It was thanks to attending YALC last year that I had a sampler for Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, and I was hooked as soon as I read it.
I pleaded to My Kinda Book to let me read it and review and be part of it, and thankfully after driving them nuts for a few months, here we are, the book is releasing and you need to go read it as soon as possible.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.
Rating:
There is so much magic in this book despite the fact that technically there is no magic in their world (talk about sounding confusing, right?).
I got a sampler of Children of Blood and Bone during YALC last year and it got me hooked. I kept bothering MyKindaBook/PanMacmillan to let me be part of whatever promotional tours they’d do because this sounded like an epic story I had to read. And I was not wrong.
This is a quest book, with very unique characters trying very hard to follow up with the view of the world they have seen. However the gods have other plans and challenge them to change those ways of seeing the world by making them interact in very interesting ways.
The reason it is missing a grey fox (.5 stars) is that it has SO many unique words it was very difficult to keep track of what was what and I could’ve done with a glossary or some kind of guide/help. This kept making me try to google some of them or to try to figure them out and that kept breaking the story so it was harder to get into it.
None of the characters are perfect but they aren’t the usual flawed way either. Their flaws come from their upbringing, from the view they have had of the world and how they have been taught to deal with things and how life has happened to them. I think this was my favourite part, that it shows sometimes our ideas and opinions are shaped what what we have seen and sometimes we are blind to some things. It is up to us to decide what we do once the blindspots aren’t blinded anymore.
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You pop again tomorrow so I can reveal how to find out what your Maji clan is! (I am part of the Welder clan). And hey, maybe getting Children of Blood and Bone is a good idea!
