Lit Vibes Only

Ep. 74: Lit It or Quit It: Children of Blood and Bone

• Lit Vibes Only Podcast

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Join Kelsey and Amanda as they dive into 'Children of Blood and Bone,' by Tomi Adeyemi discussing its vibrant world, memorable characters, and thrilling plot. Don't miss their take on this epic fantasy adventure!


00:00 Welcome to Lit Vibes Only!

00:32 Follow Us on Socials

03:11 Current Reads 

10:20 Summary of ‘Children of Blood and Bone’

25:16 Book Discussion

48:26 LITerally the Best or LITerally the Worst

01:06:21 Final Thoughts and Social Media Plugs


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See you on Mondays!

Kelsey:

Welcome to Lit Fives Only where we lit the shit outta books we love and hate. I'm Kelsey, the unhinged, diehard, romantic and fantasy reader.

Amanda:

And I'm Amanda, the insightful thrill seeker and historical fiction nerd. Happy February.

Kelsey:

Yeah. Oh my

Amanda:

God. Word in the month of love. And we're so excited that you are here to tune into our first lit it or quit it episode for this month. It's gonna be a good one. But before all of that good stuff, a couple of quick reminders. If you are not yet following us on socials, you absolutely should be. Me too. You should have been one of your New Year's resolutions to follow us on socials and also just follow us. On, like on Apple Podcast or Spotify. But you can find us on Instagram at Lit Vibes only podcast, YouTube and TikTok at Lit Vibes only podcast. And if socials are not your thing, you can also find us via email. So that's Lit Vibes only podcast@gmail.com. We check it all the time. So if you wanna send us recommendations, feedback on the podcast, what you'd like to see or hear more of, we would love to hear from you. But most excitingly, and you will already know this if you follow us on our socials. Yeah, both Kelsey and I now have accounts on Fable, which is. I'm quickly coming to realize just a better version of Good reads. Like much better.

Kelsey:

Yep.

Amanda:

Just so much more functionality, so many more features. Just more I think user friendly and on top of us having those accounts. So mine is Lit Vibes only Dash, Amanda and yours is Lit Vibes only dash. Kelsey very

Kelsey:

easy to follow us.

Amanda:

So super easy to find is just type in lip vibes only. You'll find both of us. You'll also find our book clubs. So Kelsey and I yes, each have our own book clubs. Again, if you're following us on socials, you will already know that and perhaps join the book club for this episode on Kelsey's platform. So read along with us, jump into the discussion. It goes so far beyond just this podcast episode, and I think it's also more fun to listen to these episodes if you've done the book club with us Yes. Along with us. Mm-hmm. And made some predictions about whether or not this book is a lit quit it. So definitely do that if you haven't already. And if you're someone like me who's a bit hesitant to make the switch from Good reads to Fable, rest assured it is totally worth it. I'm still maintaining my Good Reads account just because I know there's other folks who follow us who use that. Mm-hmm. But fable is it slaps y'all as the kids say it. Slaps. Actually, I don't know if they say that anymore, anymore. They still say that. I don't even know. Honestly, that might have been like last year's a word. I don't know. It's lit. We'll just say it's lit because it goes with our vibe. Anyhow, so that's all about our socials like, comment, follow, subscribe. We love chatting with you guys. Really cool. We've put a lot of really fun content on both, on all of those platforms into lots of ways for us to engage.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Okay. What are you currently reading?

Kelsey:

You'll love this one.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

I'm reading Fearful by Uhhuh. I actually think it's, it might be the best novella because it really gives more insight into what actually happened with these characters that they're following.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

I'm really curious about the ending. But last night. My cat came to cuddle with me when I was reading Mm-hmm. And it was like the sweetest thing. I really wish I got a photo of it, but he was just like chilling there while I was reading like under my arm and Aw. Holding my book.

Amanda:

It's perfect cuddle weather.

Kelsey:

It

Amanda:

did for sure. Especially in the gray, rainy p and w winters. Although right now, I don't know what it's like over by you right now. It's actually really nice out. There's like blue skies.

Kelsey:

Yeah, I see blue skies. It looks a little windy.

Amanda:

Oh.

Kelsey:

But I see blue skies.

Amanda:

It's calm over here in West Seattle. But

Kelsey:

just yesterday it was quite rainy.

Amanda:

It was so rainy and cold and all that. Mm-hmm. What was I gonna say? Oh,

Kelsey:

what are

Amanda:

you reading? I will get to that in a second, but the novella that you're reading, where does it fall? It's the

Kelsey:

very end.

Amanda:

So it comes after the last book.

Kelsey:

It's so her? No, the novellas. Yeah, they coincide with the books. So it's the third novella of the third book. So it's also

Amanda:

similar. Each book has novella.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

Gotcha.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Interesting. But timewise do the events take

Kelsey:

place? Place? It's the same time place

Amanda:

at the same. Okay.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

At the same

Kelsey:

time as the, you get insight into different characters,

Amanda:

huh?

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I do think I wanna read like a few more novellas this year.

Kelsey:

Oh. Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

Just'cause I don't normally read them and. Yeah, I think it'd be fun to again, dive into something new.

Kelsey:

I read a bunch of Ali Hazelwood novellas.

Amanda:

Oh yeah. You mentioned that last year. And I was like, they're fun. I like them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I guess I feel like a lot of the genres I read don't tend to do novellas. Yeah. I feel like it does tend to be more like romance and fantasy that does them. Which makes sense. But I am currently reading, I had to check my, Libby, I'm listening to an audiobook. I know I'm like fully sticking with audiobooks into this coming year and gonna listen to a bunch more. It's another horror novel. I really love listening to horror actually.

Kelsey:

Oh,

Amanda:

on audio books. It's, we used to live here by Marcus k Kleer. It's literally spelled K-L-I-E-W-E-R. So I have no idea how to say that last name. But I'm really enjoying it. Essentially this queer couple. Has purchased this old home outside of Portland, Oregon. So it's in p and w and one snowy night a family stops by and they're like, oh, the dad's like I used to live here. Can we like just take a tour really quickly? And they do. And just like eerie things start to happen, then of course they get trapped at the house'cause they get snowed in and things unfold from there. So it's really good. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. And I just yesterday read and finished,'cause this was, I guess it's not a novella, but it's a really short book. I don't know if that's like just the definition for novella, but I read it for our January book club.'cause again, it's January for us right now. It's auditioned by Katie Kitura and it was like less than 200 pages. So I just read that in a couple hours yesterday and finished that. And it was.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

It was, I think it was like long listed or shortlisted for the Booker Prize. And I feel like oftentimes when books are like nominated for these literary prizes, they like, I appreciate what she was trying to do, I think. But sometimes I'm just like, what exactly are you trying to say? Just spit it out woman. Or sometimes I feel like they are trying really hard to make something out of nothing.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

And I finished the book and I was like, I don't know that I really got anything out of it. I don't know, it just felt it just felt like she was trying too hard. I don't know, maybe that's just me and I'm just not highbrow enough to enjoy this type of literature. We. I think it'll make for,

Kelsey:

that's not my style.

