Dzieci prawdy i zemsty

Legacy of Orïsha #2

by Tomi Adeyemi, Łukasz Witczak (Translator)

Magia powróciła do Oriszy, ale to nie koniec walki o władzę. Wojna dopiero się rozpoczęła!

Zélie i zbuntowana księżniczka Amari zdołały przywrócić magię w krainie Oriszy. Nie przewidziały jednak, że rytuał obudzi uśpione moce nie tylko w magach… Teraz w kraju dochodzi do zabójstw arystokratów, a w odwecie armia urządza polowania na całe wioski. Nad królestwem zawisa widmo wojny domowej.

Czy Zélie znajdzie sposób, by pojednać skłócone strony i utorować Amari drogę do tronu? Od tego zależy ocalenie Oriszy i jej mieszkańców. Jeśli znów wybuchnie wojna, królestwo upadnie...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Audiobook, Magic, Young Adult Fantasy, Romance

408 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 2019

About the author

Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, California. Her debut novel, CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, comes out March 6th, 2018 and the movie is currently in development at Fox with the producers of Twilight and The Maze Runner attached. After graduating Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, she received a fellowship that allowed her to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. When she’s not working on her novels or watching Scandal, she can be found blogging and teaching creative writing to her 3,500 subscribers at tomiadeyemi.com. Her website has been named one of the 101 best websites for writers by Writer’s Digest.

Reviews

[Teodora · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐

Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺

I do hope this book has the middle book syndrome because if not, then we’re about to have a problem.

I was so ecstatic about this book and I wanted to hype it so much and I started reading it with so much hope...only to be disappointed bit by bit.

Have you ever watched a balloon slowly deflating because someone didn’t tie it accordingly? The balloon was me while reading this book.



The world-building was spectacular in this book as it was in the previous one. I think it is impossible not to carry on with a world like that once you constructed it. So that is a happy aspect of the book.

The action was also lively. The book is dynamic, there is something happening all the time, it is like sometimes you have no time to take a breath. That’s amazing, I love that kind of action in a book.

For all of these things, the world-building, the change of pace, the dynamic action, this book gets all of my admiration. As the Romanian in me would say, it’s beton armat, reinforced concrete (aka super cool).



On a not-so-bright side, I must say that the characters really ruined this for me.

Amari was one of my favourites at the beginning of the book. I really felt so sorry for her and for the fact that even though she really wanted to share her plans, no one seemed to give a shit about her. She was deprived of consideration and low-key hated. And she didn’t deserve that. But by the end of the book, she started being more and more absurd in her decisions, becoming as stubborn as the rest of the characters.

Zélie was also stubborn and too smug to listen to anything or anyone and she always acted like she’s the only important creature in the world and no one else comes at least a bit closer to her own, colossal pain. She was the only one allowed to suffer, and no one else. And, (bonus!) you could always count on her to say or do something worthy of a facepalm.



The greatest problem of this book was the miscommunication or better said, the lack of communication. Everyone here thought they are the only ones that can save the kingdom and they were acting on impulse, not telling the others their plans. It looked like that oversized music box with a huge handle and at some point, a stupid clown pops out and scares the bejesus out of you. You were the one turning the handle endlessly, waiting for something to happen, but you still got caught off guard when that evil thing popped out.

When everything blows up in this book, guess who gets an existential crisis? All of them characters.

Something else that made the reading unpleasant: the unrealistic relationships. The romance in this book seemed a bit off and it felt lukewarm.

I honestly think that Zélie and Amari had a stronger relationship than any of the relationships there and even a more real power-couple potential than any of them both with any of the males in the book. I am a bit disappointed Tomi Adeyemi couldn’t actually make this romance happen.

“It was like the tides held a missing piece of my soul.”

I am truly sad after reading this sequel. And even though I feel a bit sorry for the fact that I was disappointed (because I saw a lot of potential in it!!), I feel like I summarised everything I had to say about it and even though it’s not all rainbows and unicorns, it is fair (by my standards, at least).

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 3 out of 5]

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

I think I made myself clear. I waited too long, Readers, fans, lovers of fantasy, first book’s admirers, likers, reviewers, everyone waited TOO LONG. We got invested, we felt for this characters, their growing up, their challenges, their purpose, their fight, the feminist manifesto, unconventional, rebellious acts hid behind their actions!

And finally I got my hands on the second book, feeling euphoric, excited, focused on getting lost in those brave heroines’ stories. But… yes I got lost because I didn’t understand the direction of the story, main purpose and motive of the characters. I found too much yada yada and bla bla…

I got angry, frustrated, bored and speechless. So this is not the book I got invested, waited and hoped to read! I’m really disappointed because the epic start of the story already stole my heart and normally I always loved second books more because at the first ones you just get warm up to the characters, their back stories and action normally comes at the second half but at the second book, we already know them from the beginning, they normally become more fast paces, strict to the point kind of full of action ones.

When it comes to this one, I felt like the main story sold its soul to someone and made an Uturn to the misdirection (mostly it moved aimlessly!)

I’m not gonna tell more about progression for the respect of your own opinions to read and find out and maybe there is a chance that some of you really enjoy this book but unfortunately this is not a winner for me and year’s one of the disappointments on my list.

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[Tara]

GOOD EVENING I WANT TO GET THIS COVER TATTOOED ON MY BODY.

***********************************************

Does anyone have any idea why the publishing date has been pushed back so far?

I need to read this to see if my theories are correct, dammit!

***********************************************

Okay so according to my findings we have an army of people who ship Zélie and Roën and so I hereby christen it Zoën

[Briana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Edited 2/14/2023: I decided to lower this to one star. I didn't like this and I won't be returning to this series.

I am so disappointed by this book—so much so that it breaks my heart. I am emotionally spent so I want to keep this as short as possible without ranting. I adored Children of Blood and Bone so much that I gave it five stars. The only reason why this isn’t getting one-star from me is because it’s not a bad book and I don’t want it to come across like it is because I have respect for Tomi Adeyemi.

The book begins about a month after the events of the first book ended. The magical system, Yoruba culture, and West African mythology is expansive. Orisha is an interesting world and I loved the characters from the first book so much and the stakes were high enough to keep me interested. Roën is my favorite character in the series and I was on Amari and Inan’s team. I just had a soft spot for Inan, he was so tormented and conflicted and that usually gets me going. The scenes of Zélie and the Reapers training were cute. I loved Mazeli, Nâomi, Mama Agba, and Na’Imah too. I felt for Ojore.

I despised everything else.

The plot was stagnant and redundant. Nothing really happens and the inner conflicts between the main characters added nothing to the story. It is also riddled with annoying contradictions. The cover depicts Zélie as this fierce warrior goddess and she talks about how she must keep fighting for Baba and her people, but she wants to give up, but she takes important positions as a leader. Zélie unravels so much in this book that her chapters were almost unreadable. Amari could have been a fierce queen, but her character development was destroyed to the point of no return. Amari and Zélie had the same argument throughout the entire novel, people kept speaking over Amari, but she never left. Inan being conflicted and having no control over his surroundings was cute in book one—not so much in the sequel.

Every intimate relationship was toxic. Roën kept leaving. Zélie treated Amari like garbage and would have sacrificed her. Amari was willing to sacrifice Zélie and several innocent people. There is a literal war crime that Amari commits that should be unforgiveable. Every romantic relationship was severed in this book—I secretly shipped Amari and Zélie from book one but after this, I won’t be comfortable with any romantic relationship. There was too much time spent on the complicated romance that it was a melodramatic soap opera. Tzain literally serves no purpose, Amari doesn’t even think about him enough when the chapters are in her POV. There is some queerbaiting here too.

