Name: Janet Akisanmi's review of Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
Item: Children of Virtue and Vengeance
Rating: 3
Author: Janet Akisanmi

Tomi Adeyemi

“Meet Tomi Adeyemi—the new J.K. Rowling. (Yep, she’s that good).” —Entertainment Weekly After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too. Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath. With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart. Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi's New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. Praise for Children of Blood and Bone: “Poses thought-provoking questions about race, class and authority that hold up a warning mirror to our sharply divided society.” –The New York Times “The next big thing in literature and film.” —Ebony “A fast-paced, excellently crafted hero's journey...populated with compelling and nuanced black characters.” –NPR “A debut novel that is nearly impossible to put down.”–USA Today

Children of Virtue and Vengeance

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK “Meet Tomi Adeyemi—the new J.K. Rowling. (Yep, she’s that good).” —Entertainment Weekly After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too. Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath. With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart. Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi's New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. Praise for Children of Blood and Bone: “Poses thought-provoking questions about race, class and authority that hold up a warning mirror to our sharply divided society.” –The New York Times

June

samantha lias

Janet Akisanmi

Story was a good follow up to the first and engaging enough, but bad choice of narrator for the audiobook. Not using a Yoruba, Nigerian or even West African narrator made this a very jarring listening experience for a story centred around Yoruba mythology, it just sounded wrong.

KZAaaam

Upon my third attempt at reading this sequel to Childern of Blood and Bone, I finally finished it. It was a quick read, only taking me a couple of days. I'm not sure if that is a good thing. I don't think this book was for me. A younger me would have appreciated and maybe even related to the characters more, but current me found them to be detrimentally stubborn. Lack of communication causing conflict is probably my least favourite 'trope,' and this book was packed full of it. 

I get it. It's hard trying to pick up the pieces of your life when you're young and have lost so much. All of the characters have to contend with trust issues and the burden of 'making the world better than how others left it.' However, no character seems to offer a true voice of reason. No character trusts any other character or believes them. It was frustrating. I hope that is what Adeyemi was going for when she wrote the main protagonists (expect for Inan, he's doing his best. Love him). 

Overall, I like the world and Inan, so I will be reading the next (final?) book in the series to see how Adeyemi closes the story (especially given this book's ending).

Kiersten

Upon my third attempt at reading this sequel to Childern of Blood and Bone, I finally finished it. It was a quick read, only taking me a couple of days. I'm not sure if that is a good thing. I don't think this book was for me. A younger me would have appreciated and maybe even related to the characters more, but current me found them to be detrimentally stubborn. Lack of communication causing conflict is probably my least favourite 'trope,' and this book was packed full of it. 

I get it. It's hard trying to pick up the pieces of your life when you're young and have lost so much. All of the characters have to contend with trust issues and the burden of 'making the world better than how others left it.' However, no character seems to offer a true voice of reason. No character trusts any other character or believes them. It was frustrating. I hope that is what Adeyemi was going for when she wrote the main protagonists (expect for Inan, he's doing his best. Love him). 

Overall, I like the world and Inan, so I will be reading the next (final?) book in the series to see how Adeyemi closes the story (especially given this book's ending).

Dipo Apelehin

Worse than the first, disappointed I bothered.

I am loving this series. The magic system is so intricate and I appreciate the attention to detail in crafting this world. The plot twists in the second book of this series kept me on the edge of my seat and made this a fast read. I felt as though Adeyemi did well at increasing the pacing and decreasing the page count in this book compared to Children of Blood and Bone. You better bet I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the third book!

Angie Van Sprang

anne

"Meet Tomi Adeyemi--the new J.K. Rowling. (Yep, she's that good)." --Entertainment Weekly After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could've imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too. Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath. With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart. Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi's New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. Praise for Children of Blood and Bone "Poses thought-provoking questions about race, class and authority that hold up a warning mirror to our sharply divided society." -The New York Times "The next big thing in literature and film." --Ebony "A fast-paced, excellently crafted hero's journey...populated with compelling and nuanced black characters." -NPR "A debut novel that is nearly impossible to put down."-USA Today

Sade A

🖤
Tomi Adeyemi basically said with the plot of this book, prepare to be hoodwinked and bamboozled.

