Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

I won’t let your ignorance silence my pain

I have so many mixed feelings about Children of Blood and Bone. I wished so many things for this novel because it would have made this good story into a great story.

Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Rating:


Title & Author: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Genre: Fantasy, Drama
Release Date: March 6 2018
Series: Legacy of Orïsha
Publisher: Henry Holt Books

Synopsis

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.

I give Children of Blood and Bones by Tomi Adeyemi three out of five hearts because I didn’t care for it and it was filled with all the tropes that are currently in trend I start to care less about.

Zélie is a dark skinned girl with the potential for powers. Eventually she starts to fall for the princes of the kingdom, Amari. She is fierce and her pov is clear on her insecurities and thoughts.

Amari is a woman coming from a high place but adepts fast to her life on the run. She doesn’t complain too much when she has to sell her headdress and dress to pay for their life on the run. The friendship between her and Zélie is nice, but when it develops into a romance I lost interest in them because it started to only be about that between them.

Inan is the vengeful prince hunting his sister’s group of friends. Including his pov made the book more interesting. He is driven by the wish to make his father proud and he keeps failing. Sometimes I did have issues with him because he did impossible things and that put me off.

The beginning of the story is fast paced, action packed and intense. I loved the plot of that about the story, but it had way to many tropes in it and, in my eyes, was forcing the issue of ‘black lives matter’ on the reader. I don’t mind reading about racial issues, but it shouldn’t be forced on the reader. The later half of the story starts to be slow and dangled on the edge of me losing interest.

Overall I think Children of Blood and Bone is interesting, but I had a hard time reading something I wasn’t interested in. I wished the novel contained less tropes because it would have been better if Tomi had focused on less of them in one story.

Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

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