Early Review – The Merciless Ones (The Gilded Ones, Book 2) by Namina Forna (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 464 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 31, 2022
ASIN: B098PWTFFT
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Gilded Ones trilogy
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars
“It’s been six months since Deka freed the goddesses in the ancient kingdom of Otera and discovered who she really is… but war is waging across the kingdom, and the real battle has only just begun. For there is a dark force growing in Otera—a merciless power that Deka and her army must stop.
Yet hidden secrets threaten to destroy everything Deka has known. And with her own gifts changing, Deka must discover if she holds the key to saving Otera… or if she might be its greatest threat.”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in The Gilded Ones trilogy. I got a copy of this book through NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: I really loved the first book in this series and was incredibly excited to read this book. Sadly, it was disappointing….I almost stopped reading it a few times because I just did not care. This book follows Deka and crew as they continue to try and free the goddesses. During the process of freeing the goddesses Deka uncovers some very substantial secrets and must decide the best path to save Otera.
This was okay. I finished it and did enjoy some of the twists and turns later in the book, even though they were fairly predictable. Unfortunately, I felt very distanced from the characters, especially Deka. I felt like I was reading about them rather than experiencing this story with them. What should have been an exciting plot of battles and unveiled secrets, ended up being us watching Deko run from one battle to the next and make a number of bad decisions; it was just kind of boring.
I ended up skimming much of the middle of the book. Things were a bit more interesting towards the end of the story. However, as soon as I finished this I felt mostly relieved at being done with it and had no desire to read the third and final book in this series.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this book was fairly disappointing given how much I loved the first book in the series. The characters are held at a distance and the plot starts to feel very repetitive. There are some decent twists and turns towards the end, but the foreshadowing was sooo heavy here that they were predictable. Despite all of the action, I felt bored reading this and really struggled to stay engaged. I almost stopped reading this book multiple times but instead started skimming boring portions and made it through. I have absolutely no curiosity about where the story is going and don’t plan on reading the final book in the series.
