Thursday, June 21, 2018

Audio Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone

By:  Tomi Adeyemi

Publish Date:  March 6, 2018, Audiobook Release March 6, 2018

Format:  Audiobook - 18 hrs 9 mins
Narrated By:  Bahni Turpin

Genre:  Fantasy, Young Adult

Series:  1st in Legacy of Orisha series

Impression:  Rich culture, with battles to survive

Synopsis:
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

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 the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were 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 leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

First Sentence:
Pick me.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

Audible

My Thoughts and Summary:
*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Wow. Bahni was wonderful with the accent of the characters and tone set for them. When she recited the incantations as Zelie or other characters did, it had a singing quality to it that brought it to life. I expected to see something happen as I felt it in my heart. Each chapter is from one of three characters views, and Bahni gave a different tone to each. She spoke with the emotion and passion of the characters when they spoke. She hit the words with love and hate as the characters would.

The story starts with a powerful saying at the beginning. This saying is what Zelie thinks about, and leads me into the book wondering about these things as well. I felt for Zelie from this moment.

The culture feels rich with life and history. I love this aspect of the story. The way they live is intertwined with their history and beliefs. We get this strong feel from Zelie and Tzain in their home village, and see it again when they come across a village of others. The visit to this village hidden away is beautiful and brings to life the way things could be.

Tomi is in it for the long haul. The story is a fantasy style read. We learn and see the world, culture, beliefs and more as the characters live through events. This deepens the investment of the characters and grows a series. The story ends with an unexpected turn, which will bring a new list of complications to those in the world.

We get the story from Zelie, Amari, and Inan's view points. This gives us the view from two sides and the one in the middle of all that's happening and happened. There are two histories to every event, and we see that here. There are people hurt on both sides of the battle, and they keep battling for the hurt they feel. What is the answer to this? I don't know. Our characters are looking for the answer as well.

The story was powerful. It started strong and drew me in. But it felt to move at a slower pace in the middle for me. The ending picked up with strength and pacing for me, just like the beginning. This is a fantasy pace with the characters on a mission yet on the run. There are moments of love for the characters. They find more in others and grow to care for the kingdom and others, others they never thought they'd love.

This is geared more for Young Adults. It feels to be a story but also with a feeling of treat others as you want to be treated. That people fight when knocked down and everything taken from them. There is more to people, ALL people. I felt strong emotions when listening to the book as we get the stories and feelings from the characters. I could see why they felt the way they did, yet I knew the other sides point too. It's hard to resolve this when people don't open their eyes, minds, and hearts to see all.

Then I came to the end... Seriously?!? It's going to end like that? I want to know what it means, what happened. Gah! LOL! Yep. I was shocked. I want to know what will come next.



****If my thoughts were helpful, please click Yes at Amazon. Thank you!

8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Blodeuedd, yes. I wanted it to continue going on and it ended. Grrr.

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  2. I enjoyed this one too :) Pretty emotional read

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  3. Oh the end... I heard a lot about this book but I haven't tried it

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    Replies
    1. Melliane, It's so well written, very powerful feeling to it. :)

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  4. I have the print copy of this one, so was interested to discover what you thought of it. Thank you for a well written and thorough review:). I look forward to that ending with some concern...

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    Replies
    1. I hope you enjoy it SJ Higbee. It's got a very powerful message to share. I just wish I had the next book at the end of this one. :) Take care!

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