Children of Blood and Bone

GUYS, THIS BOOK! This book was freaking amazing. Yes, I can’t describe this book without mentioning how brilliant this debut was. There was nothing not to be loved. It is a high fantasy which definitely deserves all the hype. This story has diviners (people who are yet to discover their magic), majis (the people capable of doing magic) and the Royals. Zélie is our main character who is a diviner turned maji. Her mother was killed by King Saran who was determined to finish the magic by killing all the majis. Inan and Amari are the children of king Saran. Amari ran away from the kingdom and meets Zélie and his brother Tzain and went to discover magic with them. Inan, like his father, believed in “duty before self” and wanted to kill the magic. The plot is absolutely entertaining and gave me the vibes of Lord of the Rings. I mean, not exactly but all the fantasy world and the adventurous journey of the characters made me feel so. There is a lot of magic and magical objects, which is, of course, an important element of fantasy. But the good thing is all those magic scenes were well written and actually weren’t out of the place at all (looking at you The Hazel Wood). There were unexpected events one after the another and it will make you turn the pages one after the another. The magical world of Orïsha is superbly created. This is said to be a Nigerian fantasy and I read a review of someone saying that the place names used are from Nigeria itself. I think this is a cool idea. We get to see many African cultural elements, dresses, foods and other stuff which will make you feel that you are reading the story of real Africa. The good thing is that the author hasn’t dumped all the info at the beginning of the book itself or at a certain place, which happens in most of the fantasies, rather the information is well-separated. I wasn’t confused with all the fantasy elements and each element felt as a necessity in moving the story. All the characters were brilliant. The story has 3 POVs – Zélie, Amari, and Inan – all three of them are fabulous. They may not be the perfect characters as they made mistakes and were stupid at times, but they felt exactly what was needed in such a fantasy world. Zélie was fierce and badass. She had all those magic yet she felt so powerless without her mother and thus portrayed raw emotions. Amari was a naive princess but later she comes out as a bolder one. I loved the friendship between Zélie and Amari, who of course started as being enemies. Inan’s character was little confusing. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I loved him at times and then I hated him at others. He was too weak to fight against his father who filled his childhood with hate towards majis. For almost whole book we saw him conflicting with his emotions. I didn’t exactly hate him though. I kind of felt bad for him because of the situation he was in, courtesy his father and sister. Tzain was a sweetheart who was always protective of her sister. There were many other brilliant side-characters who were done equally good. Each of them suited to their roles in Zélie’s journey perfectly. Tomi Adeyemi’s writing is brilliant. The language is easy to understand and she writes at such a good pace that you are bound to flip the pages immediately. There were adventures and amazing moments one after the another. During a few scenes, my expressions were “what did just happened”? I read the first half pretty lazily, but guess what, I finished the second half, in a night! Yes, it was so engrossing. Children of Blood and Bone is a remarkable debut by Tomi Adeyemi and is absolutely worth all the hype. It is absolutely a must-read book. Many people can find faults, but for me everything was wonderful. From storytelling to world-building, to pacing, to characters — everything is brilliant. I have heard that Fox is already adapting Children Of Blood And Bone into a film. Seriously, I can’t wait for the movie and more than that, for the sequel 🙂

various shifts in POVs as well which helps us in getting to know the characters and they shows real character growth. You feel what the characters are feeling and their different perspectives and they even feel realistic, with their own sets of problems and regrets. It has beautiful fantasy elements coming together with magic and action and kickass females and great rep in the background of today’s times. It shows the prejudice, bias and oppression against people who can wield magic which so many people can relate to because of the general bias against the people of a particular class, caste or race in reality! The writing is beautiful. The words are woven together and take my imagination to just another level because I can visualize the scenery, the sights and the fights and everything else, quite vividly. Zélie is a headstrong and determined female with her own tragic past which hasn’t extinguished her light for a better future for the majis. She struggles with her responsibilities and her own feelings. She is such a relatable character, apart from her having the magic part. I don’t want to give away the names of all the characters and how they fit in because I think it will be too spoiler-y. There were some minor characters which I really want to see again though! Also, one of the things I liked about this one was that there were no unnecessary and exaggerated romance scenes. At some points I did get very angsty and irritated because of all the long descriptions at the points where something was going to happen!! For now, all I can say nay urge and plead and beg you too pick up this wonderfully crafted book full of magical elements and well, everything I mentioned above! I can’t wait for the second book to come out!! Quick thing: It was around midnight and I reach chapter 83, which is the second last chapter and I’m like, “Now’s not the time Tomi!! Shit’s going down!!!” I went kinda cray cray with this one.