Much of this book is a chore to read. Every character behaved stupidly to the point where I couldn’t stand any of them. I hate the villain of this story—Nehanda who is Inan and Amari’s mom is evil in a cartoonish way. She has no motive for why she feels so strongly about exterminating maji. Inan’s lack of willpower with dealing with his mother and the royals outmaneuvering the rebels at every turn was exhausting. The book comes around towards the last 25% of the book but then something happens that took me to the point of no return. Massive spoilers below.

There is a random gas attack towards the end that knocks Zélie out. She wakes up to the scent of urine and vomit in a cramped space in chains on a boat, which is reminiscent to the slave ships during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This might not be a big deal to some people but for me, I felt betrayed and unprepared to read something like that. I am not against those narratives, but it came so out of left field and it’s triggering. It made me angry to read that because that is not why I picked the first book up. Why can’t there be an empowering story without having that included? I’m mentally and emotionally exhausted.

I plan to finish this series, but my excitement has significantly gone down. I almost wish I didn’t read this book.

[Shealea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Updated review (14 April 2020)

Since I posted my initial thoughts, I've received some strong reactions and questions that I did not anticipate. For my peace of mind, I am writing this review to hopefully better articulate my opinion and the issues I have with Children of Virtue and Vengeance. But first, some important notes:

1. I am not an own-voices reviewer for this series and, therefore, I cannot speak on the authenticity of the Black representation. I also cannot speak on what is offensive or triggering to Black people. In this review, I'm going to discuss things that I personally cannot ignore.

2. Trigger/Content warnings for strong war themes; death and violence; genocide; mass murder and attempted murder; blood and blood magic (not explicit); torture; depictions of grief; loss of parents and loved ones; emotional and verbal abuse from parental figures; trauma.

_

To better contextualize the events in this sequel, here's a brief rundown of how and where Children of Blood and Bone ended:


✨ The ritual needed to bring back magic is interrupted and goes awry. Zélie uses her deceased father's blood to perform a different ritual in the hopes that it would forge a new connection with the gods.

✨ Inan is stabbed by his father, and Book 1 deliberately leaves out whether or not he's able to survive.

✨ Upon seeing her brother stabbed, Amari kills her own father, and as he dies, she vows to become a better ruler.

✨ Magic is restored and the ending hints that Amari has magic now, too.


_

Essentially, Children of Virtue and Vengeance is all about the violent war between the current ruling class (headed by Queen Nehanda and Inan) and the Iyika (a maji revolutionary group led by several Elders, including Zélie). Nothing else matters except this war, apparently. And from this war, Children of Virtue and Vengeance begins its quick and painful descent into being the book equivalent of Game of Thrones, Season 8.

This sequel leaves so much to be desired that I cannot possibly list down every single flaw in this book. So I won't even try. But here are my major issues with Children of Virtue and Vengeance:

1. The many missed opportunities to end the war and the unnecessary character deaths.

2. Error 404: plot not found

- Is it a coincidence that Children of Virtue and Vengeance has 404 pages and its plot cannot be found? I think not. In all seriousness, this sequel revolves around the war and nothing else -- which isn't necessarily bad, but the thing is the endgame remains unclear throughout the story. We never really get an idea of what the author is trying to achieve or what direction the story is supposed to take. We only get three kinds of scenes: (1) arguments among the characters, especially between Zélie and Amari; (2) Inan trying and Inan getting beaten up by someone and/or almost dying; and (3) the rebels' attacks being thwarted by the Queen. And these happen ad nauseum.

3. Bad writing.

- I bought a paperback copy of Children of Virtue and Vengeance at 50% discount, and this is my first time encountering so many typographical and simple grammatical errors in a finished edition of a book. Was this even revised? And aside from these shortcomings, there are also inconsistencies present in the world-building and in the plot.

4. Forced heterosexual romantic pairings.

- In Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Amari and Tzain are now a couple, while Zélie falls for a new love interest as her previous love interest licks his wounds. I know that I'm not the only disappointed Amari x Zélie shipper out there, although this sequel has made Amari irredeemable in my eyes (to be discussed later).

Nevertheless, I do think that the criticisms suggesting that Amari's character is queer-coded hold merit. The way Amari and Zélie interact with each other hints at a greater chemistry than any of these heterosexual pairings combined. I mean, there is literally a scene wherein Tzain kisses Amari and her kneejerk reaction is to ask about how Zélie is doing. How are they possibly straight!!!

5. Book 2 throws away many crucial elements and developments in Book 1.

- The restrictions in the magic system that was introduced in the first book? They don't apply to everyone anymore! Magical abilities that previously did not exist? They just appear and are explained away with "oh, these were gifts given by the gods." The close sibling relationship between Tzain and Zélie? Gone because Tzain's only role in the sequel is Amari's love interest. The unlikely friendship and mutual respect between Zélie and Amari? Poof, gone with the wind. In fact, it's the relationships that suffered the most in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, be it romantic or familial or platonic.

6. Whom are we supposed to root for?

- My biggest struggle with this sequel is figuring out whom I'm supposed to root for. None of the main characters are fit to take on any leadership role, much less the throne to rule over Orïsha.

✨ Zélie spends most of the sequel understandably grieving over the people she's lost. Because of certain events that happened in the previous installment, she has developed major trust and anger issues, which occasionally prevent her from making sound and logical decisions. I will admit that she gets pretty unlikable throughout the majority of the story. However, among all the main characters, I think Zélie has the most reason to not be her best self. Nonetheless, her inability to make rational decisions definitely means she isn't ready to lead a group, much less an entire kingdom.

✨ Amari is suddenly the worst character of this series (and no, I won't take any arguments about this). She goes from the headstrong princess who's determined to right her family's wrongs to a culturally insensitive brat who believes she's entitled to the throne!!!

✨ Inan is a wishy-washy character who constantly flip-flops on his beliefs and ideals. Despite his authority as the crowned prince, he is hardly taken seriously by his court and is almost always undermined by the queen. With that being said, he's the only decent character because, despite his flaws and general stupidity, he does try to do the right thing.

✨ Tzain has no personality or function outside of being Amari's love interest. There's literally nothing else that I can say.

Also, their convictions and motivations drastically changed whenever the author needed to push the plot forward. Truly, this sequel can rival the character internal inconsistencies in the last season of Game of Thrones.

7. And suddenly, Amari becomes Daenerys.

- You read that right. All throughout Children of Blood and Bone and even at the beginning of this sequel, Amari is built up to be this really admirable heroine with a heart of gold. Despite her upbringing as a noble, she is able to sympathize with the maji (thanks to the maji handmaiden whom she befriends) and defies her father by stealing the scroll that can restore magic. As we eat up the chapters of Children of Blood and Bone, we witness her grow an actual spine and a remarkable fierceness. By the end of the first book, we do want this girl as the next ruler of Orïsha.

However, in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, her character not only regresses but drastically veers towards an unforgivable territory. During the war, Amari initially strives to broker peace between both sides, and she believes that the best way to achieve peace is with her on the throne. And thus she begins her gradual descent into a self-righteous savior narrative. Is this starting to sound familiar? As the story progresses, the more Amari regresses -- with her becoming increasingly fixated on securing the throne and proving to her deceased father that she is a more capable and compassionate queen. Her fixation leads to her own downfall, with her making horrible decisions.

Amari's character development in detail:

✨ Amari joins the Iyika and is shocked to discover that she isn't immediately welcomed with open arms by the people her family has been trying to exterminate for decades.

✨ Amari is frustrated because (1) she holds no power over the Iyika, (2) she feels that no one properly appreciates her "sacrifice" aka her killing the father whom she hated, and (3) everyone likes Zélie more. She never seems to understand why everyone is distrustful and hostile to the daughter of the man who dedicated his life to killing them.

