This sequel was everything I was hungry for, I devoured it! The first book was very much Girl Power because it was about Deka - and by extension, all the girls of Otera - learning to be and love and liberate themselves. But THIS book widens the umbrella: NO ONE should be assumed to have, or forced to conform to, a particular temperament or behavior, based on physiology. This book addresses queerphobia, gender identity and spectrum, the trauma engendered from birth - from conception, even - of having an expectation of what a child should be rather than celebrating who they are, generational trauma, religious genocide, toxic masculinity, grief and the importance of therapy, toxic family vs found family, how feminism does NOT mean anti-male, and the importance of unity and overcoming the human instinct to categorize then judge/segregate/punish based on the arbitrary Us/Them lines WE'VE drawn. This book is POWERFUL in its themes! For anyone who thought the first book was a little too binary, oh no baby birds, no no no, just you wait. Namina Forna knows what she's doing. She's pacing you. The Gilded Ones was an appetizer. The Merciless Ones is going to fill you up, never fear.

And lest you're worried from above that this book is all themes no substance, rest assured dear readers, it stands as a fantastic fantasy, too! So many twists and turns, nothing is as it seems. The main characters are diverse, strong, shrewd, and supportive of one another. The stakes are even more dire (which is saying something, when the end of the last book was, "Destroy the patriarchy!") There are even more unique creatures, magics, and lands, and everything has that air of myth about it, like it came to life out of a book of folklore. It's cinematic in its action scenes, and poetic in its quiet scenes. And like any good bit of magic, the book leaves you wanting more.

I CANNOT WAIT for the third book in this trilogy!!! What a treasure!!!