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

This is fundamentally a war novel and, like many middle books in a fantasy trilogy, has neither the fun of introducing a new world and characters, nor the satisfaction of a conclusion. All three of the protagonists were incredibly frustrating, though there were some great supporting characters. That said, I need the final book ASAP!

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whatcassiedid's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

Overall I enjoyed it but watching Amari make the wrong choice at every possible moment was so frustrating.

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stacy_27_'s review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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

5.0

This book was absolutely amazing. I didn't know how Tomi Adeyemi would improve on the first book's perfection, but she did. This book was everything.

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treereadingabook's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

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violentlyagitated's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

2.5 stars, as 3 stars would mean that I somewhat liked it when I mostly felt nothing while reading it. Nothing, generously laced with mild annoyance.

Although it‘s been a hot minute since I‘ve read volume one, I didn‘t have any problems getting into this again. So this isn‘t the reason why I just couldn‘t find it in me to care about their war. Reading came easier when I reminded myself that these terrible decisions were mostly made by inexperienced teenagers traumatized by oppression and violence, who somehow were the only people available for leadership positions (everyone else is dead or old). Yet sometimes the distinct lack of communication and empathy between the leads was really jarring despite everything. Saving the world by yourself with no help has always worked so well, right?

As to the plot: many things didn‘t make sense and/or weren‘t properly explained – where did the prior connector elder go, was she unconscious the whole time? How exactly did Nehanda figure out her powers when no one even knew they were a thing? Why do they suddenly have a name for these powers? And why do titans get it for free but maji have to make a big sacrifice? What significance does someone you love have on a blood sacrifice? How do you even measure if it‘s enough love worth sacrificing?

The romance aspect was, of course, nonsensical. That much hasn‘t changed so I wasn’t disappointed by that anymore. Just as with Inan, he was still the boy who changes sides like clothes. And even though she gets a lot of shit for it, I think the way Zélie acted was justified and made sense given what she‘s been through. Still think she makes a good protagonist. I didn‘t like the way Amari turned out (though she does regret what she‘s done by the end), but then again I don‘t feel like there were many sympathetic characters in this story, if any at all.

I won’t pick up the third instalment, nevertheless, the ending was no ending at all and taking over two years to release the next book after THAT cliffhanger is criminal :)

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mnbesser522's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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charlottebreads's review

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

cw/tw: death, blood, grief, genocide
age rating: 13+

plot
- there was none. literally nothing happened.
- the villain was just the evil king from COBAB with super powers and a different name.
- there was a freedom-fighter-esque group called the Iyika. think jet's freedom fighters in ATLA — they were basically the same thing. they both do really stupid things, like try to take out an entire town of innocent people because their enemies are inside it, to further their cause.
they also randomly get kidnapped at the end.
- the plot went around in circles. the book could have been 200 pages shorter if the characters had just communicated.

characters
zelie : she became so self-righteous throughout the book. she always thought she was right, and the Iyika worshipped the ground she walked on. also she was horrible to amari.
amari : i despised what adeyemi did with amari. her character was completely butchered. i didn't like that nobody listened to her just because she was a tîtán. i also didn't like how she was written completely out of character to show how the crown corrupts even the nicest people.
tzain : tzain, who? he was barely there. the only thing he did was leave amari for zélie, because amari sucks and zélie is the best, obviously :/
inan : he was trying so hard to make peace with the Ikiya, but they were too self-righteous to realise. he was also quite wishy-washy and did whatever his mother told him. whatever spine he had in COBAB disappeared in COVAV.
roën : the most vanilla love interest ever. he had zero character depth. inan was better.
queen nailah : she was basically the same as the king from COBAB with superpowers. no motivation whatsoever.
the ikiya : very self-righteous, perfect for zélie tbh. so self-righteous that they destroyed all of the food that inan was giving to the maji, just because it was from the monarchy. it's like, people are hungry but you'll DESTROY THE FREE FOOD AND THEN COMPLAIN THAT THE MONARCHY ISN'T DOING ANYTHING TO HELP MAJI!!! WHATTT!!!
ojore : idek. WHAT WAS HIS PURPOSE?! he literally does nothing.
mama agba : the only good character. i'm surprised that she could put up with everyone. the only issue i have with her is that she thought zélie was right.

in conclusion
children of virtue & vengeance does not exist.
children of blood & bone is a stand-alone and will stay a stand-alone until the series redeems itself.

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destynee's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense 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? No

5.0

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