Amanda:

Yeah, it's not mine either. I think it might make for a good discussion.'cause there were certain quotes where I'm like, oh, I think you could probably unpack that with a group of people.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

But I can't say that I particularly enjoyed it. I think I gave it like two and a half stars.'cause you can do haves and 0.2 fives on fable. So anyhow, that's what I read and I'm currently reading and yeah, I'm excited to keep diving into horror and keep diving into audio books this year. And yeah, so we have a book to discuss. Oh, and also, I guess I should, I guess I should say too, or maybe you can say it like what, this is one of those rare episodes where Kelsey and I read the book together. Yes. Like sunrise on the reaping. So even though Kelsey had me read it, we read it together. It was new for both of us. Yeah.

Kelsey:

It's funny. Because when we do that, I'm really worried that I wouldn't li like the book Uhhuh, especially if it's mine. Yeah. I don't think you've actually done that. It's just been me.

Amanda:

Yeah,

Kelsey:

that's true. Um But anyway, it has never turned out that way, so I am

Amanda:

So you did in fact, like the book?

Kelsey:

Yes. Okay. And I already have the second book on Libby,

Amanda:

Do you wanna tell folks why you had me and or us read it?

Kelsey:

Yeah. There were several reasons. I wanted a book that also coincided with Black History Month. Mm-hmm. And I've been wanting to read Children of Blood and Bone for a while, and I've heard really great things about it. I was like, oh yeah, Amanda might also like this. Let's read it and yeah, those are really the reasons. Okay.

Amanda:

Those are good reasons. And there's a movie coming out next year, I think in January of next year, which is gonna be pretty cool.

Kelsey:

I am so excited

Amanda:

Yeah. About that. The cast looks fucking phenomenal. If you haven't looked at who's gonna be in it, you should hop on Google and check it out. Just some really amazing actors and actresses. Yeah. Okay. Then cool. You have a question for me?

Kelsey:

Yeah. Amanda, was this a lid it or quit it for you before we get into summary?

Amanda:

Yeah. So I would say that this book was an absolute lid it for me. I ended up giving a yay five stars, which you might have seen already.

Kelsey:

No, I actually didn't look,

Amanda:

I like marked it and I was like, oh, we shouldn't have done this until after the episode. But yeah, I

Kelsey:

gave Did you have Good reads or Fable?

Amanda:

I did it on Fable. I guess I did it on both, I think. But yeah I gave it five stars. I also have the second book already in my Libby holes because I was like, all right gotta read the next one.

Kelsey:

The audio book is. Available now. Just FYI.

Amanda:

So I know, and I listened, so for this book, and we'll get to that later, I listened to a third of this book on audio'cause I was driving to and from Vancouver. Okay. And then read and then read two thirds of it. So I gotta do both. And I will say that the audio book was phenomenal. Yeah. And really helped with especially a lot of the pronunciations for different things.

Kelsey:

Oh totally.

Amanda:

But yeah, so I liked it and we'll dive more into that in a moment. But I am going to do the summary Yes. For this book. As with a lot of the fantasy books that Kelsey has me read, it's another long one. I think it's like 544 pages. So I'm gonna do my best to touch on all of the major things and we'll get into the nitty gritty detail in the discussion. And hopefully y'all joined the book club and read along with us. So you're like, I know this already.

Kelsey:

Yay.

Amanda:

This story takes place in kind of a fantasy version of Nigeria, essentially in this land called Orisha. Mm-hmm. And in this land, there is magic. And so you have a group of people called the Magi who have this connection to the gods, and it's through the gods. They channel their magic. And then you have just like normal, everyday human beings and there are 10 gods, each have different powers. So one has power over water or fire, or can heal people or power over life and death. And then over all of these gods, like this pantheon of gods is like the primary deity, which is Sky Mother, and it is from Sky Mother, that all of these gods draw their powers and then each God channels their power into humans. And so there's these 10 clowns essentially. So that's like the, the background context information. Unsurprisingly, as time passed there. There was conflict between normal non-Ag humans and magical humans, because anytime you give human beings any sort of power, obviously they're gonna misuse it. It can lead to corruption and abuse. And so what happened is, 11 years ago, king Cran decided that he was going to eradicate magic from Orisha. And in order to do that, he severed the Magi connection to the gods. And he also went through the land of Orisha and killed every single Magi. So how this magic system works is a child who is born with white hair is a child who, in theory, has the ability to do magic, and those children are called diviners. And then when they reach a certain age, usually the age of 13, they come into their magic and they become magi. So when the kinks are on. Killed off all of the magi. He left the diviners, the children alone'cause they didn't technically have magic yet. And he was like, it's fine. However, those white haired offspring were then treated as second class citizens. People call them maggots. They are taxed heavily. They are used and abused. They are put into things called the stalks where they have to do horrible labor and are beaten. It's just bad news for maggots. So this story starts off focusing on her main character, Zelie Ebola. And she is a diviner. Her mother was a reaper, so she had the ability to control life and death, and she is obviously one of the Magi who was killed. And so Zelie is really struggling with this trauma of her mother's horrible passing even 11 years later. So it's her brother, Zane, who does not have magic or the ability to have magic. And her father, they all live in this little fishing town called Ere and Zelie is training to fight essentially underneath the tutelage of this woman called Mama Agba who. At least at the beginning of the novel we're under the impression that she is not a diviner. She does not have magic, but she's like training all of these young women, these young diviner women to defend themselves and to be able to fight because the world's a tough place. So essentially the story starts off with a group of soldiers coming to the town of Eine demanding taxes once again. And a lot of the people in the town can't pay. Zelie and her brother Zane, decide to travel to the capital city of Legos to trade this like fish that they've caught, like this really rare fish that they think will get them a lot of money and therefore be able to pay the taxes that are due and provide some financial security for their family. Mm-hmm. So they hop on their lion Air, which is like this fantastical version of a lion, and they ride it into town to Lagos. And while they are there. Zelie Encounters Princess Amari. So Princess Amari is the king's daughter. She has just stolen from the castle, from the palace, this magical scroll. And apparently any diviner who touches this scroll like comes into their power, brings it, like activates the magic in their blood. And the reason why she stole the scroll is because her handmaid, who she grew up with, beta, was a diviner. And she touched the scroll. Her magic was activated and she watched her father slaughter her best friend in front of her eyes. And she's like, yeah. No thank you. So she takes a scroll, hightails it outta the palace, happens to run into Zelie, who is in the market trying to sell this fish. And long story short, Zelie decides to help her. A series of events occur and they barely escape the city with their lives. And when I say they, it's Amari again, her brother Zane and Zelie.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Or sorry, Amari Zelie and Zale's brother Zane. So they leave Lagos and of course they're gonna be pursued by the King's guards. So they get to Eine, they're like, we can't stay here. They're trying to make a plan. And they go to see Mama Agba, who again is like her mentor, this really wise woman. What happens is when they get to Mama Abba's place, she touches the scroll and they realize that she's been hiding this entire time. That she also is a magi, a diviner. And her ability is that she is a seer. So she can like. See through time, predict the future, et cetera.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda (2):

