Publication date: 26 May 2022

Rating: 4/5 stars

Category: YA, fantasy, romance, adventure

Pages: 480

Publisher: Usborne

Source: Netgalley

Trigger: Death trauma

Hello Readers, welcome back to my blog.

SUMMARY

Fans of The Gilded Ones and Children of Blood and Bone will love the second book in an epic fantasy series about a girl who is the key to saving the empire–or its greatest threat.

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

But the real battle has only just begun and Deka must lead the charge. Deka is tasked with freeing the rest of the goddesses. Only as she begins to free them, she begins to see a strange symbol everywhere in places of worship and worn on armor. There’s something unnatural about that symbol; just looking at it makes Deka lose her senses. Even worse, it seems to repel her powers. She can’t command or communicate with the new deathshrieks. In fact, she can’t even understand them when they speak.

Deka knows freeing the goddesses is just the beginning. She can tell whatever dark force out is powerful and there is something sinister out there threatening the kingdom connected to that symbol–something merciless–that her army will need to stop before humanity crumbles. But Deka’s powers are only getting stronger…and her strongest weapon could be herself.

Review

This is the second book of The Gilded Ones. It has been six months since Deka freed the gilded ones from their prison. Otera is now divided, with the jatu still in possession of the capital city, Deka and her sisters [the alaki] have to make a new home in Abera for the goddesses. Deka’s powers and appearance are changing and she battles with her mind as well because there are arcane objects now in the possession of the jatu that are harmful to Deka and the goddesses. Deka is also struggling with her role as the Nuru; as the only full-blooded daughter of the goddesses, she is immortal and different from the rest of the half descendants of the goddesses, so she feels alone and alien sometimes in her difference.

Deka goes on a mission with her friends to find the priest who is orchestrating all the atrocities committed against women. Deka encounters a lot of things that contradict what the gilded ones have been saying to her. There seems to be another god in Otera and the gilded ones have wiped the minds of all who had previous knowledge of it. There are a lot of events taking place that puts doubt on the integrity of the gilded ones. Will Deka be able to figure out what the truth is and get her friends to safety before making a mistake she will regret?

The first book explored female oppression and liberation while this second book looks at the treatment of anybody who doesn’t fit the norm. Deka’s journey from hating divinity, to fighting for it and now needing to become divine to survive in unique and the things she has to go through to achieve her purpose are marking and shaping her. I loved the way it was written and every step that was unveiled in Deka’s discovery. Even when Deka was confused by events, the reader is not left confused by the story and that is not an easy thing to do so I commend the author on her clarity and making the reader feel secure in the Plot progression.

I gave 4 out of 5 stars because I just can’t wait for the third book. This story was thrilling, emotional, gipping, and just phenomenal. When I read the first book, I thought it should have ended there because I didn’t enjoy it but this second book is vastly different. I kiss my hand to the author’s brilliance.

 If you like this review and are interested in reading this book, you can pre-order it using the links below:

Waterstones (UK) – https://tidd.ly/3prSyR7

Book depository (Free worldwide shipping) – https://tidd.ly/3FvdFrh

Audible (audio books) –  https://tidd.ly/3EtH3gz

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Philippians 4:12-13  – I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.