Otereans now think jatu are traitors to the nation. There are now wars waging across the kingdom. It’s been six months since Deka has freed the goddesses and discovered who she really is.

Here’s how the publisher describes the story. It picks up where its predecessor left off, as Deka and her sisters continue to work to free the goddesses, solve the mystery of a strange symbol that’s haunting their steps, and fight back against the mysterious dark force that’s steadily encroaching upon the kingdom. The Merciless Ones is the second installment in Forna’s Deathless trilogy, set and aims to expand its world full of fantastical creatures, fierce heroines, and a centuries-old divine conflict even further. The Gilded Ones follows Deka as she learns to claim her power alongside other young women like herself, fellow outcasts who’ve spent most of their lives being told their differences make them worthless, and fighting with and for each other along with way.

These near-immortal fighters essentially serve as the front line of defense against magical threats for the same people who so recently discarded them. Namina Forna’s The Gilded Ones introduced us to a richly imagined West African-inspired fantasy world, one in which women are sadly still too often the victims of oppression and violence, depending on whether their blood runs pure (red) or tainted (gold) during a so-called “Ritual of Purity”.ĭeka yearns to belong but is cast out of her village after her blood runs gold during her test, where she discovers that she is a part of a race of warrior women known as alaki.

Namina forna the merciless ones