The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells...

The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Gilded Ones so was excited to receive a copy of the sequel, The Merciless Ones.

Synopsis

An enthralling debut. The Gilded Ones redefines sisterhood and is sure to leave readers both inspired and ultimately hopeful.”—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval I felt this book was a lot more polished than the Gilded Ones and a lot more intricate. I enjoyed the action scenes and since the stakes are higher – the heart pounding action started early on. 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.

I think that since the first book explained the world and what was going on, we were able to just dive into the story. I really loved Deka's journey here as she stopped blindly following everyone and started really thinking for herself. Not only that, but she surrounded herself with such a great group of people to support and help her - and that just made all of the difference. I also really like how the main focus of the story isn't romance as so many YA's lean to. Yes there is a romance but it doesn't take over this dire world situation and instead, their relationship grows as they both grow. It felt natural and loved seeing the little moments we got of them. This book shimmers like gold. Add it to your library shelves to dazzle voracious readers.”— School Library Journal, starred review The Merciless Ones is recommended for upper school students as it contains violence and threat. Both this and the first novel would make excellent front facing books for dynamic shelving in a library and they would also make good summer reading recommendations. I am sure this will be as popular in the school library as the first book.

Overall, this was a very much anticipated book for me, and it definitely lived up to the first! I am beyond impatient for the last book in the trilogy! I do also struggle slightly with the writing style, sometimes I feel it’s overly descriptive in places also has quite a bit of internal monologue that gets repetitive. However, the world Forna created is as magical as it is brutal. Lastly, the romance. The romance in the first book wasn’t the BEST- it was kinda insta-lovey and overall just could’ve been better. But it was a lot better in this one- really sweet, tender, but still a bit uncertain. I’m really happy with what the author did with it and overall it’s just so cute! Deka’s love interest is also so much better in this instalment, so I was rooting for them as a couple a lot more. So, I did enjoy the romance as a subplot in this one and am excited to see where it goes! Well, the dream had to die at some point right? Secrets abound, sinister plots have been in the making for thousands of years, and what Deka and her friends find out is that they’re far from winning the war because of course, their and everyone else’s existence is in danger of extinction.