FINALLY GOT MY HANDS ON THIS BEAUTIFUL BOOK!



I admire how much power and strength [a:Tomi Adeyemi|16642745|Tomi Adeyemi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1573251060p2/16642745.jpg] gave to her characters. She made them clearly flawed yet realistic. I found myself relating to all of the characters at some point. Zelie suffers from a martyr complex but that's to be expected with the YA genre. Compared to other books in this genre, [b:Children of Blood and Bone|41962308|Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1)|Tomi Adeyemi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537574957l/41962308._SY75_.jpg|55911580] has few YA tropes. The female characters aren't traditionally feminine, or even overly masculine, they are just who they are.



I started counting how many times Adeyemi mentioned a male character crying. It is so rare for me to read about male characters showing their emotions! For example, I love how much Adeyemi explored Inan and Tzarin's emotional vulnerabilities. Since she does this, the relationships between the characters become more developed and fleshed out. So many stunning character arcs in just one book!



As for my favorite character, Zelie is definitely up there but Inan's chapters were my favorite to read. The exploration of his psyche was fascinating! I will continue to root for him as a character. He's giving me some Anakin Skywalker vibes and I love it. Even though Inan has an evil side to him, there is a quiet vulnerability about him that I love.



I haven't decided if I want to read the sequel yet or not. I've seen too many negative reviews so I'll wait a bit to decide. Overall this book lived up to the hype!