Spoiler free part: You might have been following me reading this book during the last weekend readathon and I was having mixed feeling along the way. In the beginning, I was so interested to read this because of it's different idea to explore African mythology unlike the usual American YA novels and it started out really good and promising. And the best part was, it is written from two different perspectives and both combines at the end. But after the 1/3 of the book, it didn't feel like a original plot or with extraordinary characters. 1. As usual like all other female protagonist in YA novels, this Zélie was annoying too. She was immature and throwing her tantrums for stupid reasons. If it's not for Amari, I would have closed the book long before. Unlike other characters, there was a proper character development in her part (and honestly character development is what I expect most in a book). Other characters were really boring too. Nothing new or special about them. 2. Insta love! God! I love proper development in a relationship. It was instant and within a night they were planning to build a new Orisha! Seriously? That was way too dramatic. 3. It is full of African based characters because the author wanted to honour them. So all of the descriptions about their look was black. But the plot wasn't. It was no different from the characters in American YA novels. Their life isn't easy that was supposed to be the point. But it failed terribly. 4. If you have read any Sarah J Mass' books, you would find so many similarities. I guarantee you that. 5. And there are too many killings in the book for no reason! 6. The only thing I love about the book was the writing. It was really awesome and I did enjoy the book apart from all the negative things I mentioned. And I am really looking forward to her next book. Because she is capable and I expect more effort from her. 7. Generally, I don't like a magical world with the difficulty in doing magic. But in this one, it had a meaning and I loved it. The dilemma Zélie had about magic was really good. . . And now here comes the. . Spoiler-y section: 1. I would like you to compare Zélie and Inan with Feyre and Tamlin. See the similarities? Isn't Inan same coward like Tamlin? 2. And. . . Did you get any hint at Roen's character at the end? Is he going to be another Rhys? Possible! 3. And honestly, all along the story, I expected Zélie and Amari to be together. They had that chemistry man! 4. And I don't know if Amari is aware of her feelings with Binta. It wasn't just a friendship. I really loved that. I am telling you right, Amari is such a sweetheart and if I care about any character in here, it is Amari. She became a badass in the end. And I need to see more of her than that stupid Zélie and her hopeless love.

After the raid, most of the maji are dead except the diviners who can’t do magic. They can’t do their magic because king Saran killed their connection with the sky mother (who provides magic). But Amari (princess of orisha and daughter of king Saran) who stole the scroll from her father, now wants revenge from her faher becaue he killed her close friend. Now with the help of Amari, Zelie and Tzain are gonna bring back the magic, and restore peace. My Review This novel is breathtaking. Story was magnificent and so creative. My last AWESOME read was Renegades. Now I love this book as much I love renegades. And renegades is now a trilogy and so is children of blood and bone! Back to the book at hand, the plot twists were amazing and the end of the climax was awesome too. This raises too many questions and excitement for the next book. Grammar was great and writing was awesome and gripping. Character development was awesome. But I can’t say anything about this one character, Inan. He is the son of king Saran. But I hate him so much because of some reasons. You will know when you read the book. How can zelie feel this way towards him? Except that every other character seems fine. First I thought it was like X-Men, but it turns out to be great after some chapters. I can say that nothing was wrong with this book. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY READ THIS BOOK. HOW SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK? Take it slow and enjoy every page of this book. Because this book is awesome and you might not wanna miss anything.

