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Children of Blood & Bone: Book Review

Why you should read it right now

By Chidimma BenjaminPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

‘Children of Blood & Bone’ was written by a Nigerian-American author, Tomi Adeyemi. As someone who almost never picks up a novel, her story was actually worth a read. The way she writes is just impeccable- it makes you feel like you’re in the story, experiencing it yourself. Anyway, without further ado, let me explain why Ms Adeyemi’s ‘Children of Blood & Bone’ is one of the best fantasy novels of the century.

1. Black Representation

As a black person myself, it’s extremely refreshing to read a story where everyone looks like me. Usually, particularly in mainstream media, black characters are typically on the side-line- used as comic relief where the majority of the cast are white. It’s either that or they are portrayed as violent thugs. ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ is different. Since the story is based in West Africa centuries ago, of course all of the characters in the story are going to have a dark complexion. Each of the characters have their own individual personalities such as courageous and stubborn Zélie, and the tough, family-oriented Tzain.

2. Strong Black Female Lead

It’s not common to find fiction where the main protagonist is black or a female character who doesn't just exist to be a love interest for the male protagonist. According to a UK study in 2018, only 1% of children’s books have a main character who is a BAME (Black & Ethnic Minority). In CBB the main protagonist is black AND female. (What did we do to deserve this?) I believe that it is important that young black girls in particular have a someone to look up to, whether they are real or a fictional character. Click the link below to see the full news article- it also features Tomi Adeyemi!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/17/only-1-of-uk-childrens-books-feature-main-characters-of-colour

3. It has magic

I am very interested in the occult and all things magical. While I don’t tend to read books related to the supernatural, watching movies such as Harry Potter and series like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is always so mesmerising. Furthermore, CBB involves a group of people called maji who possessed magical abilities relating to the elements of nature (i.e. Earth, Fire, Air, Water etc). Tomi Adeyemi was a big fan of the cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender (so am I), so she was inspired by that as well as West African Mythology and Yoruba culture.

4. It tackles serious issues

Tomi Adeyemi has done a great job on unravelling serious issues such as oppression, genocide and slavery. According to her writer’s note at the end of the book, she started writing CBB during a spike in police brutality against black people in the USA. The story also tackles issues such as colourism- the lighter skinned characters in the story were treated far better than their darker-skinned counterparts. In real life, society has viewed dark skin as ‘dirty’ and ‘unattractive’, which has lead to some people using products to bleach their skin in order to gain respect. This should, obviously, not be the case; we should be teaching people to love the skin that they are in and that we should respect each other regardless of skin tone.

My slight problem with CBB is…

…the unnecessary insta-love between Zélie and Inan. I’m not saying this because I dislike the romance genre (in my opinion most of them are too predictable), it’s because it harbours no relevance to the story. There is so much danger, violence and revolutionary things occurring in the Land of Orisha, I doubt if this was happening in real life there would be time or even an interest to look for love. Not everyone needs a romantic interest.

Anyways…

Overall, ‘Children of Blood Bone’ is a spectacular novel and I highly recommend it to those who love fantasy.

literature
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About the Creator

Chidimma Benjamin

A black cynical nerd with opinions and poetry. Don't be shy, drop a tip. Preferably $20.

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