Children of Blood and Bone

I found this to be a quick read, despite the length of this book. I listened to the audiobook, and it was a great option to hear the chants and words spoken instead of my mind butchering them. Fantasy is a genre that I haven't really delved into very much in the past but have been wanting to give it another go. This one honestly intimidated me at first, and I was hesitant to pick it up even with so many recommendations coming from readers with similar tastes. I'm sad I pushed it off as long as I did, but I'm really excited to continue on and see where the story goes, especially with so much being established in this one.

The attention to detail in this world-building was great and there wasn't a lot repeated just to fill in space, so each area felt like a new experience with its own difficulties. The characters are also well-built to the point that while they seem fully confident in their goals and desires for the future, they struggle with those decisions when faced with challenging circumstances. It's not just a quick flip-flop and there is constant questioning of what they should be doing in the background.

There were a few moments where I just scratched my head in confusion, but the story and pacing and world-building more than made up for it. This one came across my radar while trying to expand the diversity of my reading, and I cannot begin to describe how much I felt for the characters and how much it reflected into the real world. I absolutely recommend that you pick this one up if it's been on your TBR.

Overall, a powerful and well crafted book. It made me think. I enjoyed the characters, with their fears and passions.

There was quite a bit more death – let’s be honest and call it “slaughter” – than I am comfortable with, but that’s part of the package. We’re not supposed to be comfortable with it. Likewise some of what happened to the main characters.

The animal names also took some getting used to – the world is very much like Earth, and there are, for example, several species which seem to be a mix of big cat, dragon, and steed.

I enjoyed her descriptions, especially of the people.

It’s just fabulous to read a modern fantasy adventure story that seems to do for Yoruba/Santeria traditions what countless Arthurian fantasies do with Celtic/Arthurian legends. I would be really interested to hear or read what people who are familiar with the Orishas think about how Adeyemi repackaged them for the general public to read. I imagine I was a not uncommon reader, going into this story having seen the names of a couple of Orishas on various consumer goods (jewelry, art cards, etc.), and knowing nothing of Santeria except the word – so as the story unfolds, it’s not all completely alien territory, but it’s certainly not familiar either.

Now what I really want to know is where QuickDraw McGraw’s sidekick Baba Looey came from, and I think I heard that name in another, equally random, context, decades ago in the forgotten dawn of time …

Anyway, I would love to see these books come out in an illustrated second edition (preferably paperback), with line drawings of the various big cat-like “ryders,” as well as the characters and some of the landscape.

This book was amazing. If it weren't for the fact that it was sometimes content heavy (betrayal, assault, abuse), it would have been a novel that I easily devoured as quickly as possible.

But, as it was written as an allegory to police violence (especially that of police brutality toward Black Americans, which is noted in the afterword at the end), it often struck me so much that I had to stop and take breaks.

The entire book is beautiful, though. The setting is gorgeous, and the world-building is striking. The women (Zélie and Amari) are phenomenal characters, and the weakness and vulnerabilities that men like Tzain get to exhibit are the best. It's such a fantastic story, and that's really all I can keep saying. Even Inan is able to be an enchanting character, despite his conflicting emotions.

This is one of the few novels where the deaths of non-focus characters actually hit me really hard, which is most certainly the point.

I literally have no complaints (except the fact that I managed to buy the one book with a weird see-through page), and it's going to be me repeating the same few things over and over again: I love this, and it is among my favourite books involving a fantasy-magic setting.

This book was amazing. If it weren't for the fact that it was sometimes content heavy (betrayal, assault, abuse), it would have been a novel that I easily devoured as quickly as possible.

But, as it was written as an allegory to police violence (especially that of police brutality toward Black Americans, which is noted in the afterword at the end), it often struck me so much that I had to stop and take breaks.

The entire book is beautiful, though. The setting is gorgeous, and the world-building is striking. The women (Zélie and Amari) are phenomenal characters, and the weakness and vulnerabilities that men like Tzain get to exhibit are the best. It's such a fantastic story, and that's really all I can keep saying. Even Inan is able to be an enchanting character, despite his conflicting emotions.

This is one of the few novels where the deaths of non-focus characters actually hit me really hard, which is most certainly the point.

I literally have no complaints (except the fact that I managed to buy the one book with a weird see-through page), and it's going to be me repeating the same few things over and over again: I love this, and it is among my favourite books involving a fantasy-magic setting.

4.99999/5*



My only complaint is that some parts in the middle dragged and I feel like this book could have either been cut down a wee bit, or split into two books with some added padding. I could see the split being somewhere around finding the Diviner settlement. We could perhaps spend a bit more time somewhere in the beginning with Mama Agba learning about all the different forms magic can take, how the clans work(ed) and go more in depth about each of the gods. As it is, I don't think we learn the names of the clans in the narrative, only in the guide at the beginning, and Oya is the only God whose name I remember. Sure, this being a series means we may get to explore this more later on, but I wish it was already present, so I could start feeling a connection of my own to the Gods and this magic system. I think if this book had been split in two parts, we could have been exploring this already, and it would have expanded the world greatly.



BUT OTHER THAN THAT HOLY SHIT?? This book is amazing and I can't wait to read more, what a cliffhanger, dang. I don't have much to nitpick other than wishing there was a bit more worldbuilding, and a time or two where Tzain went from being complex in his conflicting actions, to feeling inconsistent.



I can't say this book got me emotionally(but the author's note did) but damn if it didn't get me on the edge of my seat.