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luuciatombillaa's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
emilyb_chicago's review against another edition
3.0
kallieann819's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
eshelton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
lucy_brb's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
justjeanettelee's review against another edition
5.0
Firstly, what a breathtaking debut novel. Tomi did an absolutely incredible job with this one. Fresh ideas in the fantasy world that hold complete relevance in our very own reality. The writing was fantastic, the plot amazing, pacing was perfect, and character arcs were phenomenal (although I think that Inan and Zélie’s change of heart towards each other was a little too quickly done).
Secondly, what a beautiful cultural vibe this book has. The one thing that I really really enjoyed about this book, was that it was filled with vocabulary I didn’t know. Such as all the different fashion items (I only knew what a kaftan was thanks to Now I Rise by Kiersten White). But now, my eyes are open to a whole new world. Every time I came across a word I wasn’t sure of, I wrote it down and looked it up. I loved that about this book - it opened up my eyes and horizons.
Thirdly, and this is probably the best part: every character within this novel is a person of colour! This is awesome! People of colour are so underrepresented in YA novels in general, usually assigned to a secondary or even tertiary role. This has started to change and I’m loving it! We need more representation up in here!
Fourthly, the magic. The system of magic in this book is breathtaking. Tomi actually has clans of magic, and no one character who possesses it is so OP. Zélie was a Reaper, pure and simple. She wasn’t a Mary Sue who has all the powers. And the magic being connected to one particular deity? Beautiful. And that’s another wonderful thing. The religion.
Lastly, my thoughts on maji and divîners. Oh my god. Holy shit. The oppression that they face. The treatment that Saran gives to Zélie. The PTSD. The everything about the place of divîners in this world. Tomi perfectly mirrors the atrocities that people of colour face in our world today. If you didn’t read her Author’s Note, I strongly suggest that you do.
Thank you Tomi Adeyemi for a beautiful book.
sade's review against another edition
1.0
A thoroughly dissappointing read.
Before i dive into this review, i'd just like to say that i did like the premise of this book. I liked the fact that Tomi wanted to explore Yoruba mythology, i also absolutely loved the fact that she wanted to put Nigeria not just as a place representing Africa as a whole but a country with it's unique culture and all that - she failed in that though , but hey at least she didn't do the whole Africa is a country thing.
First off: Adeyemi had a chance really to properly explore yoruba mythology and you know just educate people but somewhere along the line everything started looking like a rebooted Netflix Version of your fave animie. How do you delete Olodumare, Olorun and Olofi and put Sky Mother??? Who is that?
Then this Nigeria depicted in this book is so lazy. I know, i know, people might say it's fiction but Nigeria is a real ass place. The least you can if you're going to use real places and basically base the identity of your characters as Nigerians is to actually PROPERLY represent such a country. First of Nigeria is freaking huge. So when these characters were hot steping from Lagos - Ilorin - Sokoto in a matter of days i'm sorry i just couldn't roll with it. Then the weather, i mean c'mon snow in Ibadan??? Look i never saw snow until i lived outside Nigeria for 2 years. So this thing she does where she sort of uses weak token gestures to make these characters believable Nigerians is sad. I mean what is with this dashikis they were wearing? I didn't even see one mention of an Agbada or a fila or something.
Now that i think about it, you're not even sure what era in Nigeria she's basing her characterisation of Nigeria on. I'm saying this because she mentions Gombe State & Gombe was created in 1996 out of Bauchi State. Also, the author makes it seem like it's just Yoruba that exists in the whole of Nigeria. I find it difficult to imagine for example that people in Sokoto are going to care one hoot for a yoruba deity. Nigeria has so many tribes who i'm sure obviously have their own mythologies and the author basically saying the whole Nigeria is yoruba is just like i said, a lazy depiction of Nigeria.
Then the hair. See. I've noticed authors want to write in black women/girls but never want to write them with real hair. HOW WERE ZELIE & AMARI'S HAIR BONE STRAIGHT? Did they have relaxers? Binta's hair is literally described as falling in "silky sheets",I mean how??? Inan describes Zelie hair like this "White locks that once fell in smooth sheets now cascade down her back in flowing waves" Ugh!!!! Forget the mushy description. But even when her hair is going natural, Tomi Adeyemi still refuses to give her the typical hair you would find on an average Nigerian girl. I mean except she was bi-racial...?? Was she bi-racial? This hair thing was a huge fail.
Could be wrong, but i honestly feel like she was pandering to her non African audience in terms of the hair & depiction of Nigeria. Which is why her characters for me almost feel like foreign Nigerians. I mean even the name of her main character is so not Yoruba. Fun fact: There's no 'z' in the yoruba alphabet so where did the name Zelie come from?
Let's dive into the plot proper...Which is frankly a hot mess. The magic system is completely unexplained which i felt was delibrately done in order to carry Inan's story arc. Then blood magic?? Really if anyone knows what that was all about, feel free to explain it to me please.
The constant need YA authors have to pair characters up like if that doesn't happen, the whole plot will spontaneously combust. The annoying, irritating fact that even though this author is a woman she couldn't make Zelie bad ass enough and stop being so damn emotional.
We have so few bad ass female MC's, and the few YA authors manage to write, have their abilities forever overshadowed by falling in love with some freaking dramatic shit of a male character that cannot get his priorities right.
Also whoa!!! The Avatar Last Airbender similarites were so glaring that i was unable to unsee them at every freaking point.
I honestly feel the bar is basically set on the floor for YA novels, which is why someone can toss in a few Yoruba words, add a real African country in it for good measure, have a gaping plot hole in terms of the magic system, give characters magic willy nilly but still have everyone go awwww because hey guess what, i know i didn't tell you how it works but don't worry here's two beautiful characters falling in love don't stress yourself on how everything works. You want to know the deal with Blood magic? shhh shhhh here's two beautiful characters kissing.
Miss me with this book!
ruthcarmona's review against another edition
- 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