I mean i thought the story floored me with how atrocious it was, but i got to the end & i realised there was still something left in the story/plot for this author to destroy and i just  

Tomi Adeyemi wrote this book?? i mean book 1 was bad but bad in the sense that it had the usual YA tropes and token diversity but then book 2 was like, Hold my beer, i can be even worse.
Let's add the usual horrible YA tropes, token diversity — don't let the Yoruba words, names and mention of Jollof Rice fool you. There's nothing remotely Nigerian or Yoruba about this book , The contrived plot lines.. MY GOD!!!

🖤🖤
This book basically went like:

Tomi: Everybody gets magic 

Reader: Why?

Tomi: oh, i'm sorry you don't understand why? Here let me explain it to you. 

Reader: 😊😊😊

Tomi: PSYCHE😂😂😂!!! Time for a rally

Reader: 😯😯 but but its.... a monarchy. Why do the need...

Tomi: Poison gas!!! Raise the dead!!!!

Reader: Wait... Wait.. Hold on... how?

Tomi: CONNECTORS!!!!

Reader: huh?? WTF??

Tomi : 

INTERLUDE

Amari: I Am the Queen Orïsha needs. Father says Orïsha waits for no one.

Zélie: They killed my father 😥

Inan: I can be the King father wasn't. *PAUSE* Sea Salt Scent. p.s: it's not my fault + I'm sorry.

Roen: Zitsōl😏, I'm the bad boy in this book who will magically appear and rescue you every time. *Smizes to the camera with cigarette in his mouth*

Queen Mother:  

*INTERLUDE ENDS*

Reader: i..😐😐😐

Tomi: *hmmm, might be losing them* 

Reader: You think?

Tomi: 😉 Love... Sex 😉😉😉. Adds some good quotes for the mood board.  "You are not your mistakes. Do not let one moment define or destroy you."


Reader: *shrug* can't get worse than this.

Tomi:  (view spoiler)[SOLD INTO SLAVERY!!!! (hide spoiler)]

Reader: WHAT THE FUCK??? What does this have to do with anything?

Tomi: THE END BITCHES. Toddles. Till Book 3.

Reader: 



 I went into this book expecting it to be a train wreck but unsure of how big of a train wreck it was going to be. So this is mostly funny to me plus i got it for 99p, so not a loss.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the breathtaking sequel to Tomi Adeyemi's ground-breaking West African-inspired fantasy Children of Blood and Bone. After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could've imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too. Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But with civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Alice Myles

3 is probably generous... review to follow

(There's proabably spoilers in here)
Okay so I hadn't heard great things about this so I was apprehensive about picking it up and after the first half I didn't really see what all the fuss was about but then it happened. This whole book stressed me out and made me angry. The lack of communication was so frustrating that nobody would believe anybody else and it just led to so many unnecessary conflicts. The whole overarching plot was about the war but then every chapter had the exact same conflicts that happened in every chapter before... "Inan is bad, no wait Inan is good, how could we be so stupid of course iInan is bad, but maybe he's good nope still bad" you catch my drift. Also Inan even did this himself because he may be the king but he's not in control of his kingdom which I'm not mad about I think it was good to show that he was a puppet (I'm an Inan sympathiser okay I'm sorry) but when nobody would believe that he was trying because everytime he tried someone else would step in and ruin it. Then there was Zelie flitting between being too weak to be an elder and wanting to run away and vowing to be the leader that her clan needs. Don't get me started on Amari, she had zero chemistry with Inan like I don't think she thought about him at all when he wasn't around and that thing she did towards the end of the book WHAT THE ACTUAL F was that!!!!! Unnecessary love triangles when clearly the only person that Zelie loves is herself. We spent the whole book gaging up for this big battle and then at the end it just never happened??? Need I go on. I don't want to be too scathing because I loved the first book so by proxy still care about this series but I don't really know what happened here.

