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green_amaryllis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide
Moderate: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Violence, and Vomit
sv_m04's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really wanted to like this more since I love the worldbuilding and loved the first book. But in the end I think that maybe the author tried to do too many things at once and a lot of the character arcs felt rushed to me. Amari suddenly becoming a mass murderer after one chapter where she was betrayed by Inan after fighting for peace the entire book felt wrong. Especially since she faced so much negativity because she wanted peace (something which I personally found hard to read, the hatred towards Amari before she turned bad). I did really love Inan's character arc, it felt very natural and logical to me as did Ojore's, Nehanda and Mama Agba. I love the new cast (even if I find it hard to read how they treat Amari ). The strongest elements in this book are not just the physical but the emotional battles as well. I love the romantic subplots and familial bonds this book introduced, though even more Iove the new magic lore and getting to see more Maji culture, though I don't like the plottwist that they can bring people back from the dead. It lowers the stakes, makes the past deaths seem unnecessary and it mainly just feels like an excuse used by the writer to make Amari's deeds seem less awful. Even though that probably wasn't the intention. I am also sad to see Inan didn't get to shine as much this book.
Something I personally can't stand and never have liked are miscommunication tropes and this book is full of people misunderstanding each other and hating each other because of it, though it isn't a bad thing just a personal thing. It works extremely well in the context of the war and with these high stakes. I cried multiply times, once more mainly for Zélie. Her character arc went all over the place and how she changed her mind was very frustrating at times, though very realistic. Still, my biggest frustration lies with the end and the sudden kidnapping by a third party. I don't feel like there was any buildup to that ending at all and it feels like a very cheap cliffhanger and a dissatisfying ending. That and the treatment of Amari are my biggest issues with this book. I'm still very interested in seeing what comes next for these characters that I've grown so attached to.
Something I personally can't stand and never have liked are miscommunication tropes and this book is full of people misunderstanding each other and hating each other because of it, though it isn't a bad thing just a personal thing. It works extremely well in the context of the war and with these high stakes. I cried multiply times, once more mainly for Zélie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death, and Genocide
Moderate: Violence
The violence and racism is not as bad as the first book in thid series but still an extremely important and prevalant part of the story.tinnuben's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Genocide, Grief, and Violence
lucille_c's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Cancer, Gore, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Alcohol
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Well let’s say I’m conflicted, I liked children of blood and bone, it wasn’t the best book ever but I liked it still… but this sequel isn’t it for me and I don’t need to read book 3. I’m going to end things here. The characters where annoying, the plot was cluttered and the ending… well the ending was a dumpster fire 🔥. I wanted to love this book so badly or at least enjoy it but it just wasn’t for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, War, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, Death, and Racism
beccaand's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, War, Death, Genocide, and Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury
agentshellfish's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Grief, and Genocide
mnbesser522's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
charlottebreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.0
cw/tw: death, blood, grief, genocide
age rating: 13+
plot
- there was none. literally nothing happened.
- the villain was just the evil king from COBAB with super powers and a different name.
- there was a freedom-fighter-esque group called the Iyika. think jet's freedom fighters in ATLA — they were basically the same thing. they both do really stupid things, like try to take out an entire town of innocent people because their enemies are inside it, to further their cause.
they also randomly get kidnapped at the end.
- the plot went around in circles. the book could have been 200 pages shorter if the characters had just communicated.
characters
zelie : she became so self-righteous throughout the book. she always thought she was right, and the Iyika worshipped the ground she walked on. also she was horrible to amari.
amari : i despised what adeyemi did with amari. her character was completely butchered. i didn't like that nobody listened to her just because she was a tîtán. i also didn't like how she was written completely out of character to show how the crown corrupts even the nicest people.
tzain : tzain, who? he was barely there. the only thing he did was leave amari for zélie, because amari sucks and zélie is the best, obviously :/
inan : he was trying so hard to make peace with the Ikiya, but they were too self-righteous to realise. he was also quite wishy-washy and did whatever his mother told him. whatever spine he had in COBAB disappeared in COVAV.
roën : the most vanilla love interest ever. he had zero character depth. inan was better.
queen nailah : she was basically the same as the king from COBAB with superpowers. no motivation whatsoever.
the ikiya : very self-righteous, perfect for zélie tbh. so self-righteous that they destroyed all of the food that inan was giving to the maji, just because it was from the monarchy. it's like, people are hungry but you'll DESTROY THE FREE FOOD AND THEN COMPLAIN THAT THE MONARCHY ISN'T DOING ANYTHING TO HELP MAJI!!! WHATTT!!!
ojore : idek. WHAT WAS HIS PURPOSE?! he literally does nothing.
mama agba : the only good character. i'm surprised that she could put up with everyone. the only issue i have with her is that she thought zélie was right.
in conclusion
children of virtue & vengeance does not exist.
children of blood & bone is a stand-alone and will stay a stand-alone until the series redeems itself.
age rating: 13+
- there was none. literally nothing happened.
- the villain was just the evil king from COBAB with super powers and a different name.
- there was a freedom-fighter-esque group called the Iyika. think jet's freedom fighters in ATLA — they were basically the same thing. they both do really stupid things, like try to take out an entire town of innocent people because their enemies are inside it, to further their cause.
they also randomly get kidnapped at the end.
- the plot went around in circles. the book could have been 200 pages shorter if the characters had just communicated.
characters
zelie : she became so self-righteous throughout the book. she always thought she was right, and the Iyika worshipped the ground she walked on. also she was horrible to amari.
amari : i despised what adeyemi did with amari. her character was completely butchered. i didn't like that nobody listened to her just because she was a tîtán. i also didn't like how she was written completely out of character to show how the crown corrupts even the nicest people.
tzain : tzain, who? he was barely there. the only thing he did was leave amari for zélie, because amari sucks and zélie is the best, obviously :/
inan : he was trying so hard to make peace with the Ikiya, but they were too self-righteous to realise. he was also quite wishy-washy and did whatever his mother told him. whatever spine he had in COBAB disappeared in COVAV.
roën : the most vanilla love interest ever. he had zero character depth. inan was better.
queen nailah : she was basically the same as the king from COBAB with superpowers. no motivation whatsoever.
the ikiya : very self-righteous, perfect for zélie tbh. so self-righteous that they destroyed all of the food that inan was giving to the maji, just because it was from the monarchy. it's like, people are hungry but you'll DESTROY THE FREE FOOD AND THEN COMPLAIN THAT THE MONARCHY ISN'T DOING ANYTHING TO HELP MAJI!!! WHATTT!!!
ojore : idek. WHAT WAS HIS PURPOSE?! he literally does nothing.
mama agba : the only good character. i'm surprised that she could put up with everyone. the only issue i have with her is that she thought zélie was right.
in conclusion
children of virtue & vengeance does not exist.
children of blood & bone is a stand-alone and will stay a stand-alone until the series redeems itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Genocide
Moderate: Grief and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
destynee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and War