✨ To "earn" their respect and gain influence, she demands Zélie to teach her incantations and languages belonging to the maji culture. Zélie eventually agrees, but she explicitly makes it clear that she will only teach Amari if she swears not to use her magic against other maji.

✨ HOWEVER, Amari decides to challenge the current Elder of the Connectors Clan for the leadership role. During their battle, she uses the incantations to put her opponent in comatose. (Of course, this does not sit well with the other maji and Amari is still all "why does everyone hate me! i just want to be the queen they deserve!")

✨ For a brief moment, she is supportive of Inan being the king and tries to work with him. However, things happen that cause her to lose her trust in him, so she reverts to her obsession with becoming The Best Queen Ever. She also decides that she must kill her mother and brother to secure her reign.

✨ Despite Zélie's protests, Amari leads a mission to infiltrate their enemy's stronghold and kill her remaining family members. (Note: The Queen and Inan are hiding in Zélie's old village.)

✨ When their mission fails, it is revealed that Amari prepared a backup plan, which involves releasing poisonous gas into the entire village in an attempt to kill her family members alongside the innocent civilians. Let me say that again: Amari commits mass murder to become queen.

✨ And instead of reflecting on the horror of her actions, all she thinks about is how Zélie could be a casualty as well (because she never returned from the village). But after a brief moment, she convinces herself that Zélie's death isn't her fault.

No. I push away the weight I could never bear. If Zélie were alive, she would've returned with Nâo. The monarchy killed her with their explosions. Zélie's sacrifice allowed us to win the war. This is the story we shall tell.

8. The ending.

- Many readers have criticized the ending of Children of Virtue and Vengeance, but most criticisms I've read tend to focus on Zélie's shortcomings (i.e. her trying to kill Amari) and overlook the severity of Amari's decisions, as well as other pressing concerns -- specifically, the way this sequel inadvertently condones genocide, mass murder, and war crimes. I truly do not care if you think this is a huge spoiler because I think warning people who consider these topics triggering is more important than appealing to your sensibilities.

Listen. I do not have the energy or the time to unpack every minuscule detail of the last 20 or so chapters of this sequel. Instead, I will provide a succinct rundown and you are free to draw your own conclusions:

Summary of last 25% of this sequel:

✨ After the Iyika barely survive an attack from the Queen's forces, Zélie appeals to the Elders that they should leave Orïsha and start anew. She declares that she does not want to lose more lives in the war.

✨ HOWEVER, Amari convinces the Elders to launch an attack, as well as a mission to infiltrate their enemy's hideout and kill the Queen and Inan. (Note: They're hiding in Zélie's old village.)

✨ As they plan their attack, Amari secretly works on a backup plan in case the mission fails.

✨ They fall for a trap and the mission fails. Zélie is separated from her team and is stuck in the village.

✨ Upon realizing that the mission failed, Amari carries out her backup plan (despite knowing that Zélie is still there): release poisonous gas into the entire village in the hopes that her mother and brother would die from the poison as well. Let's repeat that: Amari commits mass murder to secure her throne. (Daenerys is shookt.)

✨ Is Amari sorry for killing an entire village of innocent lives? Nope. All she cares about is that she *might* have killed her friend, too. But she then convinces herself that it's not her fault: "Zélie's sacrifice allowed us to win the war. This is the story we shall tell."

✨ Zélie somehow survives and gains EVEN MORE power. She is able to give the same power to a few other Elders. Together, they magically resurrect all of Amari's mass murder victims.

✨ Amari is locked up for her war crime. (I guess it's not really a war crime if they're revived through magic? *rolls eyes*)

✨ Zélie realizes that her newfound power is unstable, and this can be resolved by sacrificing someone she loves. So, she decides to take Amari's life.

✨ Mama Agba steps in Amari's place and sacrifices herself.

✨ Inan discovers that his mother framed the maji for the murder of the royal family, which sparked the king's raids and genocidal crusade.

✨ Inan realizes that the monarchy is corrupt and decides to abolish it altogether. He then informs Zélie of his actions through a letter.

✨ Zélie still decides to lead another attack, and Amari is allowed to battle with them.

✨ Amari confronts her mother (aka the person responsible for the genocide of maji) and spares her life because she wants to be the "better person." (Never mind the fact that she committed MASS MURDER a handful of chapters ago.)

✨ Because Amari allowed her mother to live, the Queen is able to regain the upper hand and releases a (random) gas attack that makes all the maji rebels pass out.

✨ When Zélie wakes up, she realizes that she and her companions are in chains and are on a slave ship drifting on the ocean. And the sequel ends there.

And I also think it's worth noting that some have voiced out how the final scene in Children of Virtue and Vengeance is harmful and can be triggering to Black readers. Read this own-voices review from Briana and please consider hitting the review's 'like' button so that we can increase its visibility.

TL;DR:
Unfortunately, my full review surpassed the character limit and I was forced to delete many cited scenes and specific examples. But anyway, Children of Blood and Bone is a standalone now and no one can convince me otherwise. I will definitely not read the next book.

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

huh. well, this is a little bit disappointing. i finished this and all i could think was ‘thats it!? i waited nearly two years for that!?’ maybe my expectations slowly became too high whilst i was anticipating this release, but wow. this is not at all what i was hoping it would be, sadly.

similar to ‘children of blood and bone,’ the representation and diversity is what culturally enriches this story and gives it its power. the writing is also really magical. but the plot? wow. what a snooze fest. maybe its because i lost my connection with characters, but i just found this to be so boring. who knows if a quick reread of CoBaB before this would have changed my feelings, but i just couldnt find myself caring about anything. except inan. hes still the best.

i will probably continue this series only because ive made it this far. but if its another two years before the final book comes out, im honestly not sure my interest will last.

↠ 3 stars

[Warda]

Am I the only one that's losing interest here...? Debating whether I want to continue on with this series or not.

----------------------
HOLY COVER, GUYS.
HOLY FUCKIN COVER!

----------------------

TITLE!!!!! 😍
I'm anticipating this book so much I NEED AND WANT IT NOW!

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going to unhaul these books. I still like them but don’t love them. This cover is amaze balls though and I’m going to print one for my photo album!



Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Charlotte May · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You carry all of us in your heart. We shall live in every breath you take. Every incantation you speak.”

Definitely better than the first one! I was pretty sceptical going in as there were a few things in book 1 I didn’t like.

However, I’m glad I gave this a chance because it was exciting and engaging.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!

You have been warned.

So Zelie has rejoined her clan and along with her brother Tzain and Amari they are determined to fight their enemies.

But who should show up and become public enemy number 1? None other than Inan, Amari’s brother, Zelie’s ex and all around pain. Damn right I saw this coming from a mile away! Love interests that die in book 1 of a trilogy 9 times out of 10 return from the dead in the next book. And this was no exception.

I didn’t like the way Zelie treated Amari, as if she wasn’t included. In the beginning Zelie was a damn bitch. But by the end Amari did kind of deserve some of that heat.

Also I’ve noticed a love triangle on the horizon! How bloody YA typical.

Despite these flaws for me, the rest of the book was great. There is magic and battles, enemies and lovers, twists and turns and villains to hate.

I was entertained, which is all I was really looking for so I will be picking up book 3 when it comes out 😁

“You are the children of the gods. You shall never be alone.”

****************
I cannot remember much about book 1 only that I didn’t love it as much as I’d hope and there was insta-love. But I’m still intrigued for book 2.

[Bookevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

May 27, 2020: Bitched about this to a friend and I am mad all over again.

Dec 25, 2019: It's been over 2 weeks since I read this and thinking about it still makes me mad.