And she has this vision of Zane Zelie and Amari going on this quest to essentially restore magic to the land of Orisha. So as they're prepping to leave for this journey. Amari's brother, the Prince Anan shows up with a force and they end up raising rine to the ground, burn it to the ground. They barely escape with their lives, but they do escape, and they head off into the jungle again to complete this quest and take the scroll to this magical place called ble. It has a temple. And we'll tell them the next steps in their journey. So they, again, a series of events. I'm not gonna get into all of it, but they make it to the temple. Once they get there, they run into this guy called Lahan who has a Centro and Centros are basically like the people who oversee the Magi and help to maintain the connection between the gods and the Magi. They're the middleman, and he is the only living Ro Centara left. All of the rest were slaughtered by King Ciran. So he's like, Hey. Zelie, I'm gonna awaken your connection to Sky Mother to the gods because in order to actually fully bring magic back, you need to travel to this magical island that only pops up like once every 100 years. And you need to perform this ritual. And to perform this ritual, you need three sacred objects. The scroll, which they already have, an ivory dagger, which Centara has. And then the third object is a sunstone, which is essentially part of Sky mother's soul in the form of a stone. So they go through this rituals daily, comes into our powers At this point, Inan and his like general Kaya. Have tracked them down. They barely escape with their lives. Lakan doesn't, Lakan ends up dying. And again, Zane Amari Zaley flew off into the jungle to go find this sunstone. And Anan is stuck at the Temple Cble because they've cut this bridge, there's no way across, et cetera. So he's stuck while they reconstruct the bridge. Annan is starting to notice weird things happening with himself. There's a white streak that's starting to grow in his hair. He's been having these strange sensations. He's having weird dreams where Zelie shows up in his dreams and you start to realize that Anan also has magic.'cause he touched the scroll back when he was like trying to track them down in Legos. And his magical powers are manifesting. This is bad news because he's the prince and his dad hates magic and would probably kill him if he knew he had magic. So he is trying to hide it from everyone. In the meantime, the three head off to find the sunstone. They end up in this desert town. And in this desert town, there's this giant like. Arena where diviners, imprisoned diviners are forced to fight to the death. And they stage these mock naval battles inside of the arena. So they flood the arena bringing all these ships, and they have to fight to the death and the prize for winning one of these mock naval battles is in fact the sunstone. So Zelie is like, all right, we're gonna join this battle, we're gonna fight. And they do, Zelie uses her magic and Zane uses his strategy and ability as a fighter to work together to win this competition, which they do. So they're able to get the sunstone. So now they have all three objects and they're like, golden, let's go. So they take off to head off again to this island. They only have I dunno, eight days left before the solstice. So they're like on a tight timeframe. As they're making their way, right? They end up encountering this mysterious force of black clad figures who end up kidnapping. Let me get this right, Zane and Amari, okay? At this point also, and Na has caught up to them, right? He's tracked them down. It leaves Anan and Zelie together. And so even though they cannot stand each other, because again, Anan is the son of the man who killed Zale's mother and slaughtered all of these magic and took magic from the land, they end up having to work together to get their siblings back. And of course, as this happens, like feelings start to grow Zelie starts to forgive Agna for all of the horrible things that he and his father have done, and they end up launching an attack using Za Lee's magic to. Get their siblings back from this encampment. What they realized during this, the conflict is that the people who took their siblings are actually other diviners. Mm-hmm. And once both sides realized that they're on the same page and working together, they're like, oh, just kidding. We're not gonna fight. And they have basically found this hidden encampment of diviners that are living in peace. And they're led by this young girl named Zoo, who is the first person to touch the scroll and activate her magic. So she's respected again. Long story short, they're really happy. They have the celebration. They're feeling good. They're feeling safe. They're celebr is crashed unfortunately by the King's guards who have tracked them down. They slaughter a bunch of people. And one of the diviners uses blood magic, which you shouldn't do because it's super dangerous and can consume you. He's a burner. So he controls fire, he uses his blood magic and basically. Incinerates most of the forces and ends up killing himself as well. So it's just a brutal, horrible bloodbath on both sides and all of this chaos. Za is kidnapped, taken by the kings guards and put in this fortress. So now they have to go rescue her. So they go to this fortress town, I think it's in Gombe, and they end up recruiting some local diviners in the area that are friends with Zane. And they have a couple of them touch the scroll. They get their powers activated, and they launch this attack on the fortress. Zaley is currently being held and tortured. They end up getting Zelie back. Anan stays behind, and at this point, Anan is like, you know what? I don't think magic is a good thing. I think we should just keep magic eradicated forever and keep it repressed and hidden. So the main folks are like, okay, we have two days left to get to this hidden island. We're so far away. They're able to recruit a ship of basically mercenaries and assassins. One of them happens to be a young man named Roen who is not from Nigeria. He's from some Eastern lands and we're not entirely sure. I got the impression that he was like maybe like Asian or maybe Middle Eastern. I'm not entirely sure. Mm-hmm. But he. Provides'em with a boat, provides'em with a bunch of mercenaries and assassins. They sail to this island, and on the way to this island, they realize that a bunch of the king ships are also headed to the island at the same time, hoping to ambush them. So in order to trick them, they capture one of the king's boats, like incapacitate. All of the people on it put on their uniforms and pretend that they are soldiers to get on the island. They get to the temple on this mystical island so that they can perform the sacred ritual and bring magic back forever. However, right at the moment when they're supposed to perform the sacred ritual, king Ciran shows up and he's actually in the temple too. He has Zale's dad and he's

Amanda:

like,

Amanda (2):

if you go through with this ritual, I'm gonna kill your father. And Zaley iss

Amanda:

like,

Amanda (2):

absolutely not. I've lost enough people. Forget it. Mm-hmm. Magic doesn't need to stay in the world. I'd rather have my father. So she has her father come to her, she takes him back, but. They kill him like we don't know who. An hour was fired and her father dies in her arm, so she's like F this, I'm gonna do the ritual Anyway. So there's a big fight that ensues in the process of the fight. Anan tricks, Zaley.'cause now Anan has switched his allegiances into using her power to destroy the scroll. And without the scroll they can't complete the ritual. But when Baba, her father dies, she's able to activate her blood magic through his blood since she's related to him. And she calls upon the powers of her ancestors and this connects her to like the Gods and Sky mother. And so she's able to complete the ritual and passes out and the book ends with her waking up. On the boat leaving the island. She's

Amanda:

like,

Amanda (2):

what happened? What happened? And

Amanda:

you see

Amanda (2):

that Amari now has a white streak in her hair. Mm-hmm. And her palm is like glowing. So there's the implication that Amari now has magic, much like her brother Anand did. Mm-hmm. Also Anand gets stabbed in this final fight by his father. And so the implication is that he's also been killed and Amari killed her father. King Saron. Yes. In this final fight as well. So a lot of killing and death. That is essentially it.

