Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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.

Just My Thoughts

I found Children of Blood and Bone to be a rich and colourful story. I do have a vivid imagination, but if the writing is done well enough, I can picture everything quite intensely and I was able to do so. I loved the changing backdrops the characters adventured through, the descriptions of scenery, the animals, the way colours of dress and hair was portrayed. I really enjoyed the story.

The story itself was tropey at times, but I believe tropes are difficult to avoid when you're writing fantasy and it's young adult. And of course there's always an element of romance which I'm not going to delve into a great deal. If you sat me down to watch The Notebook I would rip it to pieces and ruin it for you so.... I can only comment as someone who isn't into romance. Most YA and fantasy novels will have a romance aspect, but it doesn't detract from the story on a whole in Children of Blood.

What I loved most of all was the cultural aspect of the story. Growing up as a book lover in Australia, unfortunately, I found we're not overly exposed to Australia's first nation's fictional stories in our bookstores. Most novels, in particular fantasy, is quite westernised. I'm a great lover of multiculturalism and firmly believe it adds a richness and depth to everything, including art. 

The most important aspects of Children of Blood are the prejudice and racial undertones. The injustice of prejudice is delivered seamlessly within all the colour and richness of the story. It's so tightly woven within the prose you can't miss it, but at the same time the writing is not forceful. The undertones are there, it's open, difficult to misunderstand, and has the distinct ability to draw you in and make you feel.

I'm grateful Children of Blood and Bone was the first book in my book club's reading selection. I'm excited to read the next instalment and I'm even curious about the movie.

• Author: Tomi Adeyemi
• Genre: YA Fantasy - Add to Goodreads or StoryGraph
• Find At: Kinokuniya - Dymocks - QBD - Abbey's - Booko