Zoe feeke

The plot? Amazing. The world building? Not a fault. The characters? Wtf.
Does no one in this book know what clear communication looks like? Or any communication as they all literally refuse to speak to each other about anything. I found this book an enjoyable read but it was so frustrating! I felt their frustration as my own at how tedious the whole thing was. We must fight. We can win. We can end this. Oh my god okay do it then and bloody communicate! And the ending? I hate that it makes me know I'm going to be buying and reading the next one just for closure. Romance? I don't even know who I ship at this point to be honest but does it matter? They're both badly flushed out and I can't say I actually care about any of the love interests in any of the couples. Which is usually the best bit of a fantasy book! Okay rant over

Leonor Ribeiro 

THIS ISNT THE LAST BOOK???? I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH😭😭😭😭😭

Kirsten Simkiss

This book covered the following topics for the 2020 Popsugar Reading challenge: 
• A book with a map
• A book that passes the Bechdel test
• A book by a WOC
• A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads (though I disagree)
• A book you meant to read in 2019
• Advanced: A book with more than 20 letters in its title

Despite it covering all these cool prompts for the Popsugar challenge and despite me absolutely adoring the first book, I was very let down by the second installment of the Legacy of Orisha. The plot was confused and meandering due to a lack of communication between the main characters. The main characters consistently made the worst possible choices they could, making me want to throttle them. It was as if all the character development that had been built in the first book got swept under the rug. All that cameraderie, all that growth - it was as if it had never existed to begin with.

I'm not really sure what this book achieved in terms of the overall story line of the series aside from leveling up Zelie and showing what titans can do. The first book was so strong and powerful - it truly was a great book. This book just left you going, "Oh come on, please just stop acting so stupid for a chapter and sit down and talk about this like adults. Please." And it was constant. The whole book was like that. I kept waiting for Zelie to get her head out of her own ass and at least be somewhat nice to Amari, who was her FRIEND in the first book which seems to have been a thing of the past, but all I got was constant bickering and poor decision making.

I would like to state, for the record, that the only two people I want to hear from in this book are Tzain and Roen. I am here for these mentally stable side character boys and I want them as the main characters right now because I don't think I could take another chapter of this ridiculous lack of communication.

While I do still recommend the series, I can't say that I'd encourage people to read book two quite so readily as I do book one.

Ashley Wendt

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first. I was frustrated with a few of the characters and their lack of development and the choices they made in the book didn’t always make sense to me or line up with their character. The whole book felt angry....it was hard to stay focused and enjoy it.

Shay Henrion

Y’ALL. I was concerned for about half this book that it wasn’t going to be for me (I genuinely enjoyed the first one in the series, so I was concerned). All the characters, who were having all kinds of teen angst issues (my least favorite trope, and ironic, given that I love YA 😅). No one was communicating, no one was getting along, and I couldn’t see how this book was only going to be the second in a trilogy.

BUT THEN THE SECOND HALF. Oh man, was the payoff for getting through the first half worth it. Literally everyone seemed to grow up overnight, and the ending was fantastic. Full of magic, girl power, and the same awesome use of west African culture and mythology as the first book.

And the end! I won’t spoil anything but, as I said, I was really wondering how this was only book 2 of 3, but oh man, what a finish. I can’t wait for the next one

Megan Lowe

3.5 stars.

I was a little disappointed in this book. The first one took me by surprise, but how it won me over, this book tore apart.
This boom seemed a little directionless, as if the author didn’t quite know where she wanted to go, or how she wanted things to go down. Things happen and aren’t explained, the repercussions of the first book not touched on. It’s almost like what happened didn’t matter.
I hated Amari in this book. Hated her. She pushed her way in where she didn’t belong and didn’t understand why people didn’t accept her.
I loved Roen but fear a love triangle with an ending I’m not going to like.
Zelie endeared herself to me even more. I love her strength, her vulnerability.
Inan disappointed me, never really making the hard decisions.
Despite this book, I still really want to see how this series plays out, I just hope it all comes together a little neater.

Dee B. 

