Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

14 reviews

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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: Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Murder, War, and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Slavery, Torture, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

jlemms87's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I didn’t think it was possible for this one to destroy me more than the first, but here I am. Destroyed. 

SO well done. I had to pace myself because the darkness and hate were so well written that I needed breaks. My heart is still aching for each of the characters, and for how desperately I just wanted them to listen to one another. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Racial slurs, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

someryarns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Kidnapping

ginalucia's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

 

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi is a fantastic, intense, and emotional read. Adeyemi expertly blends emotions with logic, drawing us into a world where every character's struggle feels incredibly authentic.

The characters themselves are what really make Adeyemi’s writing stand out. They are beautifully flawed, making hasty decisions influenced by a mix of intense emotions - something we can all relate to. 

This book delves into the complexities of leadership and the impact of decisions. It’s honestly a wild and troubling ride.

Listening to the audiobook version adds another layer to the experience, making the story even more immersive and intense. If you debating on picking it up as an audiobook, I highly recommend it. Bahni Turpin did an amazing job.

The relentless pace of the book, with one high-stakes situation after another, is the reason for my four-star rating. A few moments of calm within the storm would have made a big difference.

Overall, Children of Virtue and Vengeance is an engaging, thought-provoking read that stays with you. Definitely worth picking up.

For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel ( ttps://www.youtube.com/ginaluciayt).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Classism, Racial slurs, Body horror, Death, and Hate crime

robinks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

Compared to the first volume, this one felt a little less intense and more about internal struggles, and I found myself super frustrated at different points. The epilogue had really powerful imagery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Genocide, and Police brutality

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Trafficking, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Torture

cecinamo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.75

I really liked this book. It was really good, but very very sad and there was also quite a lot of violence. 
There is also a lesbian background couple <3 I am definitely looking forward to the third book. Hopefully their story ends well! >~< 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Colonisation, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Murder

abby_can_read's review

adventurous medium-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

3.0

📱
After finishing the first book, I had high exceptions and I don't think this book lived up to them. This was a decent book and there were parts that I enjoyed reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Colonisation and Gaslighting

ci_eden's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

This took me a year to read due to my ADHD but definitely a great sequel! I could definitely feel how the characters matured throughout the book. The smaller chapters spur me on and I feel like the POV is evenly spread between each character. I honestly can't wait for this to get picked up for a TV show, it'll be absolutely stunning. The way Adeyemi described things, I can truly visualise it in my head.

The fact that the war technically hasn't ended and that they're on a boat in the sea?! Who is this new player Tomi, I need to read the next one right now!!

Also I love how flawed Zelie is. I love a strong woman going through shit, and she doesn't want to run away anymore, she found her purpose, fuck yeah! Although she has horrible taste in men. Also did NOT expect Amari to kill innocent people. Trauma and abuse really twists you.

These are tortured characters that just keep getting battered and abused. Children fighting wars, as the title says. I feel for them, I really do. I feel like their deaths are inevitable but I can't look away... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, War, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Hate crime

Minor: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

green_amaryllis's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide

Moderate: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Violence, and Vomit

sv_m04's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Violence

The violence and racism is not as bad as the first book in thid series but still an extremely important and prevalant part of the story.