Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Children of Blood and Bone: Seer Edition by Tomi Adeyemi

157 reviews

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Edit: After thinking on this book a bit more, I've decided to lower the rating from a 3.75 to a 2. I kept trying to convince myself that this was a good story because I keenly understand the place it was written from, but beyond the bare bones of it, I don't think it actually was. I didn't enjoy the characters and I felt like the plot didn't actually make a whole lot of sense. I've decided that I will not be reading the sequel.

Original review:
Overall, this is a good story with a (unfortunately) very relatable setting: an oppressive society that treats certain people as lesser due to something inherent that they cannot control. I felt the author's pain and anger surrounding this real-world issue in the writing, and perhaps if this had been my first exposure to the mindset of the oppressed group, I might have found it more impactful. However, I personally found it a little tiring for specific reasons that I will mark as a spoiler below. 

Again, it is a good story, just one I've seen many times already. Nothing about it surprised me and as much as I was rooting for them, I didn't love any of the characters by the end. I'm not sure if you're supposed to or not.

The specific reasons I found this book to be tiring have a lot to do with the main characters. All three were naive to a fault, and retained that naivete throughout the entire book, even as their views on certain things changed. I suppose it's realistic, as they are all teenagers and teenagers are very naive, but I found it very frustrating to read about them doing impulsive and very ill-advised things over and over again and then only afterwards thinking that they might have been bad ideas. 

Next, there is the issue of trauma. This is a book based in racial trauma, which makes it automatically not a fun read for me. Again, I really want to stress that I'm not saying it's bad, but it's very real, and it's hard to laugh at any of the jokes or moments of levity when the whole book is about oppression and I already experience oppression nearly constantly in my real life. 

Next, as I said above, nothing about this book surprised me. I was never on the edge of my seat or uncertain about the fate of the characters, because I've seen this story so many times. It hit all the beats I was expecting it to, and the only death I didn't predict was a character that I didn't care about at all. 

Finally, the romance. I'm all for a good romantic subplot, but I couldn't get behind this one. It was going for "enemies to lovers" but was done with no subtlety, I felt like I was being bashed over the head with foreshadowing about this relationship. Then, the actual enemies to lovers part happened seemingly overnight, and they suddenly didn't hate each other anymore. The romance gave me some emotional whiplash and made me feel like I was missing time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

chlo_po's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and War

daisy2050's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

annorabrady's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

trayslays's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Infidelity

puggreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment

kymberly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, and Classism

Minor: Slavery and Sexual harassment

angievansprang's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

My first dip back into YA fantasy since I was young and I could not have chosen a better book! While the pacing can be slow at times, the ending of this story and the various plot twists that I did NOT see coming kept me enveloped in Adeyemi’s world of Orïsha. Overall a great read and I can’t wait to keep going with this series. (PS you don’t want to miss the author’s note at the end!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Torture, Grief, and War

sarafps16's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, and Violence

megs_baer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Classism