Kelsey:

Nice job. It is a

Amanda:

lot. It's a long book. That was a pretty long summary and I still didn't even touch on everything. Yeah. But a lot happens. It's pretty fast paced. So there you go.

Kelsey:

It is, it was. Thank you, Amanda. I'm so curious. Welcome. Because it'ss a series, right? Yeah. And I'm curious like what's gonna come next?

Amanda:

Mm-hmm.

Kelsey:

And all the things. Yeah. But in our Fable group, you predicted that in non wasn't actually dead. Correct? You can get like the confirmation.

Amanda:

Yeah. I think he's still alive.

Kelsey:

Yeah, I think you're probably right. I don't know how but

Amanda:

because it, like he got stabbed, but like you can get stabbed and survive. That happens all

Kelsey:

the time.

Amanda:

He

Kelsey:

gets stabbed multiple times, right? Like it wasn't just once, it was a couple times.

Amanda:

No, I think it was just once.

Kelsey:

I'm pretty sure it was twice.

Amanda:

I will have to go back and look. But either way, there was no con, there's no scene in which he actually dies, it just says he got stabbed. And he's like clutching his chest or whatever. Yeah. So whereas kink Saron, like we know he's, well actually, I mean Kran also, the other thing too is that even though he's not a healer, like Anon has magic. So I don't know. I feel like he could probably, yeah. Do something or like his, the God that he's connected to Ori, could also, keep him from dying because there's some, I don't know, that's just a prediction. We'll see if it's right. You guys can let me know. But

Kelsey:

if he is alive, do you think he will be on the other side of his sister and

Amanda:

Yeah. I think so.

Kelsey:

He fell for,

Amanda:

yeah, because I think,

Kelsey:

yeah,

Amanda:

the thing

is

Kelsey:

it has to be somebody, right?

Amanda:

And I think it makes it more intense if you have someone who's za fell in love with and has this connection to being on opposing sides of this conflict. And you see that happen a lot honestly in fantasy books, especially with love interests. And then they end up on opposite sides. Even with what was the book that you were just talking about reckless? Like in that, was it Reckless? Is that the first book in that series?

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Yeah. Where yeah. No,

Kelsey:

that's the second.

Amanda:

Oh. What's the first book? Powerless. Powerless. Yeah, powerless. Yeah. They end the book with them on opposing sides.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

So I could see that. And obviously as soon as Roen showed up on the scene, I was like, oh, he is gonna be the other love interest for sure.

Kelsey:

Maybe,

Amanda:

oh, that was my first thought. You don't think so?

Kelsey:

I don't know. He seems like scummy.

Amanda:

No. He's like the, he's what's the guy from Quicksilver? Not Ca Is it Ca Not Cassian. Carrion. Carrion.

Kelsey:

I didn't get that. Yeah. Are

Amanda:

kidding me? Yeah. He's kind of a bad, bad boy, but just very he's very flirty. Are you kidding? He's constantly flirting with her.

Kelsey:

Yeah. He's very flirty. But he's icky, flirty. Like's not,

Amanda:

Not

Kelsey:

funny, flirty.

Amanda:

No. I think he definitely, I feel like Zelie was responding to him. By the end. And like they had that really beautiful moment on the boat where he talks about his own trauma and how he healed from it. And he's telling her that, she needs to talk to someone. Like I, that is my prediction and I'm standing by. it It's a good prediction. There's definitely going to be a relationship between Zelie and Roen for sure.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

And I think what might happen is they're gonna like fall in love, whatever, and then, Inan's gonna show back up. I'm telling you. That is my prediction.

Kelsey:

And NA's a jerk.

Amanda:

I know. I mean he is

Kelsey:

okay. The other thing too about this book you mentioned it, but the torture scenes are awful. Yeah. They're brutal.'cause that happens to Tzain and Zelie. Yeah. And it was just awful.

Amanda:

Yeah. Yeah. They basically carve with a hot. Knife, the word maggot into Zale's back and they give her this drug so that she can't pass out from the pain. So she's awake the entire time.

Kelsey:

Oh, that was another wondering is like, why do you think Zelie lost her magic?

Amanda:

So here was my thought. So remember when he, the doctor comes in before they torture her? Yeah. He like cuts that hole in her neck and injects her with that liquid. Yeah, that black liquid. I thought it was like maite, like I thought it was basically mm-hmm. Like a liquid version of Maite. And again, for those who didn't read the book, Maite is like this substance that gosh, what is the word I'm trying to say? It represses magic. Yeah. And so you can't use your magic if you are like touching something that has maite if you're wrapped in maite chains. Mm-hmm. So that was my thing, is that it got into her blood and so it suppressed that was what I was looking for, suppressed the ache in her blood which allowed her to do magic. That was what I thought.

Kelsey:

Yeah. I

Amanda:

don't know what your thought was. I

Kelsey:

definitely thought it was linked to whatever they gave to her.

Amanda:

Yeah. That was like

Kelsey:

obviously, but yeah.

Amanda:

To your point, I actually wrote it down which I had mixed feelings about this book is very. Violent and very brutal. Yeah. There's so much death. There's so many massacres, there's so many villages and encampments that are just wiped out. Yeah. Both prior to the events in the book, like during the raid and during the book itself. Mm-hmm. And, yeah. I have mixed feelings because on the one hand, if this is a fantasy version of Nigeria and perhaps other parts of Africa, it's like, yes. Especially due to colonization. There has been so much conflict and bloodshed and genocide on that continent. Mm-hmm. And so in some ways it rings true, quote unquote. But at the same time, I think because this is a fantasy world, you have the ability to do something different. Mm-hmm. And so you don't have to make it I don't know, literal and mm-hmm. And I think sometimes. Perhaps it reinforces problematic stereotypes about the continent of Africa, that it's just this land of conflict and death and starvation and misery, and it's like, no, actually Africa is so much more than that. And such a vibrant, beautiful continent. And so I did have mixed feelings

Kelsey:

mm-hmm.

Amanda:

About that because I do feel like it just plays into some stereotypes about. Life in Africa.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I don't know.

Kelsey:

I dunno. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I I did, I was like, God, it is so violent.

Amanda:

It's so violent.

Kelsey:

It definitely when I was doing my review, I was like, where are all of the,'cause torture wasn't part of the content warnings. Yeah. And I was like, it needs to be, but where is it? Because yeah, it was very intense.

Amanda:

Yeah. Yeah.

Kelsey:

Throughout the book and it's, and then just. The fact that she loses so many people. Yeah. Oh my God, I really loved zoo.

