Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
So, I had started reading Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi last year but became disinterested about 50 pages in and marked it DNF as it was due back at the library. I decided to give it another chance since it appeared on a few lists for being one of the best books of 2018. I’m sad to say I was a little disappointed having now completed the novel.
Zélie lives in the country Orïsha and is a maji. Rather, she used to be before magic was taken away in the Raid ten years prior. The same event that killed her mother. She and her brother do what they can to support their heartbroken father who never really recovered after losing his wife. While in the market one day, Zélie gets inadvertently involved with a girl running from the guards. Not just any ordinary girl, Princess Amari is found to have stolen the scroll that is capable of returning magic to the majis. With the help of Amari and her brother, Tzain, Zélie will go on a fated journey to restore the former glory of the majis in Orïsha.
While I think the African setting of the novel, the promise of magic, and the overall writing style is engaging and unique, I felt like there was no real connection between the characters. The relationships seem forced and a bit fake. There’s also this continuous turmoil over magic being good and magic being evil that never really resolves itself. Granted, this may be part of the book’s message - there will always be people who disagree about whether something is justified or not. However, the inability of several characters to actually pick a mindset and stick by their beliefs gets a bit irritating. Overall, 537 pages was about 200 pages too long for this story, in my opinion. And too much death and killing in the book for me to personally enjoy, even though this is the intended purpose of the author to be representative of hate crimes.
Zélie lives in the country Orïsha and is a maji. Rather, she used to be before magic was taken away in the Raid ten years prior. The same event that killed her mother. She and her brother do what they can to support their heartbroken father who never really recovered after losing his wife. While in the market one day, Zélie gets inadvertently involved with a girl running from the guards. Not just any ordinary girl, Princess Amari is found to have stolen the scroll that is capable of returning magic to the majis. With the help of Amari and her brother, Tzain, Zélie will go on a fated journey to restore the former glory of the majis in Orïsha.
While I think the African setting of the novel, the promise of magic, and the overall writing style is engaging and unique, I felt like there was no real connection between the characters. The relationships seem forced and a bit fake. There’s also this continuous turmoil over magic being good and magic being evil that never really resolves itself. Granted, this may be part of the book’s message - there will always be people who disagree about whether something is justified or not. However, the inability of several characters to actually pick a mindset and stick by their beliefs gets a bit irritating. Overall, 537 pages was about 200 pages too long for this story, in my opinion. And too much death and killing in the book for me to personally enjoy, even though this is the intended purpose of the author to be representative of hate crimes.
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