Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi
Children of Blood and Bone has gotten a lot of press. It was highly anticipated, it's been all over bookstagram, and it was even voted as Jimmy Fallon's first ever Summer Reads choice.
Here's the blurb from inside the dust jacket:
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 once magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, the magi were targeted and 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 leopanaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest threat may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers - and her growing feelings for an enemy.
I'm going to come right out and say it: I didn't like it.
I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this book. I read it right after The Hate U Give, and after absolutely loving THUG, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into Children of Blood and Bone. But I almost DNFed it. (I've recently granted myself permission to not finish books if I don't like them. I recommend it. It's very freeing). Still, I hung on until the end, hoping I would be surprised with a big twist somewhere. Sadly, I can't say that I was.
There was so much to love about this book, at least on paper. I love that it's a YA fantasy written by a brilliant young black woman with an entirely black cast of characters in a distinctly non-European setting. I love that the main character is a girl from an oppressed people fighting against a tyrannical ruling class. And I love that Adeyemi wanted to use storytelling and imagination as a call-to-action against police brutality.
The characters all had a lot of potential. Zélie was a unlikely hero: young and inexperienced, with a reputation for messing things up. And the murder of her mother at the hands of a vicious king gave her plenty of motivation for her quest. Inan the prince was interesting because of his secret power and his resulting identity crisis. There is also Inan's sister Amari, compelled to rebel against their father after witnessing him order the killing of her beloved handmaid. I liked the friendship that blossomed between Amari and Zélie, and I appreciated Amari's transformation from meek princess to a clear ally in the fight to save the magi.
So with all that going for it, why didn't I like it?
I think for me it came down to the writing.
For starters, the story read as predictable and cliché. I was rarely surprised by the characters or the plot. And while there is sometimes a certain fun in reading stories that feel familiar, this time I was left feeling disappointed with the story.
Also, none of the main characters seemed to have very distinct voices; they all kind of sounded the same to me. I think this was highlighted by the fact that the book was written from multiple points of view, each chapter being told from the perspective of either Zélie, Amari, or Inan. But other than a few repeated phrases that Inan would use ("sea salt soul," and "silver eyes"), it usually wasn't easy to tell their narratives apart. I kept finding myself looking back to remember whose chapter I was reading.
Another issue with the POV changes was that the characters were often together in the same place, so some chapters simply retold the same events from the previous chapter, which made the book feel repetitive and therefore overlong.
Let's talk tropes. As much as I love a good "enemies to lovers" story, I just couldn't buy the love connection between Zélie and Inan. They went from wanting to kill each other to making out literally instantly. It was both "enemies to lovers" and "instalove" at the same time, which is a hard combination to make work. I couldn't believe someone like Zélie would fraternize with the enemy. She may be prone to screwing things up, but she has too much self respect to fall for someone trying to commit genocide against her people. I think the purpose of their fling was to further showcase Inan's inner conflict about magic, but to me it just felt really forced. I wish Adeyemi had found a more creative way to build the tension for Inan than this random love story.
The verdict: I almost didn't write this review. I know I'm probably not the target audience of this book, and I know there are tons of people who have absolutely adored it. Plus, as a writer of YA fantasy myself, I know how hard it can be to hear criticism. I hate the idea of making another writer feel like I'm tearing her work apart. So I did my best to gently give my honest opinion.
While the concept for Children of Blood and Bone was awesome, to me the execution leaves something to be desired. Based on the ideas this book was built on I believe Adeyemi has it in her to write something truly great. Sadly, this book missed the mark for me. The interesting setting and multitude of fights scenes will probably make for a very entertaining movie, though.