Amanda:

I

Kelsey:

know. And I was so heartbroken. It was, she just died. I was like, what? I thought she was gonna be like this, like caretaker and

Amanda:

as no, as soon as she showed up and she was just like this pure, innocent, sweet leader. I was like, Nope. She's gone. She's absolutely, because even by the time you get to that part in the book, there's already been so much death and destruction, heartbreak. I'm like, there's no way this like pure of heart child is gonna survive in this like blood thirsty world. So that one I, I had a sense like that was coming. So I wasn't entirely surprised by that, but yeah, this book is not for the fan of heart and honestly for a YA book, I think I was surprised. Yeah. At the level of destruction and violence that happens pretty much right from the start. Like you have Binta being slaughtered in cold blood. Mm-hmm. In front of Amari and then yeah, the whole destruction of Illorin pretty much right after that. So yeah. So it's a lot. But that's really, I would say probably my only negative about the book. That and maybe the fact that. Obviously there's tension and conflict between the royal siblings, right? Amari and Anan. Yeah. And Zelie and her brother. Mm-hmm. For obvious reasons. And the only way in which those kind of two groups end up coming together and changing their feelings about each other is through the same, it's through the same plot device, which is they save each other's lives. So Zelie and Amari cannot stand each other more like Zelie can't stand Amari. And it's not until amari kind of puts her neck out there and saves Zelie. That Zelie is like, oh, okay, I guess you're not so bad. And the same thing with Zelie and Anan. They're like at each other's throats. And it's not until Anan saves her life that she's like, oh, I guess you're okay. And I get it, if you have such deep seated hatred, maybe it does have to be something as drastic as the other person saving your life. Mm-hmm. But the fact that it was used twice to accomplish the same thing just felt like a little, and this is me being picky, but I was like, okay, like there are other ways for people to reconcile.

Kelsey:

I thought you were going to say the fact that they're both like love interests.

Amanda:

Oh, that the siblings are like, paired up. Yeah. That was also a bit, that was a bit like much. But yeah, I let it slide.

Kelsey 2.0:

Yeah. I also, it. Didn't fully make sense to me why Anan and Zelie would be paired up. I think it was a push essentially for me just in that. Mm-hmm. Like you were saying oh yeah, he saved her life, but Im almost immediately after he's actually

Kelsey:

I'm,

Kelsey 2.0:

I'm back on the other side. Wait, what? Yeah. I really thought he was going to Yeah. Not do that.

Amanda:

Have a redemption ark.

Kelsey:

Yes.

Amanda:

I,

Kelsey:

I actually, maybe he does over the series, but

Amanda:

maybe I actually put in my notes, which might surprise you that I liked that. And I think it ties back into a bigger thing that I liked about the book is that I feel like all of the characters, but primarily like, no, I would say all of them, like of the four, the main four, they're really conflicted and nuanced characters that are often acting based on their trauma and their pain. And so it felt really authentic. Even the flip flopping felt authentic, right? Because if you're looking at Anan, we'll start with Anan, right? So Anan, he's the prince. His father has mistreated him since day one, right? Mm-hmm. He's not loving, he's not kind. He forced him in Amari to basically fight each other and brutalize each other to make them tough and strong. So he already has a horrible upbringing. And then he's told, again, from day one, magic is the root of all evil. It is the source of all of our problems. And his dad's first wife and child were like horribly slaughtered by magic. So there's a lot of generational trauma there. So it makes sense again that he's yes. Very diehard, like magic should be eradicated, right? But we also know from Amari, his sister, that he does have this kind core, at the heart of it. Like he is trying to do what's right. He does want to be a good person. He wants to be a good son, right? He does want to take care of his land, take care of his people, and he thinks he's doing the right thing. And so I like, I dunno, all of his choices made sense to me. Like even him flip-flopping and be like. You know what, like once Zelie gets to him and starts to talk about her own pain and trauma and offers her perspective, like it makes sense that he's like, Hmm, yeah, I can see where you're coming from. Because he literally, because of his, his ability, he can get inside of people's heads. He can experience firsthand her trauma and pain. Like I think it makes sense that he's like, okay, yeah, I can see where you're coming from. Like I can see the problems with my dad and his way of being, but also I can see him, especially after he witnesses Kwame incinerate an entire legion of troops and also kill himself. Him being like, whoa, wait a minute. We can't just give this power to anyone and everyone unchecked. Like it is clearly dangerous. So I, I think his flip flopping makes sense. Like it didn't, but

Kelsey:

then she's tortured. Yeah. Essentially almost in front of him, yeah. Unless he's hearing this and he just. Nothing.

Amanda:

No. He likes, he rescues her, like he can't handle it. He literally goes

Kelsey:

in like at after all of that is done. Like I, I don't know, I just

Amanda:

what could he do?

Kelsey:

His flip-flopping?

Amanda:

Like I feel like he didn't flip flop. I think he was like, there was what

Kelsey:

book? He was Flip flopping.

Amanda:

No, but which I, which again, I think, like I said, I think it makes sense and even sa

Kelsey:

I get why you're saying that, but Yeah.

Amanda:

But even Saly herself flip flops, like she is going back and forth about like, wait a minute, do we wanna bring magic back? Because I also can see giving humans this kind of unchecked power could have really problematic results and outcomes. Which is why at the festival that they have in the little Yeah. Divine Ring Camp. And she's like, actually I don't want people touching the scroll because who knows what's gonna happen. So I think she also, but that

Kelsey:

also did make sense to me. Oh, I think for her character, because then that just made it feel like she was like the king. And like a colonizer instead of who she is. That didn't make sense to me

Amanda:

that she was afraid to give people their magic.

Kelsey:

Yeah. And being like controlling of the magic that didn't make sense to me.

Amanda:

Oh, I felt that. I thought that it made sense and I think that she says why though? She clearly, she's like, I can see, especially when she's talked a bit more with Anan. She's like, I can see how having a bunch of people running around with so much power and there's no. Rules, regulations like around it. Like

Kelsey:

Uhhuh,

Amanda:

we like cancer. So there's a group of magi who are called cancer are cancers. Mm-hmm. And they literally can just inflict disease on people and just touch them and kill them. Hello, this is like insane. I think it shows a certain amount of like wisdom and discernment on her part to be like, wait a minute. It's not as simple as just like giving everyone their magic and everyone is happy. Mm-hmm. Which I like because I feel like in a lot of fantasy novels, it's like we're fighting to get magic back and magic is good. Full stop. And it's like, actually we are humans. And if you give a human power, like some of them are gonna misuse it, some of them are gonna be corrupted by it. So I, again, I loved the nuance there. It's not as simple as just like fighting the quote unquote good fight, bringing magic back and everyone's good.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

If you have a power imbalance, it's going to lead to conflict.

Kelsey 2.0:

But again, that aligned her with the king who was trying to control magic.

Amanda:

Yeah. I mean, I don't think she was, I don't think she was like willing to kill people in order to control it. But I do think she was like, we should take a beat.'cause she wasn't saying she wasn't gonna give it to them. She was just like, in this moment at this festival like, don't think

Kelsey:

But again, like why was she put in this place of power and like, why it was interest, it was just interesting that it wasn't like some collective decision, but it was

Amanda:

her decision. Her decision.

