Review: Children of Blood and Bone
I wasn’t aware how much I enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone until the day after I’d read it. In the last few weeks, this bold, fast-paced novel has offered me an escape from a grueling and stressful month at work and at home.
In the last year or so, I’ve read many serious, adult-like, non-fiction works, so Children of Blood and Bone was a refreshing diversion. Children of Blood and Bone is a solid young-adult novel. Its characters are compelling, if somewhat predictable, and the hero’s journey plot structure does not disappoint. But Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel is no Harry Potter; and no Kindred either.
Children of Blood and Bone is set in the fictional West African Kingdom of Orïsha, where diviners—the white-haired children of magic-wielding people known as Maji—live under an oppressive monarchy. The story’s protagonist, Zélie Adebola, lives in the fishing village of Ilorin with her father and brother after her mother, a Maji, was killed in a genocidal raid orchestrated by the novel’s chief villain, King Saran. But when Zélie’s path crosses with Princess Amari’s at a market in Lagos, her life is forever changed, and an epic journey ensues.
The novel’s strength lies in the things it does well. The novel is told from the first-person point of view of its three central characters—Zélie, Amari, and Inan. It also draws on West African folklore, is well-paced and consistently delivers plot twists and emotional reflections typical of the genre.
Readers are also able to sense the connection and romantic tensions between Zélie and her antagonist, Prince Inan, early on. This propels the reader forward; and through their relationship, Adeyemi is able to deliver the expected surprise, with a big plot twist at the end. All of these things are what kept me turning the pages, reading late into the night like I did when I was 15.
However, though Adeyemi’s writing captured and kept my attention, she failed to mystify me. I enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone, but when I read Kindred by Octavia Butler, I could not put it down. That novel stirred me emotionally and submerged me completely in a world both familiar and foreign. I walked away from Kindred with a new perspective on what it meant to be black in America and what, if anything, had changed since Butler published the novel in 1979.
Children of Blood and Bone made me squill a couple of times, it had a few sad moments. But it didn’t stir me. I didn’t form the type of connection to the characters that make works of fiction worthwhile.
Furthermore, I struggled to find the connection between the themes present in Children of Blood and Bone and the real-life police brutality which compelled Adeyemi to write the novel, according to her author’s note and various interviews.
Adeyemi says in her author’s note that she wrote the novel “during a time where I kept turning on the news and seeing stories of unarmed black men, women, and children being shot by police.” She goes on to write that she “felt afraid and angry and helpless, but this book was the one thing that made me feel like I could do something about it.”
But every character in Children of Blood and Bone is Orïshan/West African. Though the novel explores issues of power and discrimination, I simply failed to relate the struggles of the characters in the novel with my own fears. Maybe, of all the characters, I most identify with Tzain, the character who is constantly worrying about his sister’s safety in the same way I am constantly worried about my 22-year-old, six-foot tall, warm-hearted younger brother with coffee-brown skin.
In this way, Adeyemi succeeds. And with a sequel forthcoming and a film adaptation on the way, I am eager to give Adeyemi another chance to mystify me. After all, I didn’t enjoy reading the Harry Potter series either! I read the first one just to see what all the hype was about. Then, I randomly started reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince while out with my stepmom, who was shopping for nursing textbooks. Even though I didn’t like the books, I fell in love with the Harry Potter film franchise, eagerly awaiting the release of each film and watching every Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family.
At the end of the day, Children of Blood and Bone is an easy and enjoyable read that I would still recommend, with some reservation. Maybe you’ll love it as much as other fans. Maybe you’ll put the book down and start shopping for cosplay supplies. Or maybe, like me, you’ll simply walk away from the story with the warm feeling of having finished a good read.
