Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi Review

          In Orisha, tyrannical King Saran slaughters the Maji, a group of powerful magic wielders connected to the gods after he manages to strip them of their magic. The only survivors of “the raid” were diviners, Maji children under the age of thirteen who had not developed their magic. The diviners were then oppressed, abused, forced into slavery as well as forced to pay an ever rising living tax that many cannot afford. Essentially, they are referred to as “maggots” and live their life in fear of genocide. While out trading fish Zélie, a diviner who witnessed the murder of her mother eleven years prior during “the raid” has a chance encounter with the daughter of King Saran, Princess Amari who asks Zélie for her help after stealing a magical scroll from the king. Thus the two joined by Zélies brother Tzain embark on a dangerous mission to revive magic permanently.

           Adeyemi created a fantasy world that relates perfectly with the struggles black people face in the world today. The story revolves around racial and cultural issues such as black on black crime, light skin vs dark skin, curly hair vs straight hair, rich vs poor and so on. I loved how Adeyemi presented these themes in the story. She provided us a glimpse of our own fight with our people that shows that we are all one but yet we fight and kill each other for vain reasons. 

           I appreciated how Adeyemi used alternating perspectives between Zélie, Amari and Prince Inan who was ordered by his father to retrieve the scroll and capture Amari. My problems with the story begin with the pacing . At first I was enthralled by this fantasy world and the characters Adeyemi creates based on Nigerian culture but soon found myself by the middle of the story wondering where exactly she was going. The story began turning into this superficial love story as if all teenagers are sexually charged hormone monsters who can’t stay focused on a life changing mission. As we reach the end of the book the pace speeds up expediently as Adeyemi tries to put her original plot back into motion. Besides the pacing of the story the characters were well constructed at the beginning but then began to crumble. The constant  inner turmoil Zélie and Inan had was almost unbearable. At the beginning Zélie comes across as a very strong straightforward character but as the story progresses her resolve crumbles as well as my like for her character. In contrast Amari is portrayed as weak in the beginning but was the only character throughout the story that stayed focused and never wavered. She made the most impact and had the best character development as she rarely wavered in her decision to revive magic even though it would not benefit her but instead because of the love of a friend. Compared to Zelie and Tzain who had everything to lose and the most to gain but yet were at certain points in the story uncertain of what path to venture.

           Despite the flaws mentioned earlier I did enjoy the overall story. While I am not compelled to read the next book in the trilogy I am slightly curious of how the characters will resolve their next conflict. I’m sure Adeyemi will create more enjoyable stories in the future that depict the struggles of black people as this was her debut novel.