“Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi is the most incredible book I have ever read. The imagery, whoever said it was the next “Harry Potter” was 5000% right. Therefore I was extremely excited to find that the sequel was finally out.
“Children of Virtue and Vengeance” is getting a lot of hate
online. Was it as incredible as the first book? No, it was not, but that first
book was a very tough act to follow. Was it a bad book? No, it was still a good
book, I think all our expectations were so high from the first one and our
anticipation as we waited for Adeyemi to write the second novel. We expected to
be dazzled as impressively as we were dazzled the first time.
More often than not, I find that the middle book is less incredible than the first and last book of a series, it’s a bridge, and it can still be great, but very rarely lives up to the incredibility of the first and last book. I also think in this case that “Children of Blood and Bone” was such a rare find in books, the book that you sit there and all you can think is HOLY SHIT. I read a lot of books, and I read a lot of incredible books (I’m a bitch if I don’t like it I don’t finish it). Nothing will ever hit the same level as Adeyemi’s first book in the “Legends of Orisha” series.
In short…I ordered the book and was so excited, and then almost didn’t read it because when I went on my goodreads account to mark it as a currently reading I saw all the hate it was getting and questioned if it was worth my time. I am so glad I read the book. It was still amazing. The world Adeyemi has created the story…it’s incredible. Personally, I didn’t like the cliff hanger at the end, I understand why Adeyemi did that, to lead into the next book, however I loved how much the first book stood on its own, it could have been a one off or a series we had to wait and see.
You can’t read a book about Zelie and not be impressed. This young woman who is so tough, who has survived so much. Yet Adeyemi does not make her this all-powerful god. Zelie feels, Zelie questions, she has moments where she wants to and does give up. Zelie shows us that no matter what you are up against you cannot do it without your village. You can’t do it without the people who have your back, you can be strong and fierce, but you still need to gather your people around you.
That’s a really important lesson for me. I’m constantly reminding myself that “it takes a village” when it comes to raising kids. But the reality and the wonderful reminder this book pounded into my head is that you need your family around you for everything you try to accomplish. Family does not mean those related by blood. It can, but it is also the people who would die for you regardless of who’s blood is in their veins. Your family is everyone around you that you would do anything for, give anything to protect and who would do the same for you. We can be strong and fierce but we are stronger and fiercer and can accomplish so much more with our family behind us.
It also reminded me that I need to not give a damn what other people think, as I’m sure many of you have, I’ve spent my life trying to please people. Giving more than I had to give, not saying no, not setting my boundaries, not being confrontational in an effort to not deal with conflict. But I almost missed out on a good book because of what other people said about it. Just a friendly reminder that if you want to read a book, just read it.
“Children of Virtue and Vengance” by Tomi Adeyemi
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Children_of_Virtue_and_Vengeance/9g9UDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Comments
Post a Comment