Kelsey:

And

Amanda:

yeah.

Kelsey:

Yes, I didn't really like that aspect of it. And yeah,

Amanda:

that's term,

Kelsey:

yeah, it didn't

Amanda:

that's a good point that it does come down to her, like she's the only person that gets to decide versus let's all come together and take a vote on it or talk about it like. That I get. And there is throughout the book, like the whole like chosen one trope where like for whatever reason mm-hmm. Oya, who is her deity for Reapers, right? She's the deity in charge of life and death. Like anyhow, yeah, she's clearly been chosen by the gods to do this ritual to bring magic back, et cetera. So it makes sense that she's the one making the decision because for whatever reason she was chosen. But I also see your point that if you're gonna make this decision that impacts hundreds of thousands of people, potentially, I don't know how many diviners there are. Like

Kelsey:

I know

Amanda:

other people should have a say.

Kelsey:

And in the end it seems like we don't know for sure, but that everybody got their magic back.

Amanda:

Everybody got their magic back. And also,'cause I looked at the book jacket for the second book.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

Basically. All of the nobility have gotten magic as well. Mm-hmm. Because the nobility have magi in their ancestry. Mm-hmm. And so that's why Amari now has magic. And that's why Anan had magic too, which obviously is gonna create more conflict. Yeah. Because the nobility are going to want to maintain their power. And then they have a group of the commoners, who now have power and,

Kelsey:

but then I guess, yeah. I'm so curious, does Amari become queen?

Amanda:

So that's what the next book is about. Okay. Is like them trying to instate her and her rightful place and the nobility being like, no. Ah. Again, just based on what I've read on the book jacket, I always haven't read the book yet.

Kelsey:

And does Anan actually come back?

Amanda:

We'll find out

Kelsey:

that's on the book jacket. And then at what point is it gonna be made apparent?

Amanda:

I do, I really think he is. I think he's so

Kelsey:

curious.

Amanda:

I don't think he's done for, but no I do like that the book. Wasn't black and white, and both with the magic system and with the characters themselves, there's just like a lot of internal conflict about what exactly is the right move in this situation. Totally.'Cause it's not that simple. Mm-hmm. And I feel like, yeah, again, a lot of fantasy books just brush right over that. Mm-hmm. They're just like, yeah, magic is good. Full stop or whatever. Whatever the system or whatever is. Yeah. Because even, I actually really liked this, so King Saron, when he's chatting, when he is like talking to Zelie, and I think this might have been at the beginning of the torture scene, honestly. And she's basically like, you know. kink Saron, you suck. And you're evil. Like you did these horrible things. Mm-hmm. And he's like, it's really interesting'cause you keep starting this in the middle of the story. Let's be clear that the Magi were originally the instigators and they're the ones who slaughtered people use their magic in awful ways. So it's interesting that you've chosen to start your narrative where I am the aggressor and I'm the bad person. When, if you actually go back to before that, right? Like it was the Magi who kind of mm-hmm. Quote unquote started this. And again, I think that's really important, even in our world when we're looking at who's right, who's wrong? Like who started the conflict, who didn't. It's like wherever you decide to start the narrative it immediately shifts who's the victim and also

Kelsey:

who's the oppressor.

Amanda:

But

Kelsey:

also both things can be true.

Amanda:

Sure.

Kelsey:

Absolutely. And are,

Amanda:

yeah.

Kelsey:

I actually don't know because we only hear about that history.

Amanda:

Mm-hmm.

Kelsey:

From the king. So I'm curious like what actually happened. We know that his wife and child, died.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

But we don't know much beyond that. Other than his father was trying to create a system with everybody involved and not just so who knows? Yeah. Like What exactly happened?

Amanda:

Yeah, it's true. Yeah, so we'll find out more. But I liked that it wasn't so simple.'cause you know me, I like mm-hmm. I like messy, complex humans.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

But yeah, I also, I think as a woman, I really liked the fact that. Our female characters could handle themselves. Like Amari knew how to fight Zelie, knew how to fight, and were actually quite skilled at it. And didn't necessarily have to rely on their male counterparts to take care of them in those situations. And the fact too that their deities or whatever, like their whole mythology, it's based on a female deity at the head, like it's Sky Mother and she's the one who is like overseeing everything versus having a, like a male deity. So I, I liked that as well in terms of just representation and diversity. Obviously having it set in a Nigerian based world

Kelsey:

mm-hmm.

Amanda:

With Yuba culture and language was really cool.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I'm looking at what I wrote down. Oh, okay. So as I, I have to say this as a black woman, which actually came up in some of the reviews as a negative thing, but I liked it. So you may or may not have noticed, but Zale's hair, right? Mm-hmm. So at the beginning of the book, it's like straight and like silky and swishy and whatever, and as her magic starts to manifest and she comes in her full power. It slowly becomes like wavy and then really like curly, and then kinky, like a big afro. Mm-hmm. And I loved that because as a black woman or as black woman in general, we had so much shit for her hair, right? It's seen as unattractive and dirty and unprofessional and like all of these things and. I love that their hair as diviners is a sign of their power. Like when your hair is like fully kinky and qualy, like that is a symbol that you're fully in possession of your magic. And so it was really subtle, but I totally picked up on it. Mm-hmm. And I loved that as a way, especially for young black women. Reading this story to be like, yeah, my hair is beautiful, my hair is a symbol of who I am and my culture and my people and like my power. And not something to be ashamed of or yeah. Hidden away. And I am, I'm sure that Tomi was very intentional about that choice. Like I don't think it was just like a Oh, totally. Oh no. What? Yeah. And yeah, I just had to shout that out'cause I, I really loved that

Kelsey:

who was complaining about that or as

Amanda:

an so empower they

Kelsey:

in

Amanda:

one. Yeah. So in one of the reviews that I read, and I can't remember if this is someone who d nfd it or not. Okay. Which would make a lot of sense, but they were like. Why do they have these black women with silky, squishy hair? That is so ridiculous. And like she's playing into these European concepts of beauty. I'm like, actually

Kelsey:

you didn't

Amanda:

get into it all the

Kelsey:

way.

Amanda:

Yeah. Read it all the way through. You would see this transformation that happens. So that's what the problem was. It's like, oh, she's appealing to white audiences by trying to make, I'm like no, nope.'Cause I like, I, like I said, I personally like really love that. Yeah.

Kelsey:

Remind me, was Zale's hair always white?

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

Yeah. Like all the diviners are born with white hair.