Girl, this was a mess and that ending seemed like it was written in 5 mins. thank u, next.

Utterly disappointing.

- -

About bloody time, if you asked me. March to June to December?

You have kept us waiting, Tomi.

[allie! · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m absolutely heartbroken about this book. After a year of anxiously waiting for this, I’m left feeling disappointed and empty after reading it.

-
SPOILERS
Every single character was so. so. annoying. By the end of the first book, I was an ENORMOUS Amari stan. I mean I was willing to die for her. This book just completely undid her wonderful character development and everything we love about Amari!! I cried, but not because of the emotional scenes, but because of how heartbroken I was that the author was doing this to her.

Throughout most of the book, I wanted to slap the magic out of Zélie. On top of being a terrible friend to Amari, she was being really wishy washy! The same problem I had with Inan last book I had with Zélie this book. She lets her anger blind her and thinks she can get away with just because she’s famous.

Perhaps the worst offense, there’s ANOTHER instalove romance. I was so happy when Inan and Zélie seemed to be over in the book. While I definitely thought they had potential, there was absolutely no build up and Inan was just annoying has heck. Now there’s Röen and Zélie, which quite frankly, wasn’t any better than Inan and Zélie. And why are so many guys in love with Zélie anyway? Yes she beautiful and powerful, and I understand she’s been through an unbearable amount of pain, but throughout the book she demonstrates selfishness and prejudice and is overall just not a good character. I’d choose the old Amari over Zélie any day.

You know how I said that was the worst offense? I lied. I have always, ALWAYS thought that the strongest point of this series was the intense friendship between Amari and Zélie. There was buildup, there was tension and anticipation, and most of all there was love. Basically, their friendship was more developed than any romance in this book. In fact, by the end of CoBaB, I was a diehard Amari and Zélie shipper (I even created a playlist for them! I was, and still am, in love with the idea of them being in love with each other.) But this book completely destroys that friendship. MAJOR SPOILER: Amari is willing to sacrifice Zélie to win the war in this book, and in return Zélie was like 5 seconds from killing Amari because in order to activate some special power she needs to “kill someone she loves”. Like BRUH what. Her reasoning makes this even worse!! “I can’t kill Tzain (which, okay makes sense, he is her brother) and i can’t kill Röen. So that only leaves Amari so ig she has 2 die 🥴. Like GIRL WHAT. Let me get this straight!! YOURE GOING TO KILL UR BEST! FRIEND! RATHER THAN A GUY U JUST MET AND fElL iN lOve wiTh. and girl we all know u only fell in love with him cause ur emotionally vulnerable and needed someone to care for u.

NONSPOILERS

Basically this book ruined my life. I wish I hadn’t read it and just lived in a world where CoBaB was a stand-alone to me. I loved Amari and Zélie so much, and I am utterly heartbroken for them. I also don’t understand how this book was over 400 pages and nothing happened. That’s gotta be an accomplishment. If I choose to read the final book, I hope that they will be redeemed.

edit: and i didn’t even TOUCH the subject of adeyemi’s bad writing

[Umairah (Sereadipity) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 4/5

Children of Virtue and Vengeance was the gripping sequel to Children of Blood and Bone. I enjoyed it overall, although it suffered a bit of 'second book syndrome'. It took the story to new heights and the consequences of their actions were graver than ever before.

After the shattering conclusion of the previous book, Orïsha was in a great state of upheaval. Although the ritual went wrong, Zélie achieved her goal of returning magic to the magi but she also accidentally awoke it in the nobility. She ended up creating a new type of magic wielder called tîtans who unlike the magi didn't need incantations for their magic to flow. This added a new dimension to the story and raised the stakes even higher than they already were. The irony of it was that she gave her enemies more power to use against her people and while the nobility hated the magi for their magic, most of them felt justified in using it themselves. Both magi and titans pushed the boundaries of their magic beyond belief accomplishing staggering feats and using it creatively. Although I don't think the ways in which they used their magic was explained very well it was still exciting to read.

In many books that feature 'the return of magic' trope it seems to be a force for good however in this one magic's return made Orïsha more divided than ever before. Both Zélie and Amari wanted to fix what they'd done and unite the people but ended up having very different ways of going about it.

Amari wanted to take the throne and bring about peace but her mother was determined to stand in her way (if you thought Amari's father was bad just wait until you meet her mother). She was a powerful tîtan and she wanted to use her power for good. She ended up joining the magi with Zélie but they were determined to make her an outcast. Her desperate need to prove her worth and end the war along with her father's words that still haunted her , 'Strike Amari,' made her make some very questionable decisions. Her quest for peace made her think that any sacrifice was worth the cost and I think she lost herself a bit in this book.

Zélie was destroyed by all that had happened to her in the previous book. She felt like she had done enough and she wanted to run as far away as she could from everything. Gradually though she found her light in the other magi and it was nice seeing her open up again. My main concern was the degradation of her trust in Amari. Their friendship was one of my favourite parts of Children of Blood and Bone and suddenly in this book they seemed to turn on each other at every hurdle which was extremely out of character in my opinion. Why couldn't they just have a healthy, strong friendship?

However, I liked Zelie's camaraderie with her students, especially her second. I also liked her relationship with Roën even though it was a bit rushed because they go well together. For most of it I wasn't sure if I could trust Roën or not but I was shipping them by the end. I really wanted Tzain to get some more character development because he was less of a prominent character in this book and it was a shame. It would have been nice to learn more about him and see his brother-sister relationship with Zélie develop more.

I think the main themes of this book were the dangers of hate . Both sides were blinded by their hatred for one another that neither could see sense, neither could see that their actions were stoking the flames of war not bringing it to an end. Their hate brought more hate and it fuelled them to use their power to destroy not build. Zelie's blind hatred towards Inan and towards herself for still having feelings for him stopped her from seeking peace when he truly offered it. Although to be fair, I wasn't sure if Inan would have stuck to any peace agreement anyway. He couldn't stick to his own decisions and beliefs and I just wanted him to make up his mind- he was more annoying than ever.

I think the weakest point of this novel was the plot. It felt as if it was going around in circles at some points and not really progressing. The plot twist at the end was completely out of the blue. At the time, it was thrilling and elicited a great amount of shock from me. On reflection though, it was a bit too sudden- like if it was thrown in there to create enough plot for another book.

Overall, I did like Children of Virtue and Vengeance. Some parts were stronger than the first book, some parts weren't and it might not have fully lived up to my expectations but it was still an enjoyable and diverse fantasy adventure with rich world building and I do want to read the final book in the trilogy to see how it all will end.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m on BookTube now! =)

trigger warnings: war, violence, genocide, loss, trauma, abusive parents

”Just tell Zélie what you want,” he says. “She’ll listen.”
“No, she won’t.” I shake my head. “None of them will.”

And if that isn’t the entire mood of this book, then I really don’t know! People, buckle up because today I’m going to serve some hot tea and not everyone is going to enjoy it. I’m not here to please though so you either read my honest opinion or you don’t. It’s up to you. ;-P Okay, this out of the way let’s talk about why I didn’t enjoy “Children of Virtue and Vengeance”. To cut it down to the basics there was absolutely no “virtue” in this book and if anything the “vengeance” part was extremely pronounced! Like so extremely distinctive I just couldn’t enjoy the book anymore. Honestly after the about hundredth time these “children” (that is actually a very suitable description for the childish behaviour they showed) couldn’t decide whether to make war or not I kinda lost my patience. And I’m a very patient person...

Don’t get me wrong, the first book was great. I mean I had my issues with it but I was really looking forward to read book two because I believed that the author would learn from the mistakes of the first book. Unfortunately what I got was something totally different than I expected. There was so much potential! We had the tîtáns that suddenly appeared after the ritual and we could have had such great character arcs and a really solid and good story line but this wasn’t what we got. No.

