Children of Blood and Bone

Fantasy

First published: 2018
Print length: 544 pagesHenry Holt Company, 2018

Description

In Orïsha, the ruling kosidáns have crushed magic and persecuted the divîners born with the potential to become maji. Zélie Adebola lost her mother in that campaign and now lives under its continuing violence. When she helps Princess Amari escape with a scroll capable of restoring magical powers, Zélie discovers her own ability to command spirits. Joined by Amari and her brother Tzain, she must gather a bone dagger and sunstone for a ritual while royal forces pursue them across the kingdom. Among their hunters is Prince Inan, whose emerging magic and feelings for Zélie divide him between obedience and change. The coming-of-age fantasy binds a dangerous quest to questions of racism, oppression, inherited hatred, and whether power can liberate without reproducing violence.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Atmospheric · Descriptive · Direct

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Atmospheric · Dark · Hopeful · Tense

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · World

Emotional intensity

5 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

Coming of ageFamilyMoralityOppressionPowerRace and racism

About Tomi Adeyemi

Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American fantasy novelist whose career has so far centered on the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy: Children of Blood and Bone, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, and Children of Anguish and Anarchy. Her work combines direct narrative momentum with atmospheric world-building and character-centered political conflict. Across Orïsha, magic is inseparable from social rank, state violence, rebellion, and competing claims to rule; later volumes widen those struggles into fractured alliances and imperial conquest. Adeyemi keeps questions of power embodied in relationships among rivals, rulers, rebels, and families rather than treating politics as background lore. Dialogue, betrayal, and forced cooperation drive the action as much as magical spectacle. Her debut grew out of a deliberate revision process: after an earlier novel drew little encouragement, she developed Children of Blood and Bone through Pitch Wars. The novel entered publication at number one on The New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list, establishing the audience for the trilogy that followed.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Henry Holt Company
Language: English
ISBN: 9781250170972

Keep your books and notes in Collected for iPhone.

Apple Books is a service mark of Apple Inc. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.