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A review by adityasundar
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
2.0
That feeling you get when you finish the sequel to what was a decent predecessor only to realize it did a greater disservice to the story and characters. The arcs and relationships that the first book built are painfully undone here with little to no remorse.
Where Zélie emerged as a magi who found in strangers her family, she now crumbles with misdirected hate. I understood the root of her rage that comes from grief and trauma, but to have her wallow in it until the end with no growth or closure is insulting to her personality.
Amari was my favorite character in the first, and so, of course, she had to be ripped apart like a rag doll in this one. She might very well be my least favorite moving forward. If Tzain was a sidekick in the first book, he's literally pointless in this one. He doesn't even feature in action sequences, nor do Zélie and Amari validate him with so much as a remembrance. Inan was and remains underwritten. He barely grows from the wavering biped he was in the first book and served no purpose.
We get some flashes of potentially great characters in Roën and Ojore but they either die or harbor ill intent. If the King had a thread of motivation to exterminate magi in book 1, his wife the Queen has none. Great.
The magic system is exploited better here, but the power escalations are so frequent it can be in a drinking game. Zélie and others discover new aspects of the magic and are experts almost immediately. Death seems to be the only universal consequence to any magic, and that's conveniently reversed by using a different magic. It's all so safe and cozy, what with a counter spell for every spell. It's good to sprinkle magical evolutions and power ups, but when every random character can gain and master something so quickly, it feels more plot convenient than realistic.
I'll pick the third one simply to get done with the trilogy, but the expectations are low.
Where Zélie emerged as a magi who found in strangers her family, she now crumbles with misdirected hate. I understood the root of her rage that comes from grief and trauma, but to have her wallow in it until the end with no growth or closure is insulting to her personality.
Amari was my favorite character in the first, and so, of course, she had to be ripped apart like a rag doll in this one. She might very well be my least favorite moving forward. If Tzain was a sidekick in the first book, he's literally pointless in this one. He doesn't even feature in action sequences, nor do Zélie and Amari validate him with so much as a remembrance. Inan was and remains underwritten. He barely grows from the wavering biped he was in the first book and served no purpose.
We get some flashes of potentially great characters in Roën and Ojore but they either die or harbor ill intent. If the King had a thread of motivation to exterminate magi in book 1, his wife the Queen has none. Great.
The magic system is exploited better here, but the power escalations are so frequent it can be in a drinking game. Zélie and others discover new aspects of the magic and are experts almost immediately. Death seems to be the only universal consequence to any magic, and that's conveniently reversed by using a different magic. It's all so safe and cozy, what with a counter spell for every spell. It's good to sprinkle magical evolutions and power ups, but when every random character can gain and master something so quickly, it feels more plot convenient than realistic.
I'll pick the third one simply to get done with the trilogy, but the expectations are low.