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

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

15 reviews

ethuiliel's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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paintedpolarbear's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

3.0

~~am i the only one who was supremely confused by everyone's actions? why are we doing this~~

Overall a decent sequel to the previous, but I had many issues with pacing and characterization that can't be overlooked, as well as what I believe was a fatal deviation from the intended plot progression. Many themes and throughlines from the first book appear to have been dropped or outright reversed in this installment.

To start with, the introduction of Titans was, at the beginning, a logical progression from the ending of the previous book. "The Gods work in mysterious ways" indeed, and it appeared to be a natural consequence of magic returning to the world. How would maji, with their closed cultural practices revolving around magic, adapt to the sudden influx of non-religious magic users? How would the new Titans adapt to their unprecedented powers? The answer was badly, on both counts, with the arrival of Titans sowing immediate chaos and disunity among the nation. Nobody handled this well. My major gripe was how quickly the argument among the maji devolved from actual cultural concerns to "well we just have to account for them when drawing up plans on how to kill as many people as possible." The idea that this was the gods' plan all along just never came up, which is insane considering how many other discussions revolved around trying to puzzle out the gods' will. What should have been a metaphor for socio-religious conflict became "my enemy leveled up, so now I have to level up as well," ad infinitum. Nobody wins in an arms race, btw.

One constant bugbear throughout the entire book was Amari's choices and actions. She quickly went from a character I was rooting for to a character I was hoping would die in a rockslide or something. Like, I get it, what are you supposed to do when the person whose approval you need says to your face that the best thing you can do for your country is die, but...I think the right answer is NOT to turn around and immediately magically lobotomize that person, take up the role of tribal elder (it's giving settler colonialism 🥴), and proceed to develop your own special and unique take on magic that completely disregards the cultural history that you have only just now become even slightly curious about. I'm also side-eyeing Mama Agba for condoning and encouraging literally everything about this.

Not to mention the LITERAL ACTUAL WAR CRIME of TARGETING CIVILIANS. Over which she has the AUDACITY to be shocked and dismayed that people are upset that she committed. Of which SHE is upset ONLY BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK. And expected everyone (including her boyfriend) to forgive her when OTHER PEOPLE have to resort to BLOOD SACRIFICE to invent NEW MAGIC just to UNDO WHAT SHE DID.

(This is not to say I am not side-eying Zelie/the Iyika literally using the exact same superweapon in their attack against the monarchy in the next scene, but it's fine because they're targeting soldiers? Can we be serious.)

Oh and the epilogue. Why was the trans-Atlantic slave trade overture necessary at all?

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sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

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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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ayvie's review against another edition

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Honestly, I'm exhausted by the rehashing of the same issues and fights that we faced in book 1. There is, understandably, a lot of trauma and mistrust from the main characters. And I don't discount or dismiss that. But I also want *more* and better. It's just too much pain being flung at everyone.

This is somewhat spoilery, but not with a lot of specifics.

I *hated* Inan's choices in book 1. To the point where I thought the romance between he and Zélie was a horrible add-on. I did not and do not forgive him. And I understand - wholly - why Zélie doesn't. So when he makes a point to try to end the war and be better here, I really hoped that he could. But he has no conviction. So when his offer is rebuffed (understandably), he just continues along with the status quo and hurting those with magic. Instead of standing strong against the atrocities, like he said he would, he just goes right back to eliminating magic and those that use it. Which apparently includes torture.

Zélie and Amari (whom I still love) are having the same fight they have been having since the beginning. I just desperately want them to band together to make things better. But the constant fighting against each other is helping no one. Least of all them.

Zélie wants to be done with the war and everything, believing that it was all for nothing. And there's no point in anyone else dying - they should just leave. I totally get her feelings on this. What frustrates me is that instead of doing that, she goes the revenge route and instead of seeing what's good for her people, she is singleminded in being *against* Inan. Which is going to place her people in more danger.

Amari continues to beat her head against the wall of being accepted by the magi. They do not accept her (since she is a royal that now has magic), and despite her trying to help them, and all of Orisha, be safe and healthy and happy, she's mistrusted and abused.

Since this seems to be rehashing all the issues from book 1, I think I can probably come back in book 3 to see how it ties up without even really reading the last half of book 2.

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rikuson1's review

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

It Was Okay 🥴
-★★✭☆☆- (2.75/5.00)
My Grading Score = 55% (C-)

Children of Virtue and Vengeance had good moments, but I do feel the overall pacing for this book dragged a specific plot that probably didn't need as much time as it was given. Some of the characters as well did start to make decisions that felt a bit out of character for them. Or they were so dramatic that it did not come off as organic as it probably should for me with the lead-up to them making those decisions. Especially with what they decided to stand for by the end of the previous book versus what they do now. Additionally, a new antagonist is introduced in this book that was not hinted at in any way in the prior book, which made their introduction and placement in the story feel contrived. I'm not fully on board with the direction it took and is now going, but it wasn't a terrible read. One of the three main characters did make a drastic shift in character in this book by the end and people seem to not like where they are headed, but in hindsight, it does not bother me with the path that character is going down by the execution to it could have been better than what we got.

Verdict
I'll see if the third book is going to play out well with what this book apparently was trying to set up. Overall,

It Was Okay

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kyrstin_p1989's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is an intense, fast-paced read. The battle scenes are brutal, the love stories are laced with complications, and the young people who are at odds with each other are naive yet steadfast toward their beliefs. The ending was such a cliffhanger that I didn’t expect.

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robinks's review against another edition

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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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cecinamo's review against another edition

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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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grets_reads's review

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adventurous challenging 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

4.25

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ci_eden's review

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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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