Reader Rayna

Title: The Eternal Ones
Author: Namina Forna
Series: Deathless #2
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publish Date: February 13, 2024
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Pages: 480 pages/14 hours 29 minutes
Format: Audiobook

The dazzling finale to the groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling Gilded Ones series. One girl holds the power to defeat the gods—but can she become one?

Mere weeks after confronting the Gilded Ones—the false beings she once believed to be her family—Deka is on the hunt. In order to kill the gods, whose ravenous competition for power is bleeding Otera dry, she must uncover the source of her divinity. But with her mortal body on the verge of ruin, Deka is running out of time—to save herself and an empire that’s tearing itself apart at its seams.

When Deka’s search leads her and her friends to the edge of the world as they know it, they discover an astonishing new realm, one which holds the key to Deka’s past. Yet it also illuminates a devastating decision she must soon make…

Choose to be reborn as a god, losing everyone she loves in the process. Or bring about the end of the world.

This trilogy got better with each book, and this finale proved to be a spectacular ending to Deka’s story — or rather, the beginning of it.

As this is the third and final book in the trilogy, there may be spoilers, so keep that in mind when reading this review!

The plot of the story comes to a head as Deka and her closest friends and warriors have to find the source of her divinity – her kelai – in order for her to become a god and ascend to the true position she was meant to take. However, there’s many obstacles in her way as they journey to find it, least of all herself and her own feelings about godhood and what it would mean to leave everyone she knows and loves behind.

There’s many, many dangers introduced yet again in this novel just like in the previous one, The Merciless Ones, and just like the first two books, there’s a lot of violence that happens to Deka and her friends, as well as surrounding characters, whether they be named characters or not. As this is a young adult novel, the on page fighting and violence isn’t too descriptive, but it is still enough to invoke images in the mind and emotions in the heart, especially toward the end as things truly come to a head in the final battle.

I feel that there were so many obstacles that it almost seemed like it was kind of ridiculous at some points, as if they were only there to push the plot forward instead of being purposeful when they did show up. Mind you, not every obstacle was violent, and in fact, some were more challenging in the ways of the mind or in the ways of the heart, and those ones seemed to be crafted more thoughtfully and carefully, but it was definitely the battle oriented scenes that I felt were plopped in there from time to time in order to push the plot rather than be meaningful toward the story itself.

As for Deka and her growth, I do feel that the time in this book was much shorter than that of the first and second books, so she didn’t have as much growth, per se, but she did have a lot to go through, regardless. There was a lot to tackle emotionally and mentally for her in this installment that I feel that she did really well as an eighteen year old could, and I felt that she truly stuck to who she was through and through as time continued ever forward. No matter the situation at hand, her friends and allies could turn to her whenever they needed her – not because she was the Angoro or potential goddess, but because she was Deka.

I felt like this book is where everything felt a bit more solidified, even if we were still jumping around a lot and that some things were kind of all over the place. The romance felt more solidified, for instance, more tangible and real between Keita and Deka. I could feel the love and care they had for one another. And Britta and Lee had for one another. I could see the true companionship everyone had grown for one another over time, and how it affected them whenever someone was upset or betrayed another or joyful, etc.

More of the world was also shown to us in this book, exploring more than just Otera and allowing us to learn the truth about what had really happened to the Gilded Ones and the Idugu; why they became the way they are. I found this reveal, much like some of the reveals in the previous book, to be a bit shocking, but I felt like it also really helped to flesh out the world and expand on it much more in a positive way. It helped Deka to grow and accept what she needed to, and it helped us as the reader to understand just what was at stake in the world at large.

I loved so many more of the characters in this one, too, than in previous installments, as well as felt more conflicted or repulsed by others, as well.

Also, the ending made me cry. I wasn’t expecting that, but it did, and that just shows how much I grew attached to these characters and the story, and how much it touched me with how Forna wrote their stories together.

Overall, I enjoyed this trilogy more than I was expecting. Each book got better with each installment, and I’m glad I gave it the chance it deserved. Eventually I’ll reread it and see how I feel about it, and I think when I do I’ll listen to all three on audiobook instead of just part of book two and all of book three. Maybe then I’ll be fully immersed in the world rather than only partly.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced young adult fantasy trilogy inspired by West African mythology, sprinkled with East Asian and Northern European mythologies and cultures, then you should defintiely check out the Deathless trilogy by Namina Forna.

4.5 stars