Children of Blood and Bone: Strong Female Characters || A Book Review

Children of Blood and Bone

Author: Tomi Adeyemi

Publisher: Macmillan Children Books

Released: March 8th, 2018

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 531

Format: Paperback

Characters: Zelie, Tzain, Inan, Amari, …

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.

Zelie remembers when the soil of Orisha hummed with magic. When different clans ruled – Burners igniting flames, Tiders beckoning waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoning forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed, leaving Zelie without a mother and her people without hope. Only a few people remain with the power to use magic, and they must remain hidden.

Source: Goodreads

Finally, the day has come. I have finally read the famous and one of the most hyped book in 2018, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Shout out to Pansing for sending me a copy of this amazing book (signed copy!) in exchange for an honest review.

Now, if you guys know me, I’m scared of thick books, yes, over 500 pages is considered thick for me. It intimidates me! I’m a slow reader, reading a 500 pages book doesn’t help me feel good about myself. However, this is one hella interesting book. There are so many things going on in this book. We have magic, strong bad ass female characters, fighting scenes, romantic scenes, blood, royalty, of course, POC characters, you name it, this book has so much to give.

I really liked the world building. The magic, the oppression towards the diviners and majis, the language, everything was just there for you to imagine perfectly. Funny thing is it reminds me of Avatar: The Last Airbender but with more elements. We have Zelie= Aang, Nailah= Appa, and Inan=Prince Zuko, like do you get me? But that’s just me haha and I really enjoy the similarities.

When I read this book, I felt pain in Zelie and her family. I think the author really did a good job in transferring that emotion of being trapped and oppressed by the more powerful ones. It was again being highlighted through ‘the stocks’, whom are the diviners (those who have magic blood but doesn’t evolve yet, hence they can’t practice magic) and they were forced to become slaves because they cannot afford to pay taxes. As much I want to feel really deep for the diviners in the book, I couldn’t relate that much with them. The most I felt was their pain and understanding their situation. That’s basically it but I think most readers feel strongly about this situation. It is hyped for a reason.

My favourite aspect of this book is the characters! I really love how I can hear all their voices in different chapters. It was brilliantly done. We have Zelie, who is both strong and vulnerable. She’s fierce yet she’s scared. Did I like her the most? The answer is no, but she does have a solid backstory and her emotions are definitely valid and just by one look, you know she’s a strong character. *Drum rolls* It turns out I liked Amari more. Amari stood out to me because she has a great character development and she keeps proving that she’s worth it and she succeeded in transforming herself from that naive princess to a strong warrior. We also have Inan and Tzain and both of them do have their own struggles and issues to face with. I think both of these male characters complement the girls quite well. It’s all about women empowerment here whoopsies.

The plot for me was exciting. It was eventful. The book was never boring, like ever. So many things going on, I didn’t even get time to breathe and catch up. But the fighting scenes are what I lived for and there are like few chapters dedicated to romantic scenes which I think, was okay. It was the time where the characters could finally stop for a while and enjoy themselves and it’s okay for them to be in love. One thing though, I’m just really amused that even in these scenes, the author still keeps the conflicts, the issues on building a better nation, fighting for survival going on. Like all of the elements go so well together.

The ending was a cliffhanger, so I need the sequel now. Thank you Tomi Adeyemi for making me wanting the sequel now. Overall, I must say this, it did live up to the hype. But is this like the best POC or YA Fantasy book I’ve ever read? I think there are better ones. I just really enjoyed reading this book and one thing for sure, this story could definitely inspire many readers out there.

This book is now available in all good bookstores, so if you haven’t read it yet, you could totally check it out.

Have you read Children of Blood and Bone? What did you think of it?

 

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