Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

60 reviews

martereadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Child death, Violence, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Gore, Gaslighting, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and War

kirbyblue's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

2.5

I really wanted to love this book, and I forced myself to finish it even though I was bored by the 10% mark. I was excited for a different take on the classic magical world, but this book is so terribly predictable with a horribly forced love story. The plot takes pointless detours, seemingly just to add on pages and the characters are all annoying in their own ways. There wasn’t a single character whose perspective I enjoyed. And the love story? Even now, having finished the book, it makes no sense. Inan has no redeemable qualities other than his random change of heart towards the people he’s been murdering all his life. I’m only giving it 2.5 stars because I appreciate the author tried to do something different in the genre. Unfortunately, I don’t think it was done well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Racial slurs

idogrocker's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, War, Violence, Racial slurs, Grief, Death of parent, and Blood

frankietheavidreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

I would say this book is really fantastic! This has to be one of my favorite novels of 2021 and or maybe of all time. Some of the flaws that i would say about this is, that it's not a cliché. There is plenty of plot twists, and very dark moments in this book. Including one scene in the end (I had to take a break from the book cause it was really triggering for me). But overall, very interesting and impressive for a new author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, War, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Blood, Police brutality, and Murder

v11_'s review against another edition

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

oliverreeds's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

everything i wrote was deleted. i spent 15 minutes on this review. the short and skinny since i won’t be rewriting it: the characters are waffle-y

looking at you, inan and you zeili

i also just realized i’ve done ever spoiler up until this point wrong. the romances should have been gay 

looking at YOU zeili and amari bc the straight romances have. no. chemistry. at. all.

and lastly i was confused on a plot point which could have been my fault

the raid was only like ten years ago and that’s when magic went away when king whoever interrupted a ritual but this ritual only occurs every hundred years and it’s coming up agajn after only ten… maybe i misread though

anyways good book but should have been gayer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders

duketal's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

A fantastic story.
This is the book that introduced me to fantasy written by BIPOC authors. 
Could not recommend highly enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

batwinggoth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cursing, Confinement, and Police brutality

ginameix's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

I couldn't put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Torture and Slavery

Minor: Sexual content and Kidnapping

syllareads's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I think the best way to sum up my feelings on this book is: I am very glad it exists and I hope it brings people, especially the underrepresented, joy and closure, it just wasn't for me.

The worldbuilding of this first book in the Orïsha-Series is beautiful, the magic system is intriguing, and I have to yet again remark on how important storytelling is in this story (as I did in my Raybearer review) - much of the backstory, especially when it comes to the magic system, is told to both us and the characters itself via a story, or a legend, or both, often accompanied by beautiful visualization of said story. I was a big fan of that!

Another, though definitely sadder aspect, were the parallels between what Zélie and her friends, as well as the other Divîners, had to go through and still suffer throughout the story itself, and the very real oppression of black people (mostly documented in the US at this moment and the moment these books were written, but also generally throughout the world). The author, Tomi Adeyemi, even says so in her Author's Note by the end of the book. I am glad she was able to put her pain, her tears, and her suffering into words, even though I wish she didn't have to. 

While all of this is definitely why I am glad this novel exists for the ones who need and want it, it just personally didn't click with me. I liked the characters well enough (I have complicated feelings about Inan) and their personal struggles were painful to read about. Overall, though, the story progressed too fast for me, especially when it came to some of the love stories - I personally like to have some time with that sort of thing. I'm still going to read book 2 at the very least since I got it from the library, and I'm interested to see if that, for instance, changes throughout the series.

Generally speaking, there were enough things for me to at least like about this book that I'm glad I read it, even though it didn't spark as much joy and as many feelings as I'd hoped it would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racism, Racial slurs, Child death, and Death of parent