Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Children of Blood and Bone

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

27 reviews

_persephone_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

It wasn't a mind breaking book, it followed a common fantasy plot of, girl with magical powers has to hunt down these magical objects to stop the evil king, but it was good. While the base of the plot was nothing original, the small details did set it apart. My only real complaints were that it fell within that toxic heterosexual relationship trope

Inan literally betrayed her, broke her heart, burnt down her village, and aided in the death of her father. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of toxicity in relationships in fiction but some things are too far.

. And lets be honest, it would've been way better if Zélie and Amari got together instead, it still could've been enemies to lovers, just without all the added toxicity.

(The reason I gave the diversity level a 'It's complicated' was that despite how many people praise this book with it's diversity, it really wasn't. I loved that there wasn't a single white person, it was refreshing, when most other book have only white people. But its not diverse if everyone is the same race whether thats white or not. And I understand that maybe in the part of the world where the story took place there really was only black people, but like add in some diversity of sexuality or disabilities eta. Just my two cents)

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sophiamoonlight's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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tinnuben's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.75

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durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

Such an amazing book! The world-building was done so well, I'd say it was quite complex and yet easy to understand at the same time. So many themes were covered in the book, mainly oppression, racism, grief but also friendship, understanding, honestly, I learned so much from reading this. The characters were so well developed. At first I kind of hated them, but then as they grew, I found myself rooting for them (well, most of them anyway) and it's just so brilliant.

I have never found a character to be so relatable like Amari. Reading her povs, I mean, I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

I mean, she was practically useless on that ship. And the way she kept telling herself to freaking move and do something but remained frozen and how she kind of made everything worse, I FELT THAT. But it was so much watching her grow, seeing her embrace the "lionaire" that was inside her all along. It kind of made me have hope in myself. So, I owe this book one.

I think the character development is my favourite thing in the book. I mean, the characters have come so far. Like how Zélie went from someone who constantly doubted herself to becoming someone so strong she was a force to behold.

And Inan? *sigh* I was really rooting for you man, and I'm sorry to say this, but I'm kind of relieved thar you died. Cause to tell you the truth, you were freaking stupid. And after you've come so far! Such a shame. I originally wanted to give this a 5 star, but Inan angered me so much I just can't. But you know, it was refreshing that the enemies-to-lovers crashed and the love interest died cause he was being an idiot anyways. Okay fine, I might give this a 5 star later. All that aside, I can see how Inan represents someone who grew with a horrible parentage, someone who was taught, from a very yound age to hate and be scared of the maji, and it was so nice to watch him fall in love with Zélie, and to discover his own powers which made him re-evaluate his upbringings. But sadly, the fear crept up on him again, and yeah, it was pretty devastating that he was killed by the one person he worked so hard to appease.

Besides that, the writing style is so genius! I mean, I'm not and english or literature major, but the way she describes abstract things like feelings using physical symbolism(?) It takes my breath away every single time.

Now chaos surrounds me, pulsing through every breath and heartbeat. It sings as blood splatters through the air, screams as boats explode into oblivion.

Reading this was like watching a movie, and for a very long book, I can say for certain that I never got bored. Loved it ❤️

Bonuses - multi-pov and the chapters are super short!

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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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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dandelioness's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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ehmannky's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a wild ride and I loved it. Zélie is a member of the oppressed magi class, hated because of their magic lineage. Together with her brother Tzain, and her newfound friend and runaway princess Amari, she rushes across Orisha in an attempt to bring magic back to the land. The book toggles between Zélie, Amari, and Inan's (the crown prince) points of view. I don't particularly know how I feel about Inan's POV, as he continues to irritate me, but I do think it adds an interesting level to your understanding of the plot and internalized hatred of oneself.

I've made no secret of my love for female protagonists that are unabashedly angry at the world, and the protagonist Zélie was so angry all the damn time I loved it. Adeyemi writes a brilliant afterward that creates a tie between real-world events (the murder of black people at the hands of police) to the anger in her novel. The book does have very brief mentions of sexual violence and a whole lot of physical violence/torture and death. If those are not things you would like to read, then perhaps this book isn't for you.

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