”Marked by white streaks, the tîtáns appeared in the nobility and military after the ritual, displaying magic similar to one of the ten maji clans. But unlike us, their powers require no incantation to come forth. Like Inan, their raw abilities are quite strong.”

What we got were immature protagonists that fought amongst themselves at every opportunity. MCs that were incapable of listening to each other and that were so stubborn and stuck in their way of thinking that they didn’t even ponder the idea of peace. I mean honestly, who needs peace if you can make war and kill each other? Why save millions of lives if you can just send them to death? The maji and tîtáns don’t need peace, no, it’s way easier to annihilate each other and to destroy everything. Way to go! Totally good solution! I hope you notice my sarcasm because urgh, I just couldn’t with them. With all of them!! Every single character! It was so frustrating!! And before I go on and on I’ll just head to my characters section and vent my anger over there! Just in case you didn’t notice: I’m still salty. *lol*

The characters:

Welcome to the land of doom aka Orïsha, where we all want to kill each other because happy endings are overrated! Who needs peace when you can have war? Oh yeah, and because we’re nice like that we’ll hand you lots of spoilers to deal with! Be prepared to be drowned in them. ;-P

Zélie:

Who is this girl and where did the real Zélie go?! It’s like her character turned around by 180 degrees and I don’t recognize her anymore. I mean she went through a lot in the first book, really A LOT but by the end of the first book she still was nothing like that! I so couldn’t with this new Zélie and I think fame got to her head. Everyone telling her what a special snowflake she is definitely didn’t do her any good and I wish she would have listened to the people that were close to her before she turned into the “Soldier of Death”. I don’t even have a single quote that would describe Zélie’s character because it was all over the place and there was nothing left of the girl we got to know in “Children of Blood and Bone”. I’m so disappointed by her character, I have no words.

Amari:

”I pick up a navy tunic, squeezing the silk to keep the tears in. What right do I have to grieve when the sins of my family have caused this kingdom so much pain?”

And here we go with the second lead character I didn’t recognize anymore. Amari changed at least as much as Zélie did and I hated to see her blame herself for everything. Where is my strong and determined queen? Where is the girl that always tried her best and never gave up? It’s like Adeyemi set her up for failure from the very first page and the ending was so convenient because by then Amari really became the person every single one of the maji expected her to be. If Adeyemi wanted to destroy Amari’s character she did really well. I’m sure no one likes her after the ending of this book which doesn’t sit right with me because up until the halfway mark Amari tried to prevent a war and then suddenly changed direction just because she felt betrayed by her brother. It was like: I was betrayed by him. I need to answer to violence with violence, it’s the only way. No talk of peace anymore. Sure I mean if I tried to prevent a war for about 1,5 books I totally would change direction from one moment to the next. Wouldn’t we all?! Sorry, I’m getting salty again. But I JUST CAN’T!!

”I don’t care what you’ve done.” Ramaya’s attacks subside, a brief reprieve as she catches her breath. “If you want to help the maji, kill your vile family. Kill yourself."

Roën:

”Thes idiots bleed for you. They die for you. And all you want is to run away and lick your scars –“
“What right do you have?” I whip around. “You left your home!”
“Because I had nothing!” he yells at me. “I had no one. You’re going to win and you still have so many of the people you love! I don’t feel sorry for you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself!”

Roën was legit THE ONLY voice of reason in this book! Honestly, even Mama Agba was such a disappointment. She saw everything that went wrong and didn’t do anything against it?! WTF?! Oh gosh, I loved Roën so much for giving Zélie a piece of his mind! And he was totally right: At first she goaded everyone into war and then she suddenly didn’t want to be a part of it anymore?! I think Roën was the only reason I read this book until the end, because he was the only sane and reasonable character among a flood of stupid and stubborn warmongers. I really wish we would have gotten so much more of him because he seemed to be the only character that was worth my reading time.

Inan:

”One victor shall stand at the end of this war. One ruler shall sit on my throne. I can’t hold back anymore. I have to take out the Iyika no matter what it does to Amari and Zélie.
This war ends with me.”

Good lord give me patience! There was so much potential for Inan’s character and... it all went to waste! Instead of forming his own opinion and doing the right thing he let himself be influenced by his mother and the people around him. Inan had absolutely no – I repeat – no character growth and even though he tried to find a peaceful solution for everyone and wanted to avoid a war it felt like he never really wanted to stop it. If you want to stop a war you take the risk and go through with it no matter the cost. No wonder Inan wasn’t successful; all his attempts at peace were just half-hearted and half-assed! You do things properly or not at all. Period! His stance of “I want peace but I still want to be king” was so illogical and it was no surprise the maji didn’t trust someone who held on to his crown like that. Uff...

The relationships & ships:

Zélie & Amari:

"Don't compare your scars to mine, Princess. You'll lose every time."
“I’ll lose?” I charge forward. “I’ll lose? You had two parents who loved you till their dying breath. A brother who stands by your side. Both my parents tried to kill me with their own hands! I took the life of my own father to protect you and the maji!”

All I can say to those two is: WTF?! I mean what happened to their amazing friendship?!!! Did I miss a memo? How did we get from respect, mutual understanding and trust to the sentence above?! I have no idea what I was reading but it definitely wasn’t the kind of friendship I signed up for. I hate what became of those two and I think if Zélie would have just listened to Amari and trusted her they could have found a way to peace. But nope, Zélie decided to be a b*tch and treated Amari like shit. I mean she didn’t even defend her against Ramaya and the things Ramaya said... if someone would say something like that to my friend I’d give them hell for it! And what did Zélie do? Nothing! She let the maji treat Amari like dirt and didn’t care. You know what makes me even more angry is the fact that they all treated Amari so badly and it was so, SO WRONG! And in the end after Amari really steps out of line and does something totally extreme and horrible it’s like: Oh, we were all right and it wasn’t our fault, it was Amari’s because she was wrong from the beginning. Never mind Amari tried to prevent the war from ever happening for about 3 quarters of the book. Never mind that Zélie was a total b*tch and sent so many of her own people to death and actually wanted to abandon them near the ending. Zélie is our precious heroine and she can do nothing wrong. URGH!

”You keep pretending all you want is to kill my brother, but I saw the way you two looked at each other at Chândomblé. I know there’s more in your heart than rage!” I point at her chest. “If you want to lie to yourself about how you really feel, fine. But if you damn us to this warpath, you’re putting innocent lives on the line!”

Zélie, Inan & Roën:

The pit of guilt in my stomach hardens, squashing my fantasy. But that same pit turns to a flutter when Roën slides a hand around my waist.
“Besides, what soul could be better off that far away from me?”
“You have three seconds before I cut off your arm.”
“Three whole seconds?” Roën smiles as the cart swings to a stop.

This was the most unnecessary love triangle I ever came across and I read so many books with unnecessary love triangles you have no idea. I mean seriously, what was the point of this?! We all know there’s no way Zélie and Inan will ever get together because they hate each other with a fierce passion. And that’s all the passion that will ever be between them. And after reading this book I can honestly say that Roën is way too good for Zélie. Just to think that he believes he isn’t good enough for her. Like excuse me: WHAT?! But you know: Having read so many love triangles I can already guess how this one might end: Zélie will get together with Inan despite all logic and Roën will most certainly die somehow. Because that is how you solve a love triangle like that. One person has to die. If anyone of you reads the third book please let me know with whom Zélie ends up with. I’d really love to hear about that one. *lol* Am I bitter about this love triangle, yes, yes I am.

