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Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1)

Tomi Adeyemi

Start date: June 1, 2019

Finish date: June 30, 2019

Discussion: Author's Pick

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What Members Thought

Feb 08, 2019 Jeanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-around-the-world, sci-fi-fantasy, read-women, read-2019, african-african-american

“It avoids rather than hurts, it hurts rather than maims, it maims rather than kills—the staff does not destroy.” “I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war. I give you the strength to fight, but you all must learn the strength of restraint. .... You must protect those who can’t defend themselves. That is the way of the staff.” (Loc.254-258)

While this is the "way of the staff," it was not the path taken by Tomi Adeyemi's characters in Children of Blood a “It avoids rather than hurts, it hurts rather than maims, it maims rather than kills—the staff does not destroy.” “I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war. I give you the strength to fight, but you all must learn the strength of restraint. .... You must protect those who can’t defend themselves. That is the way of the staff.” (Loc.254-258)

While this is the "way of the staff," it was not the path taken by Tomi Adeyemi's characters in Children of Blood and Bone. The "bad guys" chose violence first and the "good guys" talked about and flirted with nonviolence, but rarely perceived it as an option.

Easy for me to complain from my place of privilege. Children of Blood and Bone, written at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, is a book about power and oppression, abuses of power, and attempts by the oppressed to regain that power in a world where magi and their divîner children were starved, enslaved, raped, and slaughtered:

It doesn’t matter how strong I get, how much power my magic wields. They will always hate me in this world.

I will always be afraid. (Loc. 4647-4649)

Children of Blood and Bone is about misguided duty to father and country and the ways that we are indoctrinated to behave in immoral ways – Duty before self. Orïsha first (Loc. 3146-3147). It's about moral courage and moral cowardice, about accepting and being true to oneself, or hiding one's true self and blindly following orders. Who will we be? What path will we take?

We are all children of blood and bone.

All instruments of vengeance and virtue. (Loc. 7731-7732)

Trauma and loss thread throughout Children of Blood and Bone. Princess Amari used her loss to guide her thinking about who she wanted to be and incorporated the thoughts, values, and courage of her slave and friend, Binta, into her life. Zélie thought dichotomously and irrationally, doubting herself, always flirting with giving up. Somehow, despite this, she made it through. Both Amari and Zélie persisted – while Inan blindly stuck by his values.

Children of Blood and Bone is told in alternating short chapters in the voices of three of the main characters. Their voices were not distinct and convincing (to me); I'm not sure that I could tell each narrator – at least Zélie and Inan – apart.

Nonetheless, this is an exciting and moving story, one ending with a cliffhanger. I look forward to the next segment of this trilogy – although not with bated breath. ...more

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Aug 21, 2022 Phobos rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, owned-physical-copy, author-black, pov-1st, young-adult, fantasy, pov-1st-multiple

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Content Warnings: blood, classism, death, genocide, racism, violence

3.5 stars rounded down.

Children of Blood and Bone is a well-written Afro-centric start to an overthrow the racist/classist/power-hungry government YA fantasy duology. As someone who loves an Afro-centric book, but doesn’t care for YA fantasy, I still found it pretty good.

Highly recommended if you like YA fantasy with a little romance and high stakes (aka 'YA fantasy'). If that’s your jam, diversify ...more

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Jan 08, 2019 Stephanie Edens rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018

This fantasy is not only really a really enticing tale, The “Black Panther with magic” (author’s word via Pod Save the People) also deals with very real social issues. But don’t let this deter you! The characters deal with prejudice and oppression, with the horrors of history, with poignant grace and strength. I am not usually a fan of YA, but I am looking forward to the next parts of the trilogy.

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Nov 07, 2018 Heather rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was SO good. I loved the audiobook even though it took me about a half hour to really catch on to who everyone was because of it - and I ended up reading a bit of it in print at a bookstore one day to see some of the spelling of the unique names (my downfall with audiobooks!). Bahni Turpin is an incredible narrator and I have enjoyed some of her other work as well. This is an amazing debut from Adeyemi about a very complex world with some very real (and relatable to our world even thou ...more

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Jun 11, 2019 Becky rated it it was ok

A great concept and intriguing characters, but I was much more interested in the first half of this book than the second. The unrealistic, rushed romance just about killed me and everything fell flat after that. The writing was also just too melodramatic for my taste. That being said, I'm still reading the next book because THAT CLIFFHANGER THOUGH. ...more

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Dec 28, 2018 Madeline Noi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nxt-installment

This book is amazing...simply put. I know the author likes to say it's Harry Potter meets Wakanda, but I don't think so (Akata Witch does that more). However, CBB does a great job of encasing you in it's world.
Amazing world building and character development. I was equal parts angry, frustrated, annoyed, sad , and excited while reading this book.

As for INAN......OMGGGGGGGGG...i want to strangle him. He's annoyingly good at what he does and frustratingly annoying (try saying that 3 times) ...more

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