Children of Blood and Bone

Pros: emotional complexity, fascinating characters, lots of twists, interesting setting

Cons: some issues with the timeline/distances travelled towards the end

When the terrorized daughter of the king witnesses one outrage too many, she steals an artifact that can open diviners to their magical heritage. While escaping, she runs into a young diviner who's still angry and traumatized by her mother's execution during the king's Raid 11 years ago, when magic first disappeared. Together they learn that magic can be returned to the land. But the King sends his son and his general to hunt them down.

There are some great characters in this book. While I didn't always agree with their choices (especially those of the hot tempered Zélie), I thought their decisions made sense based on their personalities, traumas, and the challenges they faced. I was impressed at the complexity of their emotions and how the author actually dealt with their emotions rather than simply letting the story brush trauma and consequences aside. The book deals with the aftermath of torture, of killing for the first time, of personal failure, of so many harsh emotions and conditions. I really understood the prince's fear of magic and his desire to please his father, even as he realized what a monster the man was. I felt sorry for him. I also I loved seeing his sister's growth throughout the book. I also liked how Zélie and Amari slowly learn to trust each other and become friends.

There were quite a few twists and turns, both in terms of the quest, but also in terms of people learning who they are in the face of various trials.

The setting was pretty cool and seemed to draw inspiration from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, particularly the language. Though the country in the book is called Orïsha, I don't believe the maji religion takes any influence from the Yoruba's religious practices of the same name (but please correct me if I'm wrong, wikipedia isn't the best place to get information like this. And as an aside, I enjoyed looking up some of the unfamiliar words to see if they had real world significance. This isn't necessary to enjoy the book, but why not learn some real culture/history too?). I loved the idea that people capable of magic were physically marked with white hair. The practice of magic itself required a mixture of innate ability and incantations, so it didn't seem overpowered. I did like that various people questioned the wisdom of bringing magic back, of the problems that could arise if someone evil could wield offensive magic like fire. It treated magic like the dangerous weapon it could be in the wrong hands - or even the right ones.

The world feels very lived in and real. It was quite different from anything I've read before and I loved that. I really liked the ryders and wish I could have one. The geography became problematic towards the end, in terms of how quickly people could suddenly travel far distances, which I'll discuss more in the spoiler section. Though, that's possibly due to the map being out of scale from the distances the author envisioned.

While they're not marked as an appendix, after the text comes an author's note, a ‘behind the scenes' annotated chapter 57 from the book, and a list of the Maji clans with their powers and the names of their gods.

While the book wasn't perfect, it's unique setting and characters make it worth the read. There's some romance and a good amount of action, particularly the fight scenes at the end. If you're looking for a different kind of fantasy, give this a go.

I've removed the spoiler section here so as to not ruin the book for anyone. If you'd like to see it, it's on my blog. (http://scififanletter.blogspot.com/2018/04/book-review-children-of-blood-and-bone.html)