At first this was a 2 star read for me but as the story went on it got better and better. It's slow paced but as an epic fantasy reader that doesn't really bother me. I liked the worldbuilding and the magic system. I read alot of reviews saying the characters all sounded alike but I never had that problem. They all had different voices, hopes, and fears. It was the romance that almost made me dnf, but this is YA so I should have expected it. It happened way too fast between two characters that were literally swordfighting 3 chapters before. But by the end I really wanted to know where the story would go and immediately put book 2 in my Barnes and Noble cart lol. I will be buying book 2 and can only hope that the mediocre romance is put to side to focus on the story. ( )

After reading a five hundred page novel by Joseph Conrad, it was interesting to read a five hundred page young adult novel and compare their styles. The themes are not so very different: imperialism and colonialism are central to both. However young adult novels, in my experience, are usually narrated in the first person and extremely plot-driven. Conrad meanders around introducing the characters and settings for at least a hundred pages, while Adeyemi plunges the reader straight into events from the first page. There is nothing inherently better about either approach and I enjoy both, but they definitely make for contrasting experiences.

Comparisons aside, ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ evokes a fantasy world modelled on West African mythology, in which magic use associated with a religious tradition has been brutally suppressed. The main characters are two brother and sister duos, one from the royal family and the other the oppressed magic-associated minority. All four have suffered terrible family traumas, which display in microcosm the wounds of the whole population. Their country has experienced genocide within very recent memory and the survivors want to regain their magic to take revenge. Given all this, the narration is intensely emotional and often upsetting. There are some horrible scenes of torture and murder. The main characters are around 18, as far as I could tell, yet already full of self-blame, anger, and fear.

At first the plot follows a quite predictable quest structure, then becomes much more interesting when the implications of magic’s possible return are raised. This involves all kinds of incredibly difficult questions about how reconciliation and peace can be achieved after genocidal violence. The destabilising effect of returning very powerful magic to an oppressed minority is given serious consideration. The final twist, that everyone (in the vicinity? In the country?) gets magic is intriguing.

Although I found the world-building vivid and original, I was less keen on the romance elements. The romantic scenes seemed deeply incongruous given the otherwise relentless violent action. That could well have been intentional. In any event, the romantic matches seemed rather cliched as they could be predicted as soon as the characters in question first met. I was more moved by the endearing moments of developing friendships. Family bonds in this world are far more fraught and there is a real sense of inter-generational conflict. Will this new generation continue the cycle of revenge that they have inherited? Adeyemi gives the reader reasons to hope, while leaving the views of each main character subtly ambiguous. I enjoyed this distinctive and thoughtful vision of magic, despite the frequent brutality of the story. ( )

You can read all my review on Blog - Books Teacup and Reviews

Children of Blood and Bone was a YA fantasy novel revolved around a magi, a princess and A prince whose life was blended by a magical parchment that can bring back the magic in the kingdom. It was about- fighting for rights, equality, freedom, respect and greater good; fighting against the fear, suffering, and tyranny of king; family, love, friendship, and royalty. It included magic, myth, monarchy, battle, adventurous travel.

I haven’t encountered any book like this before. I loved it more than Percy Jackson and any of my top favorite books. And I finished this book at fastest speed. In just 2 days I read 500 pages. If I didn’t need a sleep and food for baby I would have finished it in one sitting. From where should I start? Everything about this book is worth reading. No review can fully justify the beauty and amazingness of plot, characters and world-building. Author truly bring back magic to the fantasy world.

characters-
All characters were creative, and original.

Zelie was diviner and had latent magi ability that later manifest into powerful magic of death and life. She was fierce, strong, warrior who had blood curdling childhood which had rooted terror and fear in her so deep but family love and fight for survival had given her strong will and determination. She was empathetic even to princess and prince whose father had taken so much from her life. I liked she gave them a chance and loved the way her relationship developed with Amari.

Amari was the princess, King Saran’s daughter, and was my favorite in the book. She was timid in the beginning but it was exciting to see her fierce side in book. She was strong, rebellious, and most conscience person in the book. She had all the ability to rule the kingdom, she felt pain of people, guilt of her father’s action and did everything to right the wrong. She didn’t have magical ability but was connector in true meaning.