Roën’s steps slow as he exhales, pressing his fingers to his forehead. I watch bewildered as he turns back to help her; metal drifting towards its magnet.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, tears brimming in her silver eyes. One spills out and Roën wipes it with his thumb, his unbandaged hand lingering on the side of her face.
They stare at each other, and it’s as if we all disappear. Unspoken words pass between their eyes. Roën’s shoulders slump when he rises to his feet. “Me too.”

”Your mistake wasn’t falling for a monster, Zïtsõl. It was falling for the wrong one.”
“Are you supposed to be the right one?”
Roën smiles, but it doesn’t hold any joy. “I’ve never been the right anything.”

Amari & Zane:

”Of course.” Tzain grins. “I live to serve, my queen.”
Though he jokes, his words heat my skin. He’s the only one who looks at me like I deserve that title. The one person who believes I can lead.”

I said it after reading the first book and I’ll say it again: Their love story came out of nowhere and it’s still irritating af. *lol* Amari clearly was in love with Binta and no one can persuade me otherwise. I find it weird that she would fall for Zane like that and that he’d become her safe haven in such a short time. Also their love ended as abruptly as it started, which only causes me to be even more irritated by their relationship. At first she is everything for him and the moment she does something horrible and stupid he drops her like a hot potato because that is EXACTYLY what we do with the people we love! We can turn our feelings on and off like a light switch, don’t you know?! It must have been true love! Oh jeez, my sarcasm is showing today. I just can’t with this book! I can’t!

Amari & Inan:

”I only asked for one thing when I joined this fight,” she cuts me off. “All I wanted was to end Inan.”
“He’s my blood.” I narrow my eyes. “You know I could never agree to that.”

I really liked their sibling relationship ... well up until the moment Amari didn’t even give her brother a chance to explain himself and decided to go into full war mode. What happened to the benefit of the doubt? I mean of course we wouldn’t even listen to our sibling. Why should we? We want war, so we’ll throw all caution and every reasonable and sensible thought out of the window and just go for it! Despite us trying to find a peaceful solution for 3 quarters of the book! Sure. Totally logical, right?! Can you still follow me? Nope? Well, I guess that might be because I couldn’t follow that logic as well. But here we go!

”Everything that’s passed between us flashes behind my eyes as I run. I see every way we’ve been hurt. Every face that we have lost. Binta. Admiral Kaea. Father. But worst of all, each other.
the moment I place my head against his chest, I don’t know who weeps harder. Me, or him.”

Conclusion:

I hate to say it but “Children of Virtue and Vengeance” so wasn’t for me and it was a real struggle to get through the book. I just couldn’t with the constant back and forth between making war or making peace and the fact that the characters themselves just couldn’t seem to be able to decide for a clear path made this impossible to enjoy. The MCs were so inconsistent in their decisions and they were nothing like the characters from the first book. Characters I may add that had a lot of potential and could have had great arcs. I’m sorry but this book really wasn’t for me. I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy it and that’s totally okay. I really wish I would have enjoyed it too, but I just didn’t and I guess that has to be okay as well.

___________________________

Okay, this is probably going to be unpopular opinion time and I hate to say this but this was the last book of this series I read. It was a struggle to get through it and that makes me really sad because this series had so much potential. I just couldn’t with Zelie and Amari in here. Also not with Inan and all the other characters... This book just wasn’t for me.

Full RTC once I figured how to put my feelings into words.

__________________________

It’s been three years since I read “Children of Blood and Bone” and for some reason it doesn’t feel like it? XD I mean here I am starting with book two and I still remember the first book more than just vividly. Seriously, if I’d remember everything in my life as well as I remember books! *lol*

Anyway! I’m very curious where this book will go. There were a lot of things I needed answers to when I finished the first book and I can only cross my fingers that I’ll finally get them in “Children of Virtue and Vengeance”.

The cover though! <333

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[Angelica]

there is a cover and I am absolutely living for it!!! look at fierceness. look at that beauty. it's art, I say. ART!

Now I just gotta actually read book one...

[megs_bookrack]

Update:: O.M.G.
Would you just look at this cover!?
O.M.G.



I received a notice from Amazon that this has been pushed back to December???
Is that correct??



But let's be honest, I guess that gives me time to actually read this first book...

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

so when's the next book coming out

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t really know what happened here. This series had such a promising start, there was so much hype and it just kind of...fizzled. This absolutely breaks my heart to have to write, but three stars is the most generous I can be with Children of Virtue and Vengeance.

Maybe there were signs of this outcome all along. The release date was repeatedly pushed back to almost two years after the publication of Children of Blood and Bone. The problem with having such a big gap between books is that you lose momentum; memories fade and people eventually lose interest. The whole thing felt rushed, very much like a first draft. I’m wondering if Tomi Adeyemi got wrapped up in picturing the world she created on the big screen. A lot of the dialogue felt like it was ripped from an amateur screenplay and any ‘action’ was more like stage direction than a narrative. It just pales in comparison to its predecessor.

The characters don’t hold up either. They especially fall apart in the third act. Amari and Zélie are like parodies of themselves. Inan prefers to beg people to let him explain instead of actually, oh I don’t know, explaining what his plans are. The entire conflict could have been avoided in a 5 minute conversation, at multiple points in the story. They treat their family & friends like strangers and people they just met like a long-lost twin. I lost track of the amount of times that a person around Amari, Inan, Zélie or Tzain threatened to murder someone they (allegedly) loved only to be met by....*crickets*. Not one word of protest or acknowledgement. The entire thing was so bizarre.

And I’m so tired of hearing about this fucking monarchy. It’s all bad—throw the entire royal family in the trash! All of the perspective characters, Amari, Zélie and Inan, have just taken up residence in their respective blind spots and refuse to come out. If I was rich enough to afford a new one, I would have pitched my Kindle at a wall. The romance—I don’t want to even get started on, but I will out of a misplaced sense of duty. I feel like Adeyemi was going for a Kylo-Rey type of relationship between Zélie and Inan. Simply put, it doesn’t land. And Tzain only appears when Amari needs her love interest present; otherwise he might as well not be in it at all.

One of the most popular subs on Reddit is called “Am I The Asshole?” Users recount a situation and ask the community if they are the asshole in it. The possible responses are:
- YTA (You’re The Asshole)
- NTA (Not The Asshole)
- NAH (No Assholes Here)
- ESH (Everyone Sucks Here)
Basically in regards to just about all of the characters in this book, it’s a big ole’ ESH from me.

I don’t want to end on such a negative note. I’m still invested enough in Orïsha to want to read the final installment. The world-building, the magic, all of it is so enchanting that I will trudge through bad character backsliding in order to continue exploring it. In those two years, I forgot how readable and consumable Tomi Adeyemi’s writing is. You rip through the pages desperate to get to the end, just like with her debut. I want to see more of the Tîtáns and Iyika. I want to know what happens to Zélie and her friends. But I also want the story to gain back some of the nuance and craftsmanship it had previously. I’m going to keep hopeful that like divîner magic, eventually it will return to us.

[Ara]

UPDATE: FINALLY GOT MY COPY!!!!! 🥳🤩 Already halfway through and may I just say, it was worth the wait.



Review coming soon🥰

DEAR TOMI ADEYEMI, I JUST HAVE TO SAY, MAKING US WAIT THIS
LONG IS NOT OKAY

[Bookishrealm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope. I don't know what happened. I don't know what the hell went through Tomi's head when she wrote this, but child this wasn't it. The only thing that stopped this book from being a 1 star ultimate failure was the magic system/world building and the possibilities that could come from that ending.

