Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone is a young adult fantasy novel.  Orisha was once a land of magic, but an evil king has destroyed the maji and the source of their power.  White hair marks the diviners, those that were born to become maji, but can not now that their power source is gone.  Zelie Abedola is one such diviner who vividly remembers the death of her powerful mother.  Amari is a princess and daughter of the cruel king.  After seeing the evil that her father can inflict, she escapes the castle with a relic that can bring back magic to all of the land.  Once she runs into Zelie, these two unlikely foes are on a path to help restore the power of the maji.  On their trail is Amari’s brother, Prince Inan, who has his own secret to battle.  Will Zelie and Amari succeed?

I enjoyed this action adventure.  There was star crossed romance and also a great ethical question, is it actually good to bring magic back to the land?  Does magic harm more than it helps?  Does it give too much power to individuals that can wreak havoc on the rest of the civilization?  I thought it was very interesting to ponder.  This novel also had a great cliff hanger ending and I can’t wait to read this next one in the series.  The novel was told through first person perspective and switched between Zelie, Amari, and Iman’s view points.

The only downfall for me to this story was that I read it billed as the “next Harry Potter.”  I’ve complained about this before on my blog.  That sets up certain expectations and when a novel fails to meet those expectations, it makes you disappointed in it, even though it was a good book.  I liked this book on its own merits.  It is not Harry Potter and I wish I wouldn’t have read that quote before reading it!

Favorite Quotes:

“Duty isn’t enough when it means destroying the girl I love.”

“Two days without her.  In her absence, the ocean air hangs heavy.  Every breath whispers her name.”

Overall, Children of Blood and Bone is a great young adult fantasy action adventure novel and I can’t wait to read the second novel in this series!

Book Source:  Birthday gift from my best friend Jenn.  Thank-you!