Amy 
Lynnie
young adult, fantasy
Eleven years earlier, the evil king of Orisha killed all of the adult maji in his attempt to rid the country of the magic-wielding population, thereby ensuring his power over the people. However, he did not realize that magic might be returned to the diviners, the children and few adults with limited magic who were left behind after the maji were killed. A young woman named Zelie finds herself in a situation where she may be able to bring the magic back to all diviners.
Amy's Review
A great read! The premise was a little difficult to buy into but I went with it in order to enjoy the novel. I loved the characters and the mystical world containing fantastical animals. The novel got better and better as it went along. It had very difficult scenes to read at time and was quite tragic. However, it was also difficult to put down and hopeful. It was extremely gripping, particularly near the end. And some of the characters surprised me which is always nice, even though some of them surprised me in a bad way.
The main storyline in this novel is not uncommon--an oppressed people attempting to rise above their conditions, rallying behind the right leader. However, it felt a little disappointing that the characters needed to get their magic back in order to rise. Then, after reading the author's notes at the end, and realizing she wrote this in response to the senseless killings of African American in cases of police brutality, I decided that the magic in this novel can be a metaphor for hope. Hope, although it may have been taken away, can return under the right circumstances. And, the hopeful have something for which to fight. I don't know if this is even close to what Tomi Adeyemi was intending, but it makes the whole premise seem more understandable to me. I'll look forward to the sequel!
I listened to the audio book and was very pleaed that it was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Bahni Turpin. As always, she did a great job, particularly with the African accents throughout the novel and her voice acting. She's a wonderful storyteller. However, I felt her male voices weren't great and it was sometimes difficult to tell who was speaking when several characters were having a conversation. For this, I'll give her an A-.
Lynnie's Review
This is a spectacular book and when you realize it's Tomi Adeyemi's debut novel it makes it all the more wonderful to spend time in the world she has created. Children of Blood and Bone is filled with creativity, characters to love (and hate!), and a fascinating mythology that both kept me informed and wanting to know more. In some ways, it reminded me of a Laini Taylor novel- full of rich details and well-plotted events, I often found myself reading well into the night because I did not want to put it down.
Like every series, it's clear that the book will end in a cliffhanger (which is where it lost the half star; as I've mentioned before I have series fatigue), but I still felt like it was a complete story. I could abandon the series here and not feel like I left in the middle of something, but I am eager to see what happens to all of the characters. It was just enough of a cliffhanger to keep me interested without making me mad.
I feel like anything else I say will be a spoiler, so I'll leave it at this: if you're a fan of YA fantasy adventures, run, do not walk, to pick up this book.
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