Children of Blood and Bone
Tomi Adeyemi
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Published on March 6, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Children of Blood and Bone

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and 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 the enemy.

My Review

I have heard SO MUCH about CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE and really looked forward to reading it. I love the story world. It felt really different than anything I’ve read before. Very fresh. I love the maji system even though it’s a little complex. Not too bad, though. I never felt lost in reading scenes.

Amari quickly became my favorite character. Her bravery and her love for her best friend totally endeared her to me right from the get-go. It took a little longer for me to warm up to the powerful Zélie who made some selfish choices at the beginning of the story. But as I got to know her true nature, I couldn’t help rooting for her and wanting her to succeed. I’m kind of wondering if there’s not a love triangle ahead for her? I felt some sparks between her and a pretty minor character who seems poised to have a larger role in the next book. We’ll see what happens!

Zélie wants freedom for her people more than anything, but she hesitates to use her power to fight at first and she has a strong moral sense of good and evil. Inan seems more mixed up. His need for his father’s approval made him a sympathetic character to me, but his relationship with violence and the lengths to which he was willing to go to get his father’s love were a challenge for me. He also seemed to flip flop a little quickly where one minute he’d be thinking he could disregard his goal and the next reversed his position.

On the whole, I loved the originality of the tale and both of the female leads. This is a rich, immersive story and a great start to a new fantasy series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Characters are brown-skinned.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. One romantic interlude progresses further and hints at sex. No graphic descriptions of it.

References to a relationship the king has with his mistress.

Spiritual Content
Each god or goddess is connected to a type of magic. Zélie uses reaper magic which connects with dead spirits to create animated helpers that she controls.  Inan’s magic shows him things about a person’s inner life, like memories and emotions.

Violent Content
Lots of battles, sometimes involving civilians. Some pretty graphic descriptions of combat and death. Zélie worries about being placed in slavery, a common fate for a maji. Men sometimes threaten her with harm or make vulgar, suggestive comments about harming her sexually.

Inan especially seems to view violence through a kind of morally gray lens. He desperately wants his father’s approval and is willing to do almost anything to get it, including harming people he otherwise wants to protect. He’s also desperate to hide his magic, and willing to harm anyone who will out him.

At one point, Zélie and her crew end up fighting in a sort of gladiator arena style match where only the winners come out alive. They watch a match first and are horrified at the bloodshed, but still decide to enter.

Drug Content
References to wine.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost nothing for you to use, but which generate a small amount of support for this blog.