CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE BY TOMI ADEYEMI // A Confusing, Magical Roller Coaster // SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info.

 I’m taking a bit of a break from Bookending Spring to write, fangirl and share my thoughts about Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

I know the tagline is a bit of a stretch for you guys to comprehend, but you guys…. if you knew how my emotions were during this read…

First, let’s talk about the characters. Zélie is a headstrong, stubborn, brave, excited 17-year-old Reaper, both intrigued and terrified of her own power. She’s kind of like the Aang of Orisha. Both very young and in need of ways to control her own power. She wants everything and nothing at the same time. She’s also in an vengeful rage against the Kingdom’s raids for killing her Reaper mother years ago. Her tenacity and strength is what kept me reading this entire book. Even though her actions and words made me want to throw my computer across my room and tear my hair out; her prejudice against Princess Amari for being a princess; not listening to her big brother Tzain about almost anything!! But still, if you were a young girl destined to save not only your own home, but the entire nation of Orisha, what would you have done? In the end, Zélie went from being one of my least favorite characters, to my third-favorite. 

My second-favorite is Tzain. Even though he was super aggressive and aggravating towards his younger sister, he’d had to grow up pretty fast and take over their village after their mother died. Their dad, affectionately known as Baba, checked out after his wife’s death, so Tzain really had to step up to the plate. He was constantly blaming Zélie for her mistakes, while trying his damndest to fix them. What was interesting about him is he’s the only non-maji in the group (between Zélie, Amari and Inan) and he still showed heart, tenacity and a fierce, unbreakable protection for his family. His budding connection with Amari is a sweet spot in all of the darkness of this world. At first, I thought they would end up more as friends, but the more I dug deep into the story, I saw it; the connection, the understanding, the intensity, the passion. And they didn’t even kiss, not once! Hopefully, they’ll have their first kiss in book two, but I think it’s amazing how a couple can have the passion of two lovers without a single kiss or sex scene. 

My ultimate fave is Amari!! Princess Amari went from a docile, shy, scared little girl to a fierce warrior in the course of a couple of weeks. At first, I felt sorry for her for the way her passive-aggressive mother forced her into a life she didn’t want. Her father, King Saran, had labored an involuntary battle between her and her brother Inan with harsh scars on her back, which haunted her to this day. The only person she felt comfortable enough to be herself with was her maid Binta. Binta gave Amari the courage to fight for herself and become her own person outside of the monarchy. However, when Binta was discovered as a maji and was killed for it, it scarred and stunted Amari’s growth. It got a bit annoying to have to keep hearing about Binta’s past, but I guess it was necessary for Amari to accept and move on. Like I said before in Tzain’s paragraph, the growing relationship between him and Amari was refreshing against all of the intense war drama around them. I love their kinship together, and I can’t wait to read more about it in the second book. 

 
Now for my least favorite characters, starting with that damn Inan!! How can I even begin to explain how much of a cowardly, lying sack of shit this boy is? Or how much I was starting to root for him, until I wasn’t. And why on the greenest part of God’s earth did we need his point of view and not Tzain’s? Also…who’s bright idea in the editor’s room was it to have him and Zélie together? They hated each other almost halfway through the book, but when it was discovered that Inan was a Connector maji, that gave Zélie an upper hand. Ok fine, but why make them have this sudden romantic thing, in the middle of a warzone? It didn’t seem authentic or necessary. One minute, he’s making all of these empty promises to her, and the next, he helplessly watches her get traumatized by his tyrant father. I wanted so much more for Inan; I get that he didn’t have much choice in how he was raised, but his flip flopping and wishy-washy BS was grating on my nerves. I don’t wish death on anyone, not even fictional characters, but if this boy doesn’t stay dead in book two, I’m filing a complaint, white-woman style. 

King Saran, I really don’t have much thoughts about him. He’s a deadbeat dad, a shitty husband and rules Orisha with an iron fist. He’s so afraid of magic returning to Orisha that he’s willing to kill his own son to restore his version of balance. Honestly, if he was to be replaced with another villain, I wouldn’t have cared. Commander Kaea was another irrelevant character I didn’t care for. What was funny about her though was when Bahni Turpin, the audiobook narrator, kept yelling “Inan!” in Kaea’s voice. I thought that was so funny! But other than that, I really didn’t care for her like that. 

 
As for the writing, Tomi’s style flowed easily through the pages. Even though I’m not Nigerian, I loved the use of their language, spirituality, and magic and how they intertwined with each other. I could see, hear and feel everything these characters were going through. The only flaw would be the use of “Skies!” “Gods!” and “Curse the skies!” whenever they needed to curse or think out loud. It got a bit annoying after awhile, but if it’s part of their culture, I guess it doesn’t matter much what I think. Orisha’s magic system was interesting too. There are several clans that have their own sister or brother deity based on an element or spiritual force, like the maji of life/death (reaper), mind/spirit/dreams (connector), fire (burner), tider (water), winder (air), and so on. There isn’t much information given on some more than others. I wish there was more writing on how Tamers (majis who work with animals) and Lighters (darkness and light) worked and used their magic. 

I was reading this book along with Roxie Reads Book Club on Patreon, and Rox asked a lot of interesting questions on her livestream. They’d read the sequel Children of Virtue and Vengeance last month, so I’ll be on the lookout for that, as well. 

All in all, CBB is a very good, character-driven, magical, confusing roller coaster and I loved every minute of it.