Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Children of Blood and Bone

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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

55 reviews

sofiefarmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

This is one of the most masterfully built YA fantasies I have ever read. I LOVED the incorporation of West African mythology and language. The magic system was super cool. The characters were so complex and fascinating. Overall, it is a super great read.

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lucille_c's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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elindseyr190's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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tieflingkisser's review

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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mirireads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The rating of this book wasn't easy because there was a lot to like about it: the main plot, world building, magic system, most of the main characters and fast paced storytelling. Therefore, I'd have loved to rate it higher but there's a big but:
The main romantic subplot was not for me. I absolutely despised the pairing. I dreaded that it would be "a thing" from the hints that were given quite early on and for a significant chunk of the second half of the book the subplot seemed to be the main focus of the book. Everything else apparently lost its urgency for a bit and them being pretty obsessed with each other made me consider dnfing the book.

Inan was also a whole problem by himself. I got strong Zuko vibes from him but never felt that his character earned that comparison. He's a weak and whiney person with no concept of taking responsibility for his own actions or those of the people under his command. Nothing is ever his fault and every hint of am independent thought is squished by his daddy issues.
Reading the 100ish pages about the valley with the divîners camp was infuriating.

More often then not, Tzain seemed to be the only sane person in the whole story. He definitely deserves better!

All in all, if you can get behind the romantic subplot, you're in for a treat and will probably love this book. If you can't get behind the romantic subplot, you'll probably suffer through those parts as well or just give up.

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ashurah's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book.

The book's main strength (and my favorite part of it) was the worldbuilding. It is BEAUTIFUL and very layered; I could definitely tell that the author put a lot of time into researching aspects of West African cultures and developing it in a way that it fits this fantasy world. Even though the magic system wasn't as well-developed as I would have liked, the incorporation of African mythology and the explanations of the different social classes in Orishan society were two aspects of the novel that I really appreciated.

However, I just couldn't enjoy the novel as much as I could have due to a combination of two factors. The novel is VERY fast-paced. This worked in some cases: the fight scenes, in particular, were beautifully written. I really couldn't put the book down! All of those scenes were intense and exciting - even though they were all pretty similar, I never felt like I wanted to skip over those scenes.

But Adeyemi's focus on the tight plot meant that the relationships and characterization weren't as fleshed out. In particular, I felt that the romantic relationships

(Zelie/Inan and Tzain/Amari)

weren't well developed and kind of ruined the story for me. The author tried to include romantic subplots but it felt very forced. Even though we have an idea of which characters will canonically end up together, it didn't feel like they had any chemistry.

Personally, Zelie/Amari seemed like a much better choice for a romantic relationship just due to how their relationship developed - it's a more realistic and subtle enemies-to-friends relationship than rushed enemies-to-lovers romance we get with Zelie/Inan. Both of them help each other develop throughout the story, rather than one character doing the heavy lifting for another character's development.

I also felt that the mood of the novel switched very quickly and it made it difficult to suspend my belief on some occasions. Like a previous reviewer said, it seemed like all the characters were very intensely angry for a couple of pages only for them to suddenly feel better. It didn't feel realistic at all, and that was a major part of why I couldn't connect to characters as well. The only character I liked was Amari - her development was by far the strongest throughout the book.

This was a really fun read. I enjoyed the action and worldbuilding, but unfortunately the relationships and characterization made it miss the mark for me.

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