I don't want to give too much away considering that this is a sequel and I want people who have not read the book to have access to my thoughts. However, the characters in this book were ALL wrong. I'm not sure how Adeyemi went from writing such thoughtful and well-developed characters in the first book to producing a book that felt practically brand new. I didn't recognize anyone. Zelie was beyond irritating and felt as though no one knew the meaning of pain besides her, Amari becomes obsessed with victory and winning only to make the worst decision known to mankind, and Tzain just randomly fades into the background. It was HORRIBLE to see the characters I loved and cared so deeply for transform into these weird humans that simply shared the same name. To be honest, I feel like Tomi wrote this book when she was in a particularly dark place because that's the only way I can justify how her characters became so dark themselves. Don't get me wrong, I know that characters go through changes and they develop over the course of a book series; however, this was ridiculous. There is no way that your character should change so much that it feels like a completely different series or like a completely different author wrote the book.

Another thing that bothered me was the way Adeyemi uses her characters in really tragic ways to move the plot forward. I understand characters facing tragedy, but her characters were already greatly broken from the first book. She didn't give them time to heal before she kept ripping into them from one tragedy to the next. It felt cruel and unfair and honestly it didn't tug at my heart if that was her intention. It made me angry because I felt that their treatment was cruel and unusual. In doing this, I also feel like Adeyemi lost sight of the purpose of the first book. Children of Blood and Bone gave me this beautiful connection to this story that talked about the black experience through a West-African inspired fantasy world. All of the hard work was lost in this book. A lot of times I found myself asking well what's the purpose? Why is this happening? How does this connect to the black experience that we had in the first book? It didn't. It completely fell short of that first initiative.

The only thing, and I mean the only thing, that saved this book was the magic system and the possibilities that could come with the final book. I don't want to say much about the magic system because I don't want to spoil it, but just know that it's pretty awesome and it definitely was my favorite part of the book. The ending also left room for so much potential and I'm hoping that Adeyemi uses that to her advantage. It's sad to say, but this is going to be one of my least favorite books of the year.

[Aaryn Flott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn. That ending though!!! 🤯

Zelie broke my heart with her intense and heart wrenching feelings,😭Amari made me furious😡, and Inan triggered the fuck out of me😤

RTC

[Kobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Children of Blood and Bone and the way it used magic and African mythology. This follow-up had all of the action and magic of the first and did not disappoint.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

So... I’m disappointed and I’m upset!! A 3 but maybe even slightly less? :(

I’ve raved about Children of Blood and Bone to so many people in my life. I thought it was one of the most enthralling and richest fantasy stories I had ever read. I loved nearly everything about it. I still do!! It was so so good! I’ll probably listen to it on audio soon because I heard that it’s FAB.

The problem with Children of Virtue and Vengeance is that nothing important enough happened to advance the plot (in my humble opinion!). Sure, there were some major realizations and magical discoveries, but to be fair, a lot of the plot was repetitive. How many times did I have to read about the maji being tricked by the monarchy? How many times can the monarchy deceive and call the maji’s bluff? It was a bit tedious. Just the same thing. Attack. Retreat. Lose a character I like. Attack. Retreat. Blah. I have to say, I very much enjoyed the training lead by our QUEEN, pardon me, Elder Zélie. That was sweet, and that was about it!

I didn’t really like Amari whatsoever in COBAB, and I still have the same sentiments in this book. I love Zélie and I felt for her emotionally in each chapter. She’s so powerful, fierce and capable, yet compassionate. LOVE her. I’m team Inan, he’s a lovesick idiot who constantly makes poor choices but tries... at least he finally has some sense in the end. He’s my guy, Roën can GO. BYE.

Ultimately, the plot was tedious. Chapters with different POVs became tiresome due to the characters being in the exact same place at the same time, it slowed down the rising action and tension Adeyemi desired, immensely so. Even dialogue from different characters repeated frequently! Maybe this was a struggle for Adeyemi due to pressure (which hello - completely natural - I haven’t written a freaking book!!!), so this result is a shame.

I’m definitely disappointed, but I hope to enjoy the conclusion whenever that comes out. Despite it all, Adeyemi still has my heart!!

[Melissa Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF on page 139
(or 34% of 404 pages total)

When Good Morning America picked the 2019 YA fantasy "Children of Virtue and Vengeance," Tomi Adeyemi's sequel to "Children of Blood and Bone" (2018), as their Book Club selection, and the book rocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, I decided to check out the sequel myself.

I one-starred "Children of Blood and Bone," and after writing a thorough review for that book, my memory of the book's contents is quite clear. After skim-reading the first 139 pages of the sequel, I actually think that the second book is much worse. All of the characters have dropped into full-on depravity mode. The supposed heroes/protagonists are sending people on suicide missions to destroy food stores. Death and destruction are everywhere. Zélie screams and cries and throws tantrums nonstop. No one has even the semblance of a brain in this book. By the time I got to the scene in which Inan is watching his mother torture people to death while he looks on, as the King, witnessing atrocities and doing nothing, I just couldn't skim-read anymore. It was all just too awful.

I have read some spoiler tags for the book's later content, so I know that the characters do much more heinous things before the end. I'll add a Content Warning/Spoiler Warning below for those who are interested.

Adeyemi drew inspiration from "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (the animated show that ran from 2005-2008) in writing this book, and now that I've finally seen the TV show (I watched every episode in August 2019), I can officially state that I'm appalled that anyone would compare Adeyemi's work to that TV show, including Adeyemi herself. "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is *not* a gore-fest. The adolescent main characters in "Avatar: The Last Airbender" are doing everything they can to save lives. But in Adeyemi's work, torture and slaughter are the tools of the teenage heroes. It's really sickening.

At least when Good Morning America made their book selection, they left "Avatar: The Last Airbender" out of it. GMA called the book: "Game of Thrones meets Black Panther" in promoting the sequel to readers. Which is fair enough. The GoT reference is clearly meant to alert readers that "Children of Virtue and Vengeance" is a gore-fest. Also: this book is not Season One GoT, but Season Eight GoT, wherein the characters have no internal consistency, motivations, or functioning brains. If you enjoyed watching Daenerys Targaryen lose her mind and go full-on Hitler because Plot Puppet, then you will probably love "Children of Virtue and Vengeance."

I didn't watch GoT's Season Eight, but I enjoyed the fireworks that occurred after the internet suffered a meltdown when the penultimate and ultimate episodes aired. Adeyemi finished writing "Children of Virtue and Vengeance" in September 2019, a full three months after Daenerys Targaryen became a mad dictator, genocidal asshole, and murder victim. (RIP Daenerys, May 2019.) I have no doubt that Adeyemi enjoyed that plot twist, and drew inspiration from GoT in penning her sequel.

If you enjoy horror and gore, and believe that YA fantasy should feature buckets o' blood and genocidal protagonists, then I definitely recommend you add "Children of Virtue and Vengeance" to your TBR.

For me personally, I have to be honest: I don't want to root for teenagers who promote torture, murder, and genocide. I feel like I get enough of that when I turn on the evening news and listen to what's happening in Yemen and Syria: civil war, starvation, torture, genocide, leaders with zero morals, bloodshed that leaves me feeling numb and powerless. I sure as hell don't want to read about nonstop depravity in my fiction.

One star. Not recommended.

*****

**spoilers**

Content Warning: teenage hero promotes and commits mass murder (Amari); teenage hero considers murdering her good friend (Zélie almost murders Amari for a magical spell); general scenes full of torture and murder that are found in the horror genre.

[Olivia-Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before we get started, can we take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous cover? I love seeing black girls on our covers and she is looking fierce!

