Title: Children of Blood and Bone
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Genre: (High) Fantasy, Young Adult, Yoruba mythology
Pages: 544 pages; 18 hours (audiobook)
Level of difficulty: 3/5 Dictionaries
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Brief Introduction:
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 (folks with magic) 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.
Review:
Wow! Wow! Wow! This book was excellent. Nothing about it was predictable – each event/turning point was a surprise. The plot was straightforward, creative, and critical.
As a Nigerian and a Yoruba, it was heartwarming to have the language embedded throughout the novel. I was also very excited about how Yoruba mythology was embedded in the book. In addition, the characters were authentic, empowering and relatable.
The novel was also pretty political, highlighting the dangers of discrimination and the need for people to unite to fight injustices.
I highly recommend it!
Title: Children of Virtue and Vengeance
Pages: 404 pages; 13 hours (audiobook)
Level of difficulty: 3/5 Dictionaries
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Review:
(Screaming!!) Another cliffhanger! Honestly, that is the only ‘bad’ part about this book. It was engaging, and all the twists and turns were very unexpected. Tomi Adeyemi does an excellent job of surprising readers. It was not as exciting as the first book, but it was not too far behind. I truly enjoyed reading it.
I wanted to wait for the third book before writing a book review about the series. However, it’s been too long, and I still think the series deserves to be read. Nevertheless, I will warn that with the third book nowhere in sight, it might be best just to read the first book and put the second book on hold until after the third book comes out (as the cliffhanger might gravely annoy you).