(I voluntarily reviewed a Physical Copy of the book for For The Love of Fictional Worlds) I have been seeing a whole lot of hype around this book – mostly ‘cause it has ZERO white characters and written by a POC! Yes, it was hyped quite a bit when it was announced and then the early reviews started pouring in; and even I was getting excited to read this beauty. At the same time though; I was quite apprehensive – yes there were so many who had loved it; but I had always taken early reviews with a hint of salt till I got to the book on my own. So I did my best to go into the book without any bias. The plot of the book is quite predictable – The land of Orisha is ruled by a king who has stomped out all the magic in the land – Maji (the magical people) were once revered and respected by the people, for they were believed to be touched by the Gods. But when the King starts hunting the Maji; they become isolated and hated; especially since the one night when magic suddenly disappeared. Zélie Adebola can’t seem to let go of the memories of the night when her mother was murdered or the anger that inspires in her. She lives with her father, Baba and her older brother Tzain (Can someone teach me how to pronounce their names please? I am kinda lost!). It is only when they help escape the Princess, that they finally have hope. Princess Amari claims that she has the scroll that can bring back the magic to the people. And so starts their journey! But this isn’t just the story of Zelie; she is also accompanied by her brother Tzain, Princess Amari and her nemesis, Prince Inan. We get the POVs of all the characters – which I honestly adored about this book. Tzain is the typical big brother – where Zelie is impulsive, rude and blunt; Tzain is calm, patient and loving. They both might have been opposites of each other; but there is no denying the deep unflinching loyalty between them. Princess Amari showed the greatest growth during the course of the plot – she starts off as a shy, mousy and scared girl on the run who has to rely on the girl who definitely hates her (for her father’s sins, of course!) but she slowly but surely grows into her own strengths throughout the plot! Prince Inan is Amari’s brother and the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Orisha and has been conditioned his life on the hateful teachings of his father – and honestly, he is the most complex character of all the others. Throughout I could literally feel the hate and the confusion leaping of the pages when I read his POV – it made me feel things for him; things I can’t definitely define as pity or even sympathy! The plot is pretty much predictable – especially for an ardent fantasy fan; but it is the writing that keeps the reader interested in the plot. The plot is more of an adventure story rather than an action one; yet it works. The plot kicks off in high gear right from the start and never lets up – there is always something or the other happening in every single chapter; which made keeping the book down quite the physical effort on my part. The ending is not exactly cliffhanger – ish but it was unexpected and there are a whole lot of questions left at the end of the book – and now the wait for the second book seems awfully longish!

OMG!!! This book!!! What have I been doing without reading it these many days?! A fantasy that I found so engaging. The story deserves every words of praise out there. I loved this book so much and trust me. It would be all time favourite for every YA fans out there. Its just brilliant, sensational, wondrous and what not!!! I don't have enough words... And I have become its biggest fan. I can't wait for the sequel and I already pre ordered it. Also its going to be in screens too and I'm literally craving for watching it in visuals... My kind request to the filmmakers... Please do not lose the essence of the book. I know that's difficult but I don't want to be disappointed. Okay I'm pouring all my emotions right here! But please don't miss this beauty it's awesome. Now let me give a blurp about the book. It's about Magic and the rage it causes. The protagonist tries to bring back the magic that has lost its connection with the majis (people blessed with magical powers). It requires a ritual to be performed by the chosen one. And its not easy as it sounds because of the king whose aim is to eradicate magic from the land. What happens then is the adventure that will not let you sleep.

"We are all children of blood and bone. All instruments of vengeance and virtue "- Tomi Adeyami For the first Time I tried something out of my comfort zone. I'm not a fantasy person, not until I read one. For me it's a new magical world of it's own which I have to dig in more. Children of blood and bone is my first book of fantasy genre and it is first book of the series " the Lagacy of Orisha". It is totally inspired of Africa Nigerian religion and tradition. This story is about Zelie and the princess Amari. They both are on an adventurous journey along with Tzain to bring back the lost magic and strike against the king Saran to save maji and Orisha. This book is amazing one and cover drag all the attention. I really enjoyed. It needed all the hype of praising. Ofcourse Zelie is my most favourite character. I love her fearlessness, bold and passion for her clan. The best part of this book is characterisation Especially of Zelie and Amari. Author's deep writing of empowerment is really nice . Tomi Adeyami successfully create an magical world within.In short this book has action, betrayal, adventure, magic and forbidden love story that will keep reader hooked till the edge of the book.

For me, the writing and story is truly mesmerizing. I gave it a 3 star read because i felt the characters were emphasizing more on the past than the present. Like: 1) Exceptional writing: Tomi Adeyemi enchanted me with her amazing writing skills. 2) Plot is very unique: The story is very interesting. It's unlike anything i've ever heard or seen. 3) Characters are awesome: The development of characters is out of the ordinary. 4) Emotional scenes are well drawn out: All the feelings swirling inside the characters are closely felt by me. Dislike: 1) More focus on the past: Every now and then, you'll find the characters are dwelling in their past a bit too much than necessary. 2) Protagonist engulfed in fear: Everyone will get nervous when the fate of entire world is in your hands but small victories and encounters makes you strong as you gain more experiences in life, but I felt Zel was constantly under the influence of fear. 3) Strange animal names: Improvised animal names like panthanaire, lionaire, etc. tempted me to stop this book from reading further but after reading a few chapters it didn't bother me that much. 4) Scarcity of dialogues: I found that i haven't highlighted this book very much. But, hey, the silver lining is that i really enjoyed it till the end. I'm totally looking forward to the her next installment.