the process.

I love Deka and Britta so much. They have such an amazing connection and would do anything for each other and I love to see it. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book to find out what’s next for these characters! This series is becoming one of my favourites!

Hope you all enjoyed my review! Happy reading x

About the Author

Namina Forna is a young adult novelist based in Los Angeles, and the author of the upcoming epic fantasy YA novel The Gilded Ones. Originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa, she moved to the US when she was nine and has been traveling back and forth ever since. Namina has an MFA in film and TV production from USC School of Cinematic Arts and a BA from Spelman College. She works as a screenwriter in LA and loves telling stories with fierce female leads.

Author Links:

Website – Twitter – Instagram – Goodreads

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