Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi

Title: Children of Blood and Bone
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Genre/ issues: Fantasy. Race. Magic.

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Blurb: Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut Children of Blood and Bone.
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zelie remembers when the soil of Orisha hummed with magic. When different clans ruled – Burners igniting flames, Tiders beckoning waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoning forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed, leaving Zelie without a mother and her people without hope. Only a few people remain with the power to use magic, and they must remain hidden.
Zelie is one such person. Now she has a chance to bring back magic to her people and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zelie must learn to harness her powers and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orisha, where strange creatures prowl, and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zelie herself as she struggles to come to terms with the strength of her magic – and her growing feelings for an enemy.”

Well. I am still not over this book. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi is a stunning fantasy about a world in which the ruling monarchy have inflicted genocide on a people who had previously been able to use magic but have found themselves severed from it, and are treated like vermin by an increasingly corrupt military. It’s a powerful and confronting read, with close parallels to the treatment of black people in contemporary American society. There is a sequel to this book, which I am very much looking forward to reading, but I need some time to sit with this for a bit. It hits very close to home, particularly with the current public attention on the BLM movement. If fantasy is your genre, this one is a must-read.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 31/52

Happy reading,