Children of Blood and Bone

by Tomi Adeyemi

Synopsis

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

Review

Children of Blood and Bone is a book I desperately wish I’d had in high school. It’s a powerful story told in an incredibly tangible way, thrusting enormous power and responsibility into the hands of a half-broken girl who is scared out of her mind and inexplicably brave. It’s a West African fantasy, but holds an ornate mirror directly to the face of America and the systems put in place by colonialism centuries ago. Zélie, the central protagonist, is full of fury and indignation at the injustices heaped upon her and others of her kind throughout her entire life. She is angry, and she is heartbroken. She is an incredible vessel to channel such a powerful story through, cracked but unbroken, and constantly looking ahead.

Tomi’s world of Orisha is wild and lovely, full of jungles, deserts, rivers and the ocean. Before we get to the magic, the history she’s built into her nation runs deep enough that even one line can extend her world by hundreds of years and make it feel all the more real. Mentions of wars and powers of long ago, of taxation and the prices of fish. The religious system she uses is phenomenally crafted, to the point even I teared up every time Zélie became close to her sister deity and spoke of the gods she’d thought had abandoned her. The system of magic, too, is set up so perfectly that I felt as though if I traveled far enough today, I could find this land of her creation.

On a writing level, Tomi’s descriptions are vivid and enviable, unafraid to shy away from the worst parts of jungle travel or cruelty. Her fight scenes are legendary, particularly the scenes when Zélie shows off her skills with the staff! She hits every beat precisely on time and never rests too long before diving fully back into action. The book is long, but worth every extra word to reach its epic conclusion.

And epic it is! Not only are the magical displays in the latter half of the book phenomenally crafted, but the character arcs she’s constructed around her four main characters—Zélie, Tzain, Amari, and Inan—all peak exceptionally well. They are complex, dynamic characters who waver back and forth and grow as they come across new information in a way we should hope all humans do, even as some of them may reject this new knowledge in favor of the safe, old ways.

This, especially, is a cruel truth and one I am so glad she gave us. It broke my heart and made me cry (I cried a LOT during the last few chapters) because even when presented with first hand accounts or witnessing tragedy and corruption with your own eyes, some people still reject this or twist it to fit their old narrative, arming themselves with good intentions. It was a good reminder to not only listen and watch and learn, but to constantly check ourselves and our “progress” against the educated or powerful voices within the communities who have been oppressed for so long. To listen to their solutions, acknowledge our personal or our ancestral wrongdoings, and to constantly seek to do better moving forward.

It’s a powerful story with truth wrapped up in beautiful narrative, and I cannot wait to read book 2.

Recommendations

• Avatar: The Last Airbender — This isn’t a book (beyond the graphic novels), but this show has so many beautiful parallels to COBAB. Features great responsibility and journeys set on the shoulders of a ragtag group of young adults forced to grow up fast. There’s elemental magic and spiritualism, redemption and tragedy. It’s the perfect comp.