Kelsey:

Whoa. Except

Amanda:

for

Kelsey:

Amari

Amanda:

and except for Amari and Anon. So I guess the nobility aren't,'cause their magic is like a bit buried, a bit deeper in their ancestry. Yeah. So interesting. Yeah. I'm gonna have to like, oh my gosh, I have gray hair. I have white hair, I have magical powers. This is great. Yeah, I think those are like all the main things that I like jotted down Yeah. And wanted to talk about. But yeah, I really loved the world um, that

Kelsey:

too. Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

I'm excited to see how they do it in the film because they're very different oh my god, climates and settings. Yes. I wanna see what Eine looks like, and then like, ble and like this desert town that they're in. Yeah. And this mystical island, like they're gonna get to play around a lot with settings and locations. Definitely. And I'm excited to see that on the big screen.

Kelsey:

And I saw somewhere that the movie deal actually came. Before, like it was fully published

Amanda:

oh

Kelsey:

yeah. And I was like, oh,

Amanda:

I didn't

Kelsey:

know that. Is that's insane. Is that

Amanda:

a thing?

Kelsey:

But that's a, it definitely is worthwhile. Yeah. And I hope that they're doing all three books.

Amanda:

I think they, I think that's probably the plan. I'm sure they've probably already purchased the rides for them and they'll see how the first movie, if the first movie is a flop. I hope it's not, if it's a flop, like they probably won't,'cause it wouldn't, they're just gonna like waste money. But I feel like it does well. Yeah.

Kelsey:

Yeah. No, I think better.

Amanda:

That's

Kelsey:

great.

Amanda:

Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of hype around it already for people who Oh, definitely love this book, which is a lot of people. Mm-hmm. Do you have any other things you wanna add from,

Kelsey:

oh, I wanted to say, so remember yesterday I texted you and I was like, oh my God, the third book is narrated by Cynthia Aio. And I was like, Ooh,

Amanda:

yeah, I cannot wait. That's pretty amazing. I'll probably have to listen to that one on audiobook. Just because I love her and nice. She's amazing.

Kelsey:

I'm so curious. Like what she does with it.

Amanda:

Yeah. Yeah. She's, yeah, I'm sure it's amazing. I'm sure in terms of things about the book that we'll probably once we get to the reviews, things will come up that we might wanna touch on too, like always. So we're gonna do our literally the best or literally the worst, even though we both loved this book since Kelsey quote unquote forced me to read it. Yeah. I will be reading one Star reviews from Good Reads and Kelsey's got five star and I've got too long and too short.

Kelsey:

Okay. You go ahead.

Amanda:

Oh, I have to go first. That's right. Yeah. Okay. So this is my first Onestar review from Gabby from looking at books DNF at 50%. What a gigantic disappointment. I bought this thinking the height might be true, it has diversity, and everyone in good reads made this out to be the best debut fantasy book in the history of all books. I'll admit I bought into it never again. What ensued was character POVs that sounded the same as each other. If I hadn't looked at the character name at the top of each chapter, it could have been any one of the three characters in the story. Nothing set them apart. Non-existent action. The plot promises the return of magic, but the quest to get there is boring and unoriginal bad writing. While the world building is nicely done, the storytelling isn't. I felt like I missed parts of what was happening in the story. When Anan would have a conversation with Zelie in the dreamland, things would move so quickly. I was confused. There was this scene about water showing up, and it made zero sense. Usually when I read a hyped book, I can understand why. Even if it's not for me, I can see there's a reason. So many people love it, but children of blood and bone is different. If you read fantasy, why is this spectacular? I can see someone who's never read fantasy thinking, this is great, but if you do. Why this is the same plot of so many books out there. It's not a new concept. Sure. It promised diversity. It's said in Africa. Everyone is A POC, but that's not enough to make this story great. If we as readers want diversity in our fantasy, we have to demand books that are good. We can't praise books that aren't good just because they have diversity. We have to have higher standards.

Kelsey:

Is this a white person?

Amanda:

Yes.

Kelsey:

Okay. Yeah.

Amanda:

Based on their picture. Like

Kelsey:

you,

Amanda:

that's

Kelsey:

that's what I'm

Amanda:

assuming

Kelsey:

so much of what they said, I was like you didn't get it.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

It was more of that rather than yeah, that's an actual critique. I feel like you're critiquing because you didn't get it.

Amanda:

Yeah. And also they only read half of the book, and so there's also that. And also like I, the whole thing, like it's not original is I guarantee you whoever this person is, like there are so many fantasy books that you've read and love that have a lot of similarities between them. Yes. Every genre has their tropes. We know this. And I personally thought it was original and the way that she incorporated Yuba language and culture and mythology like I, I don't know. And the fact that she said there was non existent action, I'm like, art, did you not listen to my summary that I just went through? There's Yeah, it

Kelsey:

was

Amanda:

like nonstop. Yeah. Yeah. So anyhow.

Kelsey:

All right, thanks'. That one I just had to share this one. It's not one of my official ones, but it's from to,

Amanda:

okay.

Kelsey:

You'll like this book. I'm biased, but I need to meet my good read challenge. So I'm marking this as red. From the author.

Amanda:

That's from the author.

Kelsey:

I love

Amanda:

it. Yes. That's great.

Kelsey:

Okay. My first real review is from another author that you love, Amanda. Oh God. Kristen Elli.

Amanda:

Wait. Oh, from Heartless Hunter. Oh gosh. Yeah. I did not like that book.

Kelsey:

That one was unoriginal to Amanda.

Amanda:

Yes. It wasn't that it was unoriginal, it was just, yeah. Anyhow, go listen to the episode. I won't get into it here.

Kelsey:

Breath is pacing, masterful world building and a heroine we've all been waiting for. This book is beautiful, powerful, and totally badass. You need it in your life.

Amanda:

Yeah. Absolutely agreeing. I wanna beza when I grow up. Okay. This one star is from Elspeth Graff Grind staff. Okay. This, I don't know if that's their actual name'cause it sounds like something from a fantasy novel, but that's what it said. Okay. Wow. Was this book Overhyped, lazy World Building Cliched Characters and Plots. I made it about 150 pages and then wandered off and read two other books with absolutely no interest in coming back to this one. There's no soul to this book. It's just one plot point after another. And most of the plot you can see coming a mile away. I will say this. It okay. I, that was it. It was really short. Most of the one star reviews that I found, they were like almost all DNFs. Like I was hard to find people who had read the entire book.

Kelsey:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda:

And then wrote their review. So

Kelsey:

weird. If you've only gotten. A hundred pages in

Amanda:

Yeah, 150 pages out of a 544 page book. Like how could you possibly she's like lazy world building. Like the world wasn't even finished being built yet. Like I don't know either. And I don't know where the cliche characters and plots are coming from. I don't know. There was no shadow daddy in this. Granted this is not romantic

Kelsey:

but fantasy like

Amanda:

yeah. I don't know. Anyhow.

Kelsey:

Interesting.

Amanda:

Yep.

Kelsey:

Okay. This one's a bit longer. I even cut it, but,

Amanda:

okay. That's all right. Go for it.

Kelsey:

This is from Monica Who Can't Read Enough.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

This book, y'all, I am blown away by the fact that this is Tommy'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 reader's hands to tells a story that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an other Zelie is going down As one of my favorite characters, she's written with such an honest rawness that I almost teared up in several scenes. Zelie 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 she loves has either been destroyed or damaged by people who used their strength to crush what they fear? Tommy 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. Going to leave it there, but I could write an essay on why this book is so wonderful.