First of all, I have to get this out of the way. I do not like ex machinas of characters we presumed were dead. It discredits the author every time they say someone is dead from here on out, because we struggle to believe them. And I did not even want this character back so ^.^ That was not nice. ^.^

But with that out of the way, I have to say I liked some of the changes to characters. Tzain was given a bit more agency which is something I liked. He seemed like a bit of a useless and extra character in book one. This time he had more purpose. I do think Roen needed more time and development for his drive and motivations to be truly believable. And Amari…

Sadly, Amari is no longer a favourite character of mine. I felt like her character was forced out of of character to drive a certain theme and storyline which was unrealistic for her. While I did appreciate the message her storyline conveyed and find it to be such a valuable and important discussion, it felt so off for Amari as a character my heart broke a little bit.


I found Zelie to be just as passionate, frustrating and admirable as ever. I love her so much. I also really want to give her a good shaking. And Ojore did not get enough page time, but I loved what we did see.

The grief and grieving in this book was intense. I like that this book didn’t shy away from the deaths that happen in a time of war like this. And it didn’t shy away from how much this impacts the mental health of everyone involved. It did such a good job with that portrayal.

Speaking of the war itself… wow, what a wild ride. We get to see betrayals and trust issues at the forefront. Everyone seems to have their own agenda, even when they are fighting on the same side. I liked that it showed the disagreements and clashes. The book also talks a lot about how it is almost impossible to separate your agenda from your own personal emotions and feelings – which is something I don’t think gets enough spotlight. I also liked that we get to see truth and lies layering on top of each other until even the ‘bad people’ look good sometimes, and the ‘good people’ look bad. There can be grey area in everything and on each side.


As for the magic system, it was well explained and so cool. I loved seeing how the magic changed and developed over time. We got introduced to a lot of new magical new things. The world building was barely there, but we had enough of it from book one that we could understand the setting and everything happening within it. Instead, I liked seeing the focus shift to magic, capabilities, and what can and can’t be done with their powers.

I also liked how it focused on Orisha practice as a culture and something to be celebrated, rather than something to be hidden and downtrodden. It was all too easy to draw the similarities to black culture and the shifting perspective on celebrating culture over time. There were some discussions on cultural appropriation too. While I appreciated the sentiment, I was left feeling unsure where that discussion ended and what end result I was supposed to take from it…

The pacing was imperfect, but I still found it readable. It’s a slow start and the suspense builds.


The plot was pretty amazing. As I said, slow in the beginning but then twist after twist. I kept thinking: this is it, this is where it is going to end. But then it never ended. Instead it went further and there were even more complex twists until I was left a mess of feels, emotions and shock at the end. I need book three as soon as possible.

Congratulations, Tomi Adeymi! You destroyed my feels once again.

This review and others can originally be found on Olivia's Catastrophe: https://oliviascatastrophe.com/2020/1...

[sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

#1) Children of Blood and Bone ★★★★
#2) Children of Virtue and Vengeance ★★

I was so excited to read this book. I even reread the first one in preparation, which is a big deal considering it is the my only reread of 2020 so far. I had heard some mixed reviews, so decided to let the hype and my expectations simmer down- but I was still disappointed.

This book was significantly shorter than its predecessor, but it took me longer to get through. It felt like simultaneously nothing was happening and we weren't given enough time to fully flesh things out. While I enjoyed some things, in retrospect I liked the concepts more than the execution. I love the idea of a magic school type of thing, but while reading it I was bored. Most of things I liked about this were remnants from what I enjoyed from the first one. I continued to love the world building and magic system, but mostly because of how it was developed and explained in COBAB.

Instead of developing further, the characters regressed. Amari, who became my favourite character in my reread of COBAB, suddenly became irredeemable in my eyes and quite frankly insufferable. Inan lost his backbone and felt immature. Even Zelie annoyed me. Every other character felt like they were just there to fulfil their purpose without any other personality traits (ie Tzain is just there to act as Zelie's brother and Amari's love interest). Not only were the characters reduced, but their relationships felt forced and quickly deteriorated. I loved Zelie and Amari's friendship in the first book but it was dragged through the mud in this one.

Considering the two year gap between releases, I was expecting a polished and well written follow up. But what I got was a half baked sequel that I felt like needed another round of revisions. I felt like the writing- which was so well done in the first book- lost its spark and became bland. I didn't highlight a single line I liked.

This definitely wasn't my most eloquent review, and I apologise, but I was so emotionally invested in this series that it's difficult to write an objective review. Instead, here are some reviews that I think go into some of the issues I had in greater detail:

➽ Shealea's review

➽ Briana's review (own voices)

Overall, Children of Virtue and Vengeance exacerbated everything I didn't like about the first book, and cut out the elements that I loved from it. The characters, plot and relationships regressed and it hurts my heart. I was bored for most of the book and when I wasn't, I was sad. Not because of emotional moments, but because of how disappointing this sequel was.

I will most possibly read the next book, but who knows if my investment will last for the probable two years we have to wait. I sincerely hope this is a middle book syndrome type of deal and not a sign of what is to come.

[Tucker Almengor]

edit: SH*T WE HAVE A COVER I AM NOT OKAY GVUDGWGVDUYWJDBWJH
I need this book right now

I need someone to time travel to the future get this book and then go to 2018 and give it to me

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[My_Strange_Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

#mystrangereading Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book really frustrated me. It's not just a sequel slump--which I expected--it's the choices that Adeyemi made for her characters. To keep myself from going on a full rant, I am going to list my issues.

✨The fact that Inan is alive. REALLY? You couldn't have come up with another way to handle the 'plot' that he carried. It's so dumb to me that he is alive.
✨ Amari and Zélie not trusting one another and allowing jealousy, anger and resentment to boil up and ruin their relationship is ridiculous after everything they went through together.
✨All the bickering. It was excessive and annoying. I know building a new world and being in the middle of a war brings out the worst in people but the amount of arguing and fighting amongst different groups was excessive and unnecessary in my opinion.
✨Roën. Don't get me wrong, I love him. He was swoony, smodery and the tension between he and Zélie was amazing, but the turn over between tension to love was way to quick and weird. There should have been a slower build, a longer burn.

Bottom line: I will read the next one to see if she redeems herself, but her choices really annoyed me in the book and I don't like the way the series is going. There was so much potential in the first book, and I just feel like she killed her vibe.

My prediction based on the ending: Roën was hired to kidnap Zélie and even though he told his band of mercenaries to stop the mission, they defied him and kidnapped them anyway.

[Emily B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it was recently added as an ebook through my library and I knew if I waited there would be a huge wait to get it again. Also I had already read the first one so I thought I might as well try the second.

Firstly, the start of this felt really whinny.. I guess I haven’t read young adult fiction in a while so maybe that had something to do with it? Some of the relationships in this book were pretty disappointing, a lot of arguing and falling out only to reconcile and repeat the whole process again, over and over until I didn’t really care and didn't side with either character.

Although it sounds like I’m being quite negative, I didn’t hate this book. It was an easy read, I think I read it in 2 days, 3 at the most, so it was able to keep my attention.

But can I just say... that wasn’t an even ending... not even close. It wasn't a cliff-hanger so much as it just felt unfinished to me.

[Phils Osophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich liebe diese Reihe! Für mich macht sie einfach alles richtig. Ich habe es so genossen, wieder in diese Welt abzutauchen und die Charaktere wiederzusehen. Zwar leidet auch dieser Band ein bisschen am "Teil 2 einer Trilogie"-Syndrom, und kommt damit nicht ganz an Teil 1 ran, doch es ist trotzdem verdammt spannend, komplex und dynamisch. Die Charaktere kann man manchmal an die Wand pfeffern, ja... Aber hier hat das irgendwie dazu gehört und hat Sinn gemacht. Ich warte auf Band 3. Ungeduldig. ❤️

[Yusra ✨]

will read this even tho CBB was a 2 star read for me.
wanna know why???



one word



Tzain :) :) :)