3.75
Man, what?! How could you end it like that! Also this whole Inan situation is giving me stress. Where's book 3?

Zahia Saeed 

Dnfed this book at 160 pages. I am marking it as read because I wasted enough time reading it. I am pissed

Alex

Man idk what happened but, this had no plot and all of a sudden I hate all the characters. Suffers from middle book syndrome.

Clara Moore

This one fell a little flat for me. I loved Children of Blood and Bone and I will definitely get the next one when it comes out. That being said, this one just kind of feels like a place holder.

Allison Garrett

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, the second installment in the Legend of Orisha trilogy, picks up right where Children of Blood and Bone left off. Zélie and Amari have brought magic back to the magi in addition to the creation of the títnas, a new group of magic wielders created from the noble class. As the monarchy and magi come closer and closer to a civil war, Zélie, Amari, and Inan must discover where their allegiances lie and how to avoid the upcoming bloodshed. 
Pros: 
•	Roën- Probably my favorite part of this book and he was in maybe 1/8 of it. A mercenary with a heart of gold, what’s not to love 
•	Reapers- Being able to witness more magic and characters who can wield magic was a huge addition to this book. I especially loved the other reapers that Zélie mentored. 
•	Second half- As I’ll mention below, the first half was unbelievably slow but the second half did pick up as battles started to happen. 
Cons: 
•	Inan- Literally the worst. Every time the POV switched to him I actually cringed. By the end I started to understand why it was necessary for his perspective to come into play, but his decisions are so questionable, and he has no personality. 
•	The first half- The pacing in the whole first half was ridiculously slow. I would’ve stopped reading if I wasn’t already invested from Children of Blood and Bone. 
•	Character Development- Obviously I haven’t experienced the kind of trauma that Zélie has gone through, but between her development (no spoilers) and the decisions that Amari makes I think Adeyemi just slaughtered the characters. 
•	Tzain- In the first book, Tzain not only had a much bigger role, but he also had actual character. Here, Tzain only served as a love interest to Amari. 
•	Introduction of Characters- There were about 10 people introduced in the span of 2 chapters and I had to keep flipping pages to try and remember who all those people were. An index would’ve been helpful or just slower character introduction. 

As much as it feels like I just tore this book to shreds with my cons, I did stay up really late just to finish it. I will continue to finish this series, but I really hope that Adeyemi can turn the characters around and bring a more impactful third book. Overall, 3/5.

Addy A

I really want to love this series, because nothing could bring me greater joy than an Afrocentric fantasy series. However, things continue to feel too derivative and I mean, Shakespeare himself said there's nothing new, but I need something a bit more unique than this. Lots of other books in this genre re-use the same elements to tell different stories, so I don't believe it's impossible. I pretty much dislike every main character at this point and I can tell that wasn't wholly intentional either. 

I'm going to continue on to the sequel, because I do still see some unrealized potential and the ending was a promising enough hook that I'm somewhat intrigued by what's to come. However, I am hoping that will also give us something that feels less been-there, done-that. I will say, to the author's credit, that her writing was smooth enough that it was sometimes the only thing that kept me from not setting the book aside.

disclaimers: i am not an own voices reader. i am also past the age of ya.

i have been thinking about this book and i think that is ok for its target age group. it has lost a lot of what was charming about the first book (*cough*that it reminded me of*coughcough*atla*cough*) but it is far from the worst second book i have read. i found all of the characters annoying but i'd understand if most people don't mind them. (i think people are forgetting that you are allowed to write unlikeable characters but you must make them interesting - just my opinion)

all in all, i am not sure where this series is headed. what worries is me is that this was a relatively short book that seems to be setting up for one of those 800-page series enders that make it obvious which writers struggle with plotting and pacing (mrs s.a. chakraborty, any comments?). but you know, that's neither here nor there.

Fraser Simons

Tighter than the first instalment, and still boasts are pretty interesting setting that isn’t rooted in Western fiction, yet the relationship dynamics and character growth feel a replication from the first one, making the sequel feel like the first book was cut in half because of page count. The character arcs feel like they’re going to happen but then sort of continue on the same trajectory. The story also feels similar, patterning itself off the first. I come away lukewarm on it. Don’t think I’d continue to the next.

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Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

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Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi