Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
I read this book on my Kindle as an e-book rental from my local library (I love the library!). Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi has been on and off my to-read shelf a couple of times. I originally found it on some list of recommended books and it sounded fun and interesting. Then later I decided I didn't want to read these sort of "fantasy" books so I took it off the shelf. Then I saw the author released a 2nd book and looked to be turning this in to a continuing series, so I reconsidered it. Then recently I read another book that is classified as fantasy (Ninth House) and I enjoyed it so much that I added this book back to my to-read shelf and requested it from the library.
The story takes place in a fantasy world called Orisha where there is a society of non-magical people (they were called something that I can't now remember... hence the reason for this diary...) and magical people who have had their magic taken away by the evil King. At the beginning of the book you find out that Zelie's mother was killed during The Raid where the magic was destroyed and they tried to kill all the magi (then name for the magical people). Zelie lost her magic then, before she was ever really able to use it. I believe they aren't able to use it until they are 13.
During a trip to a market to sell fish for money, Zelie manages to help a frightened girl escape the wealthy city where the King's palace is located only to find out that girl is the Princess and she has stolen a scroll that will help to bring the magic back. Princess Amari ran away after seeing her father kill her best friend (and servant) Binti. Throughout the story Amari is driven by the loss of Binti to do good and to go against her father's wishes. So although you never meet Binti as a character, you hear of her often.
The village "mom" touches the scroll and gets her magic back and has a vision that Zelie and her brother Tzarin are tasked with taking the Princess on a journey to gather 3 sacred artifacts: the scroll (which they have), a bone dagger and a sunstone and taking them to this island that only appears in the sea once every 100 years. There Zelie has to perform a ritual that will bring magic back to everyone.
So there the story goes. They are on a treacherous journey. They are being pursued by the Prince (Inan) who is Amari's brother. But there is a twist! Inan inadvertently touched the scroll when Amari was trying to escape the city and by doing so, he gained magic as well. So Inan is battling this for most of the story. If his father finds out he is a magi, he knows he will kill him. They are supposed to hate magic. So he tries to hide it. The "diviners" (people who will turn into magi once their magic is restored) all have bright white hair. So Inan gets this white streak that he tries to cover with his helmet or with hair dye so his soldiers and his father's lover (the Admiral) will not find out his secret.
Overall, the story line moved pretty quickly. In some ways it was predictable (I mean, you knew she had to succeed on the journey) but you also knew there were going to be difficulties along the way so that kept the intrigue. As is common with young adult novels, the trouble always comes when kids are being kids. For example, they are cruising right along collecting artifacts and heading toward the island when they stop and decide to have a random frolic in the ocean. They are throwing each other around, Tzarin and Amari are flirting... you know, being teenagers. And THAT is where Inan catches up to them. Then, instead of fleeing, Zelie decides to try to stay and fight Inan and then Amari and Tzarin are captured. But don't worry, they are captured by diviners so after some turmoil (torture, stabbings, a fire magi setting his body on fire), they all become friends (because... teenagers). Then they decide to throw this big party. So in preparation for the party, some of the diviners go into a neighboring town for supplies which raises the suspicions of the Guard (i.e., the King's men) so they follow them back and while everyone is partying and Zelie is getting a little tipsy and making out with Inan (because, oh yeah... they are friends now), the Guards raid the party and kill a bunch of people.
All the teenagers are fighting, there is some love strife (Tzarin/Amari and Zelie/Inan). Typical YA book here.
They seek help and here you really get to know my favorite character, Roen. Roen is like 20 year old bad boy in a teenage movie. He's tough, but nice. He had a rough life but manages to spout out words of wisdom. He helps get them to the island with his group of bad boy friends. I just picture him like a Heath Ledger type guy and I just loved him.
(Big Spoilers Here!) It all ends up with Zelie's dad being captured and killed, Inan turning against Zelie and following his father (which gets him killed) and in a nice twist, Amari killing her father the King. Zelie does the thing she needs to do (even though she was doubting she could) and magic is restored (we think). However in the epilogue it also reveals that Amari (not a diviner or magi) appears to have magic. That is the cliff hanger. When you read the summary of book two, it says that the ceremony that Zelie performed not only restored magic to the diviners, but also to people who previously had no magic but had magic ancestry.
We never found out in book one why Inan had magic, where that ancestry came from. Maybe book two will explore that more. I am assuming book two will be more about trying to re-build a kingdom where the magi can live alongside the non-magic people. I am also assuming you will have some magi who go rogue and use their magic for evil (that was alluded to a lot in the first book).
I am not sure if I will read the second book or not. I enjoyed this one, but I don't know how invested I am to continue on with the story. Interestingly, I read the afterward by the author (which I don't always do) and the author was very clear that what she was drawing connections to with this story was the police brutality against blacks and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. As I read this story, I didn't make that connection myself, but that is just me getting lost in a fantasy story. Once the author said it at the end, I completely saw it. The way these people were persecuted because of the color of their hair and because of what others like them had done in the past. The way the King and his guards didn't wait for explanations and just assumed all were guilty by association. It made sense. I think this afterword by the author may be why the book got so much promotion early on and honestly I am glad I didn't hear that ahead of time because I liked reading the book without that perspective and then reflecting on it afterward. Maybe if I slowed down and discussed a book along the way, I may have even seen the similarities along the way.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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