Review – Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha, Book 1) by Tomi Adeyemi (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 544 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1250170972
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Legacy of Orisha
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“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.

This was a well done YA fantasy and is the first book in the Legacy of Orisha series. It will remind of many other YA rebellion based fantasies out there. However, I really enjoyed how fleshed out the world was, how interesting the characters were, and how engaging the book was to read. I did think this book was a bit over-hyped. It’s a well written fantasy but it really wasn’t anything all that unique or special.

The book cycles between three different POVs: Zelie (who is part of an oppressed race of former magic users), Amari (who is the princess of the tyrant king in power), and Inan (who is the prince of the tyrant king in power). In the end I really didn’t like any of the characters all that much but they were interesting enough to keep me engaged in the story.

The world is fully realized and the politics and storyline are well fleshed out. The characters have good depth to them (even if they are pretty stereotypical types of character for YA fantasy). Zelie is the hot-headed rebellious heroine. Amari is your pampered princess who finds out that all is not well in Whoville. Inan is your conflicted prince who is pulled between the demands of his overpowering father and the hot-headed girl who stands for everything his father is against (Zelie).

I have a couple complaints; the first is that this book is very heavy handed with the themes of oppression and racism. I get it Adeyemi is trying to draw a lot of parallels between our current society’s oppression of minorities and the world in this book. I just feel like the reader is beat over the head with this theme again and again, most people aren’t stupid and they get it…they don’t need to be presented with the same idea over and over and over.

My other complaint is that this book takes itself way too seriously. It would have been nice to have some humor in here to lighten things up a bit. The book is vicious (fights, torture, etc) and doesn’t really ever let up. It leaves you feeling worn out after you read it instead of hopeful.

Overall this was a well done fantasy novel about a minority group rebelling against a tyrant king. The themes were not all that unique to YA fantasy but the world-building, plot, and characters were well done and the story was engaging. I did think the book has some flaws: the way the oppression of Zelie’s race is handled is very heavy handed and repetitive, and the story is overly serious with little to no humor or hope. I plan on continuing the series to see what the second book is like. I would recommend to those who enjoy politically motivated YA rebellion fantasy with some magic in it.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge