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

Tomi Adeyemi

Start date: July 1, 2024

Finish date: July 31, 2024

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Sep 12, 2018 ✨Skye✨ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star-good

Well, now I get the hype. I am having some great luck with popular YA books lately, but this one is especially good! It really does something different.
This book follows Zélie, a diviner, which is the race that is oppressed in this West African based setting. Diviners used to be able to do magic but their powers were taken away by the oppressor King, who killed scores of majis in a tragic event called the Raid. We also follow Inan and Amari, the prince and princess and children of the awful King Well, now I get the hype. I am having some great luck with popular YA books lately, but this one is especially good! It really does something different.
This book follows Zélie, a diviner, which is the race that is oppressed in this West African based setting. Diviners used to be able to do magic but their powers were taken away by the oppressor King, who killed scores of majis in a tragic event called the Raid. We also follow Inan and Amari, the prince and princess and children of the awful King.
First of all, this book flourishes in it’s discussion of race and prejudice. Her author’s note at the end was emotional and poignant and really made what goes on in this book resonate even more. It’s an all black cast, which is sorely needed in the genre and the diviner culture is just as vibrant and wonderful as what we see in real life. This book is brutal-it was hard to read at times and had some very cruel characters.
The characters were good though. Amari had such fantastic development across the story as she became the Lionaire, Inan went through about 4 changes of heart and I am getting frustrated with him (holding out hope for him) and Zélie just broke my heart with what she went through. I’m ambivalent about Tzain-nothing wrong with him, but I wasn’t as attached to him as I was about the others.
I do have to say that I wasn’t a fan of either of the romances in this. They both happened a little too quickly for my tastes, especially (view spoiler) I also felt the pacing was a little off. It was action packed, but it sort of felt like long periods of time travelling were totally glossed over as it just jumped straight to significant events and ignored other developments.
Overall, I am very impressed with this book and with that ending, I am SO excited for the sequel. It was such a strong first book.
...more

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Jul 22, 2019 Jasmine rated it liked it

*3.5 Stars

I finally read Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone last week and I had very high expectations based on the tremendous amount of praise it's received from so many readers. Unfortunately for me, and it really is unfortunate because I so wanted this to be my new favourite book like it is for so many, my expectations were not met. Though I liked Children of Blood and Bone and look forward to reading the sequel at the end of the year, I just didn't fall in love with it. Sadly, I came *3.5 Stars

I finally read Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone last week and I had very high expectations based on the tremendous amount of praise it's received from so many readers. Unfortunately for me, and it really is unfortunate because I so wanted this to be my new favourite book like it is for so many, my expectations were not met. Though I liked Children of Blood and Bone and look forward to reading the sequel at the end of the year, I just didn't fall in love with it. Sadly, I came away from the book feeling a bit disappointed. But let me explain myself in a minute...

First, a mini-summary if you don't know what this book is about: In his fight against magic in Orisha, a king destroyed hundreds of families, killing every living maji to purge magic from the world. At the time, Zelie was a young girl and witnessed her mother's murder. Now, years later, Zelie lives under the same king's rule with her father and brother, and there is little hope that the magic in any diviner's blood will ever return. But then Zelie meets a rogue princess and learns there may be a way to bring magic back, that perhaps her destiny is to become the Reaper she was born to be. But getting there requires pain, sacrifice and facing the king and the prince, both determined to stop magic from ever returning no matter the cost.

This book sounds incredible and in many ways, it is. I loved the magic, the heartbreaking history of the maji's and their families in Orisha and I loved Zelie, her family and friends fighting for a future they believe in. Most of all, I loved the setting of the story and how it celebrated African culture and people, and the right for freedom. Tomi Adeyemi's exploration of social issues in our world today through her depiction of discrimination and violence against diviners is inspiring, honest and full of suffering. Her writing is beautiful. The journey the characters go on throughout the story, the dangers they face and their search for belonging, was entertaining, heartbreaking and influential. There is no disputing how much passion and feeling there lies in this book.

However, I still ended up feeling underwhelmed. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't read a new YA fantasy release in a long time and have outgrown some elements of the genre, or just because I expected to be completely blown away by the story and wasn't. Whatever the case, there's no going around the fact that I didn't like Inan, that I didn't like the big romance and that I thought the plot was too simplified for a book that could have been so much more. Yes, there were some moments I really enjoyed in the story, but there were too many things that felt like plot devices that only served to create more suffering and derail the progress Zelie and her friends had made. I found Inan's character insufferable and the romance (to which I won't give spoilers) so under-developed I just didn't care about it.

I'm trying not to sound harsh because I hate writing any element of negativity in book reviews and I still think this was a good read and, as I said above, want to know what happens next for Zelie, Amari and Tzain in Children of Vengeance and Virtue. I simply just wanted something outside of those YA tropes I dislike and I honestly expected more from Inan's character based on what I'd heard. But hey, there are more than enough good points in this book for me to return to the land of Orisha, which I hope will soon be uplifted by the return of magic. ...more

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