After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.
Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath.
With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.
* * *
It's been so long since the release of Children of Blood and Bone, but we have finally received the sequel, Children of Virtue and Vengeance. I really loved CBB, but it had been almost two years since I read it so I was worried maybe I wouldn't be as into the sequel. Or that maybe I wouldn't be as emotionally invested because it had been so long. So I held off reading it for a month or so, I wanted it to be one of my first books of 2020! And I am really happy to say that I think this is a fantastic sequel.
"We're the children of the gods. If someone's running away, it's not going to be us."
This series has always been one with a fantastic cast of characters for me. Even when I am annoyed or angry with our main three characters, I still love them. I respect them because of what they've been through and I can understand their motivations, even if they frustrate me. This is the same in CVV but amplified. I could see both sides to most of the fights between Zélie, Amari, and Tzain, and even the arguments between them and Inan, but it was still incredibly frustrating. Adeyemi does a fantastic job at making sure the reader sees all the sides to each conflict and I think that's smart because it makes the motives of each character make sense. It also makes it impossible to fully choose a side of each argument. Zélie is my favorite character of the cast and in this book I really felt for her. She goes through so much and it honestly breaks my heart. She's dealing with so much anger, grief, and fear. Amari spends the majority of the book wanting to be respected, wanting to save Orïsha, and wanting to take her place on the throne. I was most annoyed with Amari in this book, but because I understood her motives I felt bad for her for a big chunk while reading too. We don't get as much Tzain as I'd like, but what we do get of him, he is dealing with his girlfriend (Amari) and sister (Zélie) fighting and honestly he did a good job at mediating between them. There is also a kind of love triangle between Zélie and two men in the series, and honestly I prefer her with the romance that is more explored in Children of Virtue and Vengeance vs. Children of Blood and Bone.
Tomi Adeyemi's writing style is stunning. This book is dripping with emotional moments of all varieties. I was crying, laughing, heartbroken, and on the edge of my seat throughout the story. I was so emotionally invested not only because of the of my connection with the characters but the beauty in the writing. The writing and story really tugs at your heartstrings without feeling cheap because of the balance between positive and negative events that happen. There is so much loss, darkness, heartache, betrayal and feeling defeated. But there is also so much joy, love, community, victories, and found family.
I do have to admit that the first 100 pages or so were a bit too slow paced for me. It took me longer than normal to get into the story because of the slow pace. However, once I got around that page mark the plot really started picking up. It still took me a while to finish, but I think that was more me not being motivated to read because I have been having issues sleeping. I don't fault the book for that, obviously, but especially because I was never bored and always really into the book when I actually motivated myself to pick it up.
Overall, I highly recommend this book! If you liked the first one, you'll probably love this one and if you haven't read either I highly recommend both! Tomi Adeyemi reminded me why she's one of my favorite new authors. I am already dying for the next book, hopefully it doesn't take two years but even if it does, I'll wait as long as I have to because if the third book is as good as the first two the wait will be worth it.
Thanks for reading!
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