Melissa Stacy’s Reviews > Children of Blood and Bone > Status Update

I am so impressed with myself for finishing this book. I had zero investment in the characters, the world, or this flimsy plot -- to bring magic back to fantasy Nigeria, aka nonsense land. A setting full of villains, honestly. This ought to be an "antihero" book for as anti-heroic as this story was.

How do I even write a review for a book this bad? So much awful to unpack here, so little review space to type in.

I am embarrassed to admit that I had to read this book twice in order to understand it. The writing is confusing af and the book is loaded with so many plot holes I think my brain died.

If two main characters have sex in a magical dreamscape, does it still count as sex? And what are their awake bodies doing while they're having trope-heavy Healing Sex?

This book is 100% aggravation and 100% brainless.

Pages 158-166 are one long info-dump of deity history and clan history that felt so painful to read. Sooooo many info-dumps in this book.

Then the characters Run Away Again, and yet another adult dies because Teens Must Save The Day. SAVIOR TEENS. Thank you, brave teenagers, for saving the world every 10 seconds. Adults are so ignorant and useless, obviously, unlike teens who are totally awesome and righteous. ugh

"Now that we have the scroll, I long to leave Amari stranded in the forest, let her starve or become a hyenaire's prey." p.80

On pages 58-67, Zelie risked her life numerous times for *no* reason to save Amari, a complete stranger, and then Zelie finds out Amari is a princess, and says THAT quote. Zelie did ALL that work... and then wants Amari to just die.

This book is FULL of the most ridiculous plot holes. :(

Stuff be blowing up all over the market, guards chasing these girls, some bottle bomb gets flung at some panther-riding a-holes, then a lion jumps in to save the day, Zelie grabs onto the cat, the cat jumps for the fence, and in that split second... THIS happens:
"a shock like lightning surges through my veins"
"igniting my being"
"Time seems to freeze as I look down, locking eyes with the young captain."

lol WHY??

The chapters are named for the POV characters telling each section of story. Chapter 3 started out as dull as chapters 1 and 2, but picked up by the end and became pretty gripping. Nothing like watching a sociopath king murder an innocent young woman to make me start rooting for someone to chop off his head.

It feels so cheap, though. The premise is also illogical: the maji children would not have been left alive.

This novel opens in a similar way to "Red Rising," with a *lot* of world-building terms thrown onto the page all at once. I had to read Chapter One twice before I could make sense of the hysterical action (a classroom fight scene that is interrupted by an almost-rape) which is followed by a long, long section of info-dump delivered as a wisdom-lesson to the main character and her classmates.

*sigh*

I dread this