Inan– A prince, Amari’s brother and future king of Orisha. I had mixed feeling for this character from beginning to end. Some of his characteristic was likable while the other- like his blind belief in his father and his constant efforts of gaining his love and respect was irritating and made him unlikable.

Tzain was the brother all sisters would want to have. He was protective for Zelie and stood up with her in all difficulties, guided her whenever she was wrong. I liked to read all sides of him. Other secondary characters were so impressive that made me wish there was more about them. Villain of the book- King Saran was most creative and hateful character of the book.

what i liked-
Books was written from the perspective of Amari, Zelie and Inan. Three different characters with different view point which made the plot mesmerizing, touching, emotional and simply lovable.

Writing was exquisite, flawless, polished, beautiful and captivating. Beauty and horror was perfectly balanced in the story and author perfectly harmonized characters, world, action, twist and turns. There wasn’t anything too much or too less.

Beginning of the book was thrilling, it drew perfect picture of Zelie’s life, her problems, the kingdom and the situation of people after the raid. I loved the way Mama Agba’s told the story the history of Diviners and Magis, the way she explained the art of staff and importance of lessons.

As the story progressed Amari and Inan’s life was introduced which showed the environment within palace. Nothing might have prepared me for this surprise. I was shocked and awed reading about them. How can a father be so cruel and manipulative to his own children was beyond imagination.

World-building was the best part of the book. Map of Orisha was simple and beautiful. Rich exquisite details of Orisha and its people- Kosidan and Magis- their lifestyle, history, magic, rituals, myth and Yoruba language, was fascinating to read. The more I read the more stories, facts and features about the world I discovered.

The regions characters traveled on Orisha’s map, difficulties they faced in finding magical artifacts, rage filled Prince on their trail, filled the pages with thrill, action and anxiety. Every chapter had a true emotions whether it was hatred, vengeance, fear, horror, betrayal or love and new forming bonds. I loved to read siblings love and enemies turned to lover relationship.

Cleverly written twist and turns throughout the story made it impossible to put down the book. Climax was unexpected and uncertain. I didn’t know how it was going to end. I couldn’t even guess what Zelie would do once she reached to temple. I was expecting betrayal but still nothing could have prepared me for what happened in the temple.

So many things happened from climax to end in few pages. End was satisfactory, not a cliffhanger but I didn’t wasn’t to stop here. Next book of the series is going to be most anticipated book in 2019.

The book was written based on black people’s experience which was mentioned in author’s note. Don’t miss out those beautiful last few pages of Author’s note and acknowledgements.

Overall, this is best novel I read in 2018. It was engrossing, adventurous and adrenaline inducing, page turner novel featuring people of color. It had everything in the book that a YA fantasy lover would want. If you wish to read a book for marathon read, this is the best choice. If you haven’t read this book yet, get it ASAP. ( )

Oh damn this was good. Highly recommend the audiobook if for no other reason than getting to listen to one of the prettiest accents in the world for 12 hours… ( )

2/5

Certain parts of the book are great: the setting, the scenery. The action scenes in particular are very creative and interesting, which is something pretty rare to find. And those great parts end up feeling wasted on the rest of the book.

The biggest problems arise with the "moral" of the story and with it's characters. The book is pretty clear with it's analogy about institutional racism, but in several aspects the story ends up making a not so great message about the topic, almost giving a justification for the existence of institutional racism.

That only gets worse when it comes to the characters because they are all tangled up in this mess. Amari and Tzain are fine, not great, but pretty likeable and even cool at times. You can understand their logic and how they work to overcome their trauma. The other two are quite awful. Zélie is VERY childish for a 17 y/o and seems to lack most empathy for the people she is supposed to care about. Inan varies between a sociopath and the densest man in existence. It seems every chapter he goes from "Magic is evil" to "Magic isn't evil" or vice-versa, all the while commiting horrible atrocities and whining about it later.

The romance between Zélie and Inan is awful because she feels like a pre-teen that falls in love with a monster that wants to genocide her people. And that love doesn't redeem him, the worst things happen to her AFTER they are in love and he doesn't even stop it. And after she is tortured for hours, they have mind-sex in a magical space. It's weird, it's bad, it's unnecessary.

So overall, there are pretty good parts that end up ruined because of the really bad ones. It is a shame, because the world had a lot of potential, but the focus on Young Hitler Jr. kinda ruins it. ( )