Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi



Conclusion: Sorry But You Lost Me

Welcome to the book that changed our rating system. Originally, this book would have fallen into "Frankly, I Didn't Care". But that didn't work because I did care. I cared a lot. Right until the halfway point. Which was so frustrating because I was so excited about reading this and absolutely loved the first part. Here's why this book isn't rated "Worth It":

The first half of this book is a complete delight. Fascinating world. Great main character. Such excellent plotting. The book moves you along at a quick pace, with increasingly difficult tasks--sell a fish, save a princess, restore magic by traveling to a hidden island. I was having the time of my life!

And the world she's created--stunning. From the story of how magic came to be, to the description of Zelie's town and family. I especially love that Zelie is a female character who feels rage. What a breathe of fresh air!

So what went wrong?


Almost exactly halfway through, the story stalls. The plot, which has been so strong, gets muddied. We meet a ton of new characters. All movement--and I mean all, including character development and actual traveling of the characters--comes to a halt for 100 pages. 100 pages! That's a third of most young adult books. But even when the plot starts moving again, the character development doesn't move with it. Great plot points keep happening, but they don't spark change in any of our characters, so none of it matters to me as the reader.

Instead, all four of our beloved main characters get stuck in some sort of emotional yo-yo. Zelie volleys between thinking she's a problem to being overcome with rage, and then goes back to thinking she's a problem. Inan volleys between the desire to kill magic and wanting to build a better, united kingdom, then back to deciding to kill magic. They walk these emotional circles for another 250 pages. Again--250 pages! That's the page count of a whole book! It's very frustrating. So frustrating that I started skimming instead of reading.

Skimming = hallmark sign that a book belongs in the "Sorry You Lost Me" category. I cared.  I wanted to enjoy the story, but I couldn't emotionally invest any more. I just wanted it to be over.

Yeah, but does it end well?

Technically. But by then I'm so disconnected from the characters that it doesn't matter. The characters are dealing with the exact same things they were at the beginning of the story. And nothing that happens in the plot affects that.

But maybe that's not what Adeyemi was aiming for?

I think you could be right. In her Afterword, Adeyemi explains how she wrote this book out of grief and rage at the loss of black lives in America. About how helpless she felt, and how this book gave her purpose. As the reader, I felt her grief and frustration. The book boils down to this problem: how can the Maji, who are so persecuted, and the ruling class of Kosidáns, who have all the power, coexist? Is peace possible? Is mutual respect even possible? Each characters weighs this problem over and over in their mind, going back and forwards between hope and frustration in a loop. They can never find a solution. If Adeyemi wanted the reader to understand that feeling, she was incredibly successful. It just didn't make a novel that ended well. Or that I enjoyed reading.

- Alana


I loved this story and read for hours. I’m a huge binge reader! And yet I had to walk away from this story for days before coming back for the ending. It just got stuck somewhere and I got frustrated.

- Liss

So wait, should I read it?

We would say yes! If only to read the first half. Adeyemi does such an excellent job with her world building, characters, and plot. The way she sets up the quest is absolutely masterful. And we'd also like the add that this is a debut novel--the first one Adeyemi has published! She's obviously got a gift, and we will happily read more by her.

This Book Reminds Us Of...

The story is built around a quest given by the gods--very much like the stuff of fairy tales and Greek mythology. The Percy Jackson novels does this well, as does Strange, The Dreamer.

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