Review: Children of Blood and Bone (T. Adeyemi)
Let me start off by saying that this book caused me a bit of a headache because it was an impulse buy on vacation, and I had literally zero room in my suitcase after lugging 5 of George R.R. Martin's books along, and decided to buy it anyway. A lot of sitting on my suitcase ensued in order to squish it down to a reasonable size and so that I could close it.
It was 100% worth it. I loved this book.
Children of Blood and Bone follows Zélie, the daughter of a powerful Reaper mother, and whose white hair sets her apart from the rest of society and marks her as an outcast, hated as a result of the king's conquest against those with magic. One chance encounter at the market with a runaway princess turns Zélie's life upside-down, and forces her on a path where she must reconcile the past with her new knowledge of the future, and her role in saving those with magic from the tyrannical king.
I read this book in two sittings, which would have been one had I not been rudely interrupted and forced to eat food. It was just so good that I did not want to set it down, even for a second. There was just something about the writing, the story, and the characters that sucked me in and refused to let me go. Also there was magic, and we all know that I am 100% an absolute sucker for magic.
One of my favorite things about this book were the characters. Each of them were multi-faceted (no one-sided characters for this book!) and had amazing character development throughout the book. It was great to see them develop and grow, and not just stay stagnant and stuck in their ways. With the exception of one certain princess, all of the characters were pretty strong and independent, but I loved how Amari developed and changed from "save me" to "I'll save myself". I love development like that.
And moment of appreciation for the wonderful world and scenery please. The world building was A++, and the way that it was described made me feel like I was there, and that I could see everything that was going on. I was pulled into the story so hard that it almost felt like I was watching a movie more than reading a book, it was so vivid.
Anyway, I really can't say enough good things about this book.
My only complaint was the romance but you all knew that was coming so I'm not even going to bother going on my customary rant about romance and plot and all that.
5/5 Stars