Reviews with content warning for Death - Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

67 reviews

ravenwolf_waf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-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

3.5

My thoughts are all over the place with this one. I thought this was it, there wasn't going to be a third book. So wtf was that ending? And what happened to my characters? Relationships are destroyed all because everyone checked reason and trust at the door and went straight for hot-headed emotion. The story was decent but half of it felt wholly unnecessary. It was as if the author was trying to keep the plot going past when it should've ended by throwing random hurdles throughout. I'll keep an eye out for the third, I guess, but at this point it's feeling more like a skip. :/

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green_amaryllis's review

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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

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redhothabanero's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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sv_m04's review

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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.

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asourceoffiction's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an utterly brutal installment to the Children of Blood and Bone series. I enjoyed the direction it took after the magic returned to the kingdom, and how complex all the characters' motivations have become. Zélie loathes Inan after he caused her father's death, but finds herself still inextricably tied to him. Amari is rejected by the other maji but desperately wants to help them win Orisha back. Inan never knows whether to follow what he ultimately knows is right, or his duty to the crown.

Unfortunately, all of this internal conflict leads the trio to make some incredibly misguided decisions and my sympathies wavered with all of them at some point. also found similar patterns emerging through the book, where a plan would form and be shot down at the last devastating minute, right up to the end.

I did enjoy the final twist in the tale and l'm intrigued to see where the next book will take the story. But it started to feel a little repetitive, despite such a clever premise.

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