Warning: Since the Merciless Ones is the second book in a series, this review will contain spoilers for book one. In case you haven’t read The Gilded Ones (the first book) yet, I would advise you not to continue reading this review.

Summary:

Deka has freed the Gilded Ones, the true goddesses of Otera. But the jatu won’t accept defeat and will do everything in their power to stop the alaki from destroying the system of oppression they have so carefully created. Together with her friends, Deka continues fighting for a better world, one in which women are equal to men and everyone is free. However, Deka slowly discovers that not everything she believed is true. Confronted with new realities, she must find a way to stay true to her values while completing her mission before it is too late.

Review

Most readers probably know the fear that the sequel to a favourite book won’t be able to live up to the expectations, which are usually quite high. As excited as I was to finally read The Merciless Ones, I was equally hesitant. I loved the first book a lot and I was afraid that I would be disappointed. It turned out that my fears were unnecessary. The Merciless Ones allowed me to reenter the world I came to have a love-hate relationship with and gave me everything that fascinated me so much when reading the first book.

The Merciless Ones, much like The Gilded Ones, is a very relevant novel in terms of the themes it explores. Identity, oppression, discrimination, stereotypes and fighting for a more equal and overall better world are all topics we encounter in today’s world as well. The social commentary woven into those novels are one of the main reasons I love this series so much. Fictional worlds allow us to reimagine what we experience in our world in a different context and allow us to see things from a different perspective. The Merciless Ones definitely gave me something to think about and with its diverse cast of characters, maybe you can even identify with some of them, their experiences and opinions to a certain point. The Merciless Ones introduces us to a variety of new ideas regarding the development of Otera, which goal should be pursued and how this should be done. Futhermore, there are also quite some new characters appearing throughout the story and we also see how the characters we already know develop over time.

Overall, I really loved the way Forna handled those topics. There is not one truth that everyone believes, even among the people fighting on the same side, there are different opinions and ideas present and as a reader you are often confronted with new truths and revelations that shine a new light on certain events and people. Having my “knowledge” questioned and my beliefs turned upside down just like Deka does, allowed me to better connect to Deka and her struggle to navigate in a world where “the truth” is always subjective and you never know if what you are told is actually true and if so, to what extent. As a result, we get to see how the characters change their opinions on people and on what the desirable result is, which reflects something that is very important to our world as well: people change, opinions change and with every new thing we learn we may change our view on certain topics and begin to better understand the world we live in.

Apart from the social commentary, The Merciless Ones was also a captivating story about the continued fight to build a better world for everyone. Freeing the goddesses seemed to be the end goal in the first book but an entire country doesn’t change from one day to the next. Mindsets don’t simply change because there is a new power involved and the emperor being defeated doesn’t mean the entire system collapses immediately. Where other stories end, The Merciless Ones continues its story and shows us the process that follows the initial victory (although it was not the way I imagined it to happen, I won’t go more into detail about this to avoid spoilers…).

The story was definitely fast-paced, with a lot of action and plot twists along the way. While it definitely didn’t get boring during the book, sometimes the plot moved a little too fast for my taste. I prefer it when there is a little more time to see the characters evolve and there aren’t as many time-skips in between to get to another crucial part of the plot. Usually, the sequences between the actual events are where we truly get to know the characters and learn to love them as well as understanding their struggles better. In my opinion, the book lacked that aspect a bit. I do understand that everything was very urgent and many times the characters were under pressure to complete a task within a certain time frame but some more of the small moments in between battle would surely have been possible.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t get to see any character development or interactions. Many of the characters change throughout the course of the novel as do some of the relationships between the characters. Overall, I love how the characters are written and how each one has their unique features to them, representing a wide range of opinions, traits and identities. However, due to the fast pacing and relatively big cast of characters, the time getting to know each individual character is limited.

Regarding the world the story is set in, there are many new facets explored. While the main plot of The Gilded Ones focused on the Warthu Bera, during The Merciless Ones we get to see different parts of the country and what is happening in the lives of the normal citizens. It was fascinating to see more of the country and its culture, especially about the normal lifestyle that wasn’t thematised a lot in the first book.

To sum it up: I really enjoyed reading the book, especially for its social commentary, the characters and the world it is set in. I can definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed The Gilded Ones. If you are into a fast-paced novel this is the perfect choice for you, however if you prefer to get more “downtime” between action sequences this might not be the book for you. Still, if you liked The Gilded Ones, I recommend you give it a try!

Things to consider before reading:

Due to the type of the story, there is quite a lot of violence featured, both regarding the treatment of the people within the world in general and regarding the fight between the jatu and the alaki. Furthermore, it features discrimination, racism, oppression, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc. I think it is important to note that the previously mentioned themes are there to illustrate the problems of the current state of Otera and are criticised as part of the fight for a better world, in which those restrictive and harmful mindsets are no longer present. If you feel uncomfortable reading about that, it might still be better to not read this book.

Generally, I think if you were fine reading The Gilded Ones, you should also be fine reading The Merciless Ones. I would still recommend you double check in case you have any triggers.

Disclaimer: This should serve solely as a guide when deciding whether or not to read this book. I cannot guarantee that this list is complete. If you are triggered by something or want to avoid certain topics, please make sure to double check.

Feel free to share your opinion on the book in the comments. I would love to hear what you think about it and whether you liked it!

Please remember to keep the comments spoiler-free or add a Spoiler Alert beforehand so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the reading experience without already knowing everything that happens.