A review by cmucce01
The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna

5.0

A fantastic sequel to The Gilded Ones. Book 1 was a clear takedown of the patriarchy, while Book 2 reminded me of the summer’s Barbie movie, which questioned whether a female-dominated matriarchy is really the utopia that we’d like to imagine. Again, I loved the character development of Deka and the other alaki and unuri, and I loved the shifting allegiances and surprise twists — there was some wonderful foreshadowing at the start of the book but I didn’t see the big plot twist coming at all. I can’t wait to read the third book in the trilogy when it comes out next year!