Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

33 reviews

lizzie24601's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

An interesting installment for the trilogy that deals with a lot of the same themes of the first book. This one frustrated me, tho, because of the lack of character growth. The main characters continue to make the same mistakes time and time again and grapple with the same flaws that it becomes boring.

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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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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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straw_hat_kd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved Children of Blood and Bone. I loved Children of Virtue and Vengeance just as much. They are very different tonally. Children and Blood was a cat-and-mouse chase  meets a race against the clock to return magic before it's lost forever book. This book deals with the consequences of the characters returning magic back. Relationships deepen. We meet new characters and new forces of opposition arise to challenge the maji's pursuit of peace. Once again, we read this book from different perspectives and it is just as successful this time around.  Because of the stakes, the different POVs makes you question who is wrong and who is right throughout the book. I know my thoughts changed with each chapter. I loved the continued growth of the characters. The new characters introduced in this book are fantastic additions to the cast, and returning characters have significant impact. I cannot wait for book 3 to release shortly. 

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jlemms87's review

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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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ginalucia's review

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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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pacifickat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was a decent second installment of the series, albeit not as polished and clearly directional as Children of Blood and Bone (one of my favorite YA Fantasy books to date, so I don't blame Virtue and Vengeance for not reaching that bar). It felt a bit like Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia series, where the preceding book had a plot with a lot of upward momentum ending on a clearly positive note after the main characters experienced notable development in a single direction, but the following book is mired in character flaws, violence, and a bleaker outlook. I actually liked that to a certain extent, because mixed motives, continued resolve, and not becoming frustrated with a cause that is slow to succeed are all very real and believable.

 
As I grew frustrated (likely by author design) with the foibles of each character and their seeming devolving character arcs, I also realize the plot of the first book took place in what I believe was a matter of weeks. It's no wonder the characters are experiencing some backsliding, especially when their next steps toward success are less defined, and debatable depending on each one's motivations and past traumas. However, it was often difficult to be in their heads, particularly Zélie's POV chapters. Our girl turned it around by the end though, once her vendetta became less personal and she found strength in truly uniting her people. Can magic fix everything? Maybe. 

In truth, I was a bit baffled by Inan's chapters, as he repeatedly experienced horrific realizations regarding his family's past and the corruption of the monarchy, and yet (for the most part) continued on their side in spite of feeling sick about it. He is truly a slow-turning vehicle, and it felt unbelievable to see him continue to believe in his corrupt institution. A bit on the nose in today's political climate? Perhaps.  

And Amari, my favorite character through the bulk of this story, arguing for a future with peace for all Orïshans, had an enormous, disappointing twist. I'm not sure the author did enough to develop Amari to then make her murder of civilians a believable course of action, but she did sprinkle in Amari's (violently abusive) father's voice in Amari's head throughout the book as she becomes increasingly desperate to succeed. It's a clever use of POV to capture internal monologue that I am unsure will translate well into movie form should they decide to do a live action version of this series. Ultimately, she learns that peace at any price is too high a cost to pay. The author makes it sound like Amari could have a path back to grace following this murderous episode, but that will be a difficult pill for some readers to swallow after she massacred an entire village (even if the author copped out of it by conveniently resurrecting everyone...but this is YA after all).

Ultimately, it turns out that Roën, the mercenary side-character without a POV chapter of his own, displayed the most character development of anyone. He pulls a Severus Snape, going from a grey area of working for both sides for personal gain to finding a reason to fight for something better, a transformation nearly entirely driven by his love for Zélie. While I remain skeptical that two highly-volatile characters who have been primarily fueled by rage and pain can make for a successful long term relationship (perhaps one of the Healers can invent cognitive therapy), their story still felt like one of the few satisfying elements of the entire book.

So, in the end, it turns out war, genocide, structural racism, and governmental overthrow are messy. Everyone involved has mixed motivations and violence is a near a guarantee. Are vengeance-fueled teens frustrating and a little scary? Yes. Can idealism turn dark? For sure. Are child warriors disturbing? Absolutely. All in all, this is a book with complicated plot and subject matter that meanders so much I wasn't sure how the author would wrap it all up. An abrupt, cliff-hanger, twist ending may not be what we, the faithful readers, disserved after hanging on through this entire book. But what did we expect? I guess we'll have to wait for the third and final installment to see if we get any real resolution to what has been a wild ride of a series.

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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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debthebookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Before I learned there is a third book coming, I was fully prepared to throw this book across the room.
Ending with what I can only assume are the Europeans coming to enslave the Orïshans instead of giving us the victory Zélie deserves would have been a compete let-down.


But Children of Anguish and Anarchy is coming! So I can focus on how I feel about the pages leading up to the end.

I was not prepared for Amari's arc. Seeing her turn exactly into what her parents raised her to be and sacrificing Ibadan was frustrating, and I wished she had been sacrificed for the other elders to join their hearts. I expected Mama Agba to go, but not like that. All in all, it was a beautiful send-off.

Zélie and Inan hurt. I was excited to learn that Inan was alive, even though he was so aggravating and the reason Baba died. He and Zélie, though, were just something I wanted to work, and watching him fight himself again but this time also having to fight against his mother, I rooted for him to break free so he could do the right thing. It took the whole book, but I'm glad it happened. 

Also, so much pain. Having to watch Zélie get broken down to the point where she didn't want to fight anymore was so painful. Mâzeli did not deserve to die, and it was her fault!
There were so many instances of everyone not listening or trusting each other, I didn't know who was going to prevail.

Overall, story-wise, I loved seeing more maji, watching Zélie blossom with her own little clan, discovering cênters, and seeing the maji sanctuary. The twists were really good. I was shocked every time. The last few chapters, jumping from character to character every 3 pages, was jarring, but I pushed through. Also  unless this is addressed in Book 3, we never learned what happened to Ramaya.

I debated on how many stars to give this, but those issues stop me from giving it 5.

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