Review: CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, by Tomi Adeyemi

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, by Tomi Adeyemi

MacMillan Audio - 2018
Narrated by Bahni Turpin

My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow! What a story! What a performance! Stunning and gripping, a whirlwind of emotion.

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE is the story of a country called Orisha. Once magic was alive and well in Orisha.  People who were connected to the gods, and therefore magical were known as maji. Maji children who had not yet come into their powers were known as diviners. Non-magical people were known as kosidan.

The king (a kosidan) conducted raids to find and kill all the maji in the country, leaving only the diviners, effectively ending magic in Orisha.

The diviners were an oppressed segment of society.  The kosidan nobility treated them harshly and unfairly, beating them, enslaving them, and hurling insults.  The king, a harsh and cruel man, treated them the worst.  His hatred for the maji was tangible.

Zelie is a diviner who is haunted by the day her mother was hunted down and hanged. She lives with her father and her brother Tzain in a small fishing village.  But the king's guards are always harassing the people of the village - collecting taxes so high nobody can afford to pay, and enslaving those that don't. 

Princess Amari, the king's daughter watched her dearest friend (who, unknown to her was a  diviner) killed by her father's orders after she touches a magic scroll. Amari takes the scroll and flees the palace. Her brother Inan is tasked with bringing her back to the palace.

Amari runs into the market where Zelie is trying to sell fish for enough coin to pay the taxes and avoid enslavement.  Amari pleads for Zelie's help, and the scroll's magic awakens something in Zelie.  Soon Zelie, Amari and Tzain are fleeing the guards. 

Their flight becomes a quest to find remaining artifacts that are required before the solstice, to perform a ritual that can restore magic, and equality, to Orisha.  But king Saran's guards are determined to find and destroy them before that happens.

This story is so very rich with emotion.  The inequality and injustice between the maji and the kosidan is meant to be a reflection of racism and the Black Lives Matter movement in the real world. Adeyemi does an excellent job of creating a fantastical world as a mirror to our real one. 

The narrator for this audio book edition is none other than Bahni Turpin (who was the voice of the audio book edition of THE HATE YOU GIVE, by Angie Thomas).  She is an amazing voice talent and she was right on point with this stunning story as well.  It amazes me that she is able to portray a happy young girl, and an angry old man, and everything in-between with equal effectiveness.

I am now eagerly awaiting the sequel to this book CHILDREN OF VIRTUE AND VENGENCE, due out March 5, 2019.


Happy Reading,
Christine