A review by mayanena
Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

This was a conflicting read for me. The first two books already played with some heavy topics with varying levels of directness, but this book got dark and stayed heavy throughout. The joy and triumph that I was holding out for was short lived. 

I have enjoyed how women have shown great power throughout the series and been respected as leaders in their communities, but the descriptive torture and loss that we have to witness them go through doesn’t always seem to have a purpose. Like, how many times is someone going to carve into Zelie’s skin? 

The author is obviously talented and painted parallels between history and fantasy. I suppose I was just hoping for more escapism than reminders of heavy reality.