July 11, 2018

Review: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha #1)
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Publisher: Henry Holt BYR
Publication Date: March 6, 2018
Pages: 525
Format: Hardcover/Own

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were 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 an enemy.

Review: This book was amazing. I honestly wasn't even planning on reading it for a while, but when a read-along appeared for it, I decided why not. So yeah. I might have read the whole book in one sitting instead of in chunks for the read-along. It was too good for me to put down. I read this book in pretty much 3 hours. It was that good! I was not expecting to be sucked into the story as quickly as I was. 

I thought the different clans were incredibly cool, each ones maji having powers over certain elements or abilities. I definitely thought some were unique compared to other normal ones. Such as the Cancer who can pretty much create disease or the grounders & welders. I really enjoyed seeing diviners get to find out what magic they had and discover how to use it. If you were to ask me which clan I'd choose based on their magic, I'd probably choose the Imole Clan. They are lighters, the maji of darkness and light. 

So we follow Zelie, her brother Tzain and the princess of Orisha, Amari as they run from the kings guards and try to collect all the artifacts that can restore the maji's magic. I loved this. We see Amari come to terms with the fact her father is a monster for all he's done, we see Zelie learn about her magic and how to wield it, and we see them both stop being so scared and grow to stand up for what they need to do and what is right. Amari wants nothing but to protect and help the maji after what her fathers done and Zelie wants nothing but to return the magic to the maji's so they might be able to stand up against their oppressors. I didn't like Tzain though. He's such a hypocrite. Blaming Zelie for every bad thing that happens, blaming her for not doing what he demands her to, telling Zelie she's just being an idiot and making more bad decisions when she's just being human and trying to help people or wants to do one thing for herself. But yet Tzain is just allowed to do whatever he wants?? No. Thats not how it works. But then gets upset because Zelie needs rescued after he was going to abandon her and saying I need to protect her. Just no. I don't like him. He's a hypocrite and he gets on my nerves as a character.

Inan. You know, I really wanted to like him. He was so keen on following his dads orders until he realized he had magic himself. We watch him fight so hard against it and try to act like he's not one of them. Until he meets Zelie and she shows him its ok to be one of them and to use his magic like its supposed to be used. I really started to like Inan, with his wanting to change things and being with Zelie. Until yet again he goes back to fighting what he is and betraying her at the end. And then it was like he expected his dad to still look at him the same and love him when he knew damn well his dad wouldn't. He knew his dad would look at him in disgust but he still betrayed Zelie for him anyways. I kinda lost my sympathy for him at that. It sucks though because he really did have some potential.

I'm definitely excited for the next book now that not only the maji have their magic back, but also the nobles that had magic in their ancestry as well. It should definitely make for a good sequel!