This book y'all! I am blown away by the fact that this is Tomi Adyemi's debut novel. This book is everything that I could ask for in a story and left me desperately wanting more.
Children of Blood and Bone transcends YA or even fantasy fiction. You don't need to enjoy either of those genres to love this book. It is a book that I would want to put into every readers hands. Adeyemi tells a story that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an 'other'. Zélie is going down as one of my favorite characters. She is written with such a honest rawness that I almost teared up in several scenes. Zélie acknowledges and accepts her anger and bitterness that is the result of the hateful bigotry towards anyone with the potential for magic. Why shouldn't she be bitter and angry when everything that she loves has either been destroyed or damaged by people who used their strength to crush what they fear?
Zélie has to deal with the frustration of having to take the high road and show mercy when little to none has been shown to those like her. She witnesses the daily cruelties dealt out to people whose only crime is being born the wrong type of person. How little value is placed on their lives and how they are taken advantage of in every conceivable way. Zélie is often torn between wanting to punish the wrong doers and understanding that what you see from the outside doesn't necessarily match what is true.
Zélie's journey, although incomplete, is extraordinary. She is tasked to do something that she feels she isn't capable of, but with the help of her brother, members of the very family that destroyed her personal world, and others she encounters along the way, she is able to keep moving towards the goal of restoring magic and meeting her destiny.
Adyemi explores so many important themes in this one book. Bigotry, hate, death, the tearing down of culture, the elusiveness but necessity of hope, working through justifiable fears, trust, betrayal, disappointment, love (familial, romantic, and friendship), the cost of forgiveness, mercy, and grace both given and received, and the importance of believing in something bigger and more important than yourself.
I'm going to leave it there, because I could write an essay on why this book is so wonderful. If you are hesitant to pick this book up because it's YA or because it's fantasy please don't let that deter you! This is a book that lives up to ALL of the hype! Believe the praise, give into the pressure, and throw yourself into this wonderful story! I received an eARC for this one and I still went out and bought three copies! One for me and one for each of my daughters; it's that spectacular! Okay, my gush is over!
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