Children of Blood and Bone: A Review

Basic Overview:
Title: Children of Blood and Bone

Author: Tomi Adeyemi

Book Format: Hardcover

My Numeric Judgment:

♦SPOILER ALERT♦
This has nothing to do with the movie Blood and Bone.

Summary:

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.

Judgments:
I have been thinking about exactly how to write this review for a couple of moths now. No, it wasn’t so bad that I had to find the words. I just had to really ponder if the book was as good as I was expecting and why I felt kind of let down after reading it.

I was one hundred percent on the hype train for this book. I am unapologetic-ally supportive of all minority authors, with a strong bias in favor of African authors. After all the amazing young adult science fiction and fantasy books I have read by Nnedi Okarafor, I was geeked to find a new African young adult author who focus on the fantastic aspect of literature. The opening of the book had me floored. I was here for it, from the Yoruba Gods and Goddesses to the actual African names I was just sitting on my bed reading like

Then the story started to actually unfold and it was like the hype died down and my emotions cleared and suddenly the concept did not seem extremely unique. Now, if this is your fave…just follow me here. This book was an amalgamation of your favorite Nollywood juju (I love teaching you guys new words. Juju is from the Hausa word “djudju,” meaning evil spirit or fetish. Hausa communities are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and southern Niger, predominantly in the Sahara Desert.) movie and Romeo and Juliet. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that while the story itself was entertaining, the romantic aspect was lackluster, predictable, and one hundred percent unbelievable. I most likely feel this way because I seriously despise Solomon Grundy love stories. The fact that the romantic aspect of the book unfolded as quickly as it did ended up making me feel like Jessie on that “Drugs Are Bad mkay” episode of Saved By the Bell
That is the sole reason I gave this book four stars. The writing style was still enthralling and fantastic enough to make me genuinely care about the next book as well as what is going to happen. This book is still a beautiful representation of Yoruba culture weaved with an amazing adventure. I just wish the pacing of the story had been better.

Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?

Ciao Book Monsters!