Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1) in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Nov 30, 2018 Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~ marked it as to-read

Truly, I don’t keep up with an author’s every move to make sure they’re always on their best behavior. Some of the best authors in the business are dreadful people.

But I have to say that Tomi Adeyemi’s recent call out of Nora Roberts on Twitter, accusing this well known & well loved author of capitalizing on her recent bestseller’s fame by copying the title? It’s not a good look. It’s taken the wind out of my sails a bit, and now I am not so excited to read this book. Since I own a copy, I’ll le ...more

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Dec 12, 2019 Justin rated it did not like it

DNF at 40%.

Did not finish at forty percent, but, man, I really wanted to finish at 100%. I got way ahead of myself on this one. I grabbed it from the library, started reading it, and went back to the library the next day to pick up the second book that just came out. I downloaded the audiobook, too, and I was all in ready to go. Couple of quick notes:

1. As Maya pointed out to me, I tried to read this at the same time as Oathbringer by Sanderson. She makes a good point. I probably should not have DNF at 40%.

Did not finish at forty percent, but, man, I really wanted to finish at 100%. I got way ahead of myself on this one. I grabbed it from the library, started reading it, and went back to the library the next day to pick up the second book that just came out. I downloaded the audiobook, too, and I was all in ready to go. Couple of quick notes:

1. As Maya pointed out to me, I tried to read this at the same time as Oathbringer by Sanderson. She makes a good point. I probably should not have done that.

2. Years ago, I had a friend on GR who started up his own Booktube. I don’t think he’s around anymore, or maybe I just don’t see him reviewing books like I used to, but I do remember something he said in his first video. He was talking about his love for fantasy novels, especially really long, epic fantasy series. One quote I remember is when he quipped dryly, “I do not read young adult books. I am an adult.” And I get it, although I disagree somewhat. I’ve enjoyed plenty of young adult novels even though I’m firmly planted in my mid-thirties now. This young adult book just didn’t land with me.

So, maybe reading it in conjunction with a much bigger, better fantasy novel and just, you know, getting older, maybe those are the reasons. I don’t know.

I did really like the setting. It was unique, and the characters started out OK in the beginning, but the plot just felt really bland to me. Everything that happened felt like something I’ve read before. I found myself a step ahead of the book, already knowing what was going to happen before it did, not surprised by anything or engaged in what was unfolding. When I found myself starting to skim the pages of the book or speeding up the audiobook to a point where I could barely understand what the narrator was saying... that’s when I knee it was time to just move on.

And moving on is cool in the world of books. There are literally millions of books out there, all of them fighting for our attention, for just a little bit of our time. I’m gonna go today and drop these books off at the library because someone is waiting to read this series, someone is ready to fall in love with it much more than I did, and I’m excited for them to have that experience.

One of my resolutions for next year is to just read one book at a time, to just give one book my undivided attention before reading anything else. I don’t know if it will ultimately help, but I don’t want to read six different books at a time next year. Especially if I’m reading a random Sanderson. That isn’t fair for any other book that has to be read simultaneously.

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Apr 19, 2019 Shruti rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Maybe more like a 3.75* for me.

This was such a super hyped book. I kept reading/hearing about this book continuously. I think I can safely say that it mostly lives up to the hype (atleast for me)

I loved the magic system and the world.

Though, I wasn't the biggest fan of the main characters. I found Amari to be the weakest character, and I usually hate it when a weak character suddenly becomes brave. That is not how real life works. Zelie, was a strong character though annoying and impulsive at ti ...more

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