Amanda:

Yeah. I would actually, this would be another book, kind of like, um, blood Over Bright Haven that I would teach to, like mm-hmm. I don't know. I would, I wanna say middle school, but I'm like, it is a little brutal. Maybe like eighth grade. Yeah. I think eighth graders could probably handle it. They would

Kelsey:

like it.

Amanda:

Yeah. Yeah. And you could just tie it into so many real world issues and themes. Absolutely, too. Mm-hmm. Yeah, totally agree. Okay, thank you. Alright, so I've got one more long one and then my last one will be short. So this is from Hailey. I was forcing myself to skim this book and finally decided to DNF it at about 400 pages in. I'm really disappointed. This was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year. I was interested in the premise and the West Africa based world, how unique. Unfortunately, a unique premise is not enough to sustain a whole book, especially when nothing else is unique. A big part of my dislike is because I much prefer character driven stories to plot driven stories. I can forgive a lot if the characters are well developed. I did not like any of these characters, nor did I find them particularly well developed. I thought they actually flip flopped constantly, depending on what the plot needed. And unfortunately, I think Zelie is one of those female characters who was supposed to be strong by behaving like a raging bitch. I actually thought she was quite mean at times, especially to Amari. Also the plot for being so plot driven, I would think it would be better. Instead, it was really rushed, contrived, and predictable. An example of something that drove me crazy at the beginning, Zelie needs money. She gets a ridiculous amount of money, promptly loses money, suddenly needs more money, again, gets money and conveniently but stupidly leaves super obvious trail for the villain to follow. That is within about the same 50 pages. The book galloped from plot, point to plot, point and love, no time for reflection or real character development. The world building is also lacking. It was like so many other fantasies that I have read, the magic is dead Plot is done to death and adding, air. A IRE onto the end of a normal animal's name to make it sound fantasy ish is super, super lazy. Also, there is some really dramatic ins. Love that does not work as it rarely does. I'm glad I gave myself permission to just put this down. There are some things that I'm like, I can see your point. I can, yes. And you already, you mentioned the character flip flopping, so Yes. And we talked about that and I do agree that adding the like air, like a lion air, a cheetah air, like adding the air onto the end of it was a little cheesy. I did think that when I was reading it and we also talked about, yeah, the fact that Zelie and Anan fall in love so quickly is kind of like, okay, wait a minute. This does seem like a little contrived. So, you know, Hailey, I think you make some good points. I'm surprised that you quit it after 400 pages. At that point I would've just like. Finish

Kelsey:

it.

Amanda:

Finish it. Because I would also just be curious like, what happened,

Kelsey:

yeah.

Amanda:

I couldn't DNFA book that late, but yeah. Okay.

Kelsey:

Yeah. I don't dis like you said, I don't disagree with some of the points that she made.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

But it didn't overwhelm me.

Amanda:

Yeah. Same. Yeah.

Kelsey:

All right. This one is from Olivia Savannah. I got to this book before the hype did, even if my review is coming out very late, I am head over heels. Loved it. The first thing that got to me was the cover. I love when, I see a black queen on a cover. Then the title pulled at my bookworm heart, and then knowing it focused on magic and non-Western mythology. I was head over heels sold and it wanted it in my hands and it did not disappoint. This book was so charged. There's no other way to put it. I love how it focused on the themes of racism and oppression, but did so in a fantastical way to also make its own unique story, which is separate from our world, and I think it showed oppression and how it can affect someone realistically. Often, oppression leads to rebellion, passion, and wanting to fight for rights but we forget or try to hide that oppression also leads to anger. Zelie is very angry in this book and hurt and does not know how to channel it. She's not ready to forgive yet because there are people still hurting all around her. We get to see her deciding how she is going to wield that anger, and that made this book very realistic.

Amanda:

Yeah, I totally agree.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I think that's what I was trying to say before, like I feel like the characters, their responses felt very authentic to the things that mm-hmm. Had happened to them. Yeah. And were happening to them. Like it didn't feel like they were like. I don't know again, like two goodie too. She's pure of heart. Like, Oh, I'm suffering, but I'm still gonna do the right thing. Yeah. Like to Hailey's point, the one I just read, she's like, sometimes Zale's kind of a bitch. I'm like, yeah, she is. And it makes sense. Why I'd probably act the same way if those things had happened to me. Exactly. And I was being treated that way. I'd wanna lash out.

Kelsey:

That's why I chose that portion of the review is because it spoke to that.

Amanda:

Yeah. It's realistic.

Kelsey:

Like it's,

Amanda:

yeah, like of course you're gonna be angry and like you're justified in being angry and feeling angry. Like you don't have to be this like. I don't know, holier than thou martyr who always has to be the bigger person, even when you're being oppressed and abused. So loved that. Okay.

Kelsey:

Exactly.

Amanda:

So my last one star review is from Bernice. And I actually liked this one because this is from a Nigerian woman. So I wanted to get someone's perspective who, this is essentially their culture. Alright, Bernice. This book was such a disappointment reading. It was like finally watching Wonder Woman and realizing that all the hype was mainly because she was a female superhero, as the movie itself was full of cliches, plot holes, and really bad CGI fight scenes. This book was just another cliche why a book about a chosen heroine who inexplicably falls for the enemy prints, but it is completely overhyped because it is supposedly based on West African folklores. Maybe I would not be so completely disappointed by this book, if not for all the hype surrounding it that made me go into it expecting something new and the YA fantasy genre. Spoiler alert, nothing new here before anybody says this book is also a metaphor for an oppressed people rising up that has also been done before. And I'm not saying it shouldn't still be done, just that it should be done. Well. PS as a Nigerian, the mythology and world building was just another disappointment. So I wanted yeah. To include that perspective.'cause to be fair, I don't really know anything about Nigerian mythology Yeah. And like folklore. And so I can't say how well it was or was not represented. And yeah. If it is actually poorly represented, then that is something to take note of and demand better.

Kelsey:

Cool. Thank you.

Amanda:

Mm-hmm.

Kelsey:

My final review, and just so I don't know if it was clear or not in the writing, but it might be in this one, but my three main reviews were all from black readers. Okay. Because there were so many. Other reviews and I was like, I just want this perspective.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

This is Zoe Stewart, holy Mother of Sweet Baby Rays. This was good. It wasn't perfect, but for a debut fantasy novel, it was extremely well done. And I think we forget. That this is a debut novel. Mm-hmm. That's insane.

Amanda:

Mm-hmm.

Kelsey:

Personally, the world building could have been a bit more thorough, so I'm hoping we get more of that in the next one. Speaking of the next book, I need it now. The ending left me with so many questions. I saw most of the twist coming, although some of them I didn't expect to happen the way they did. I'm still torn on whether the way I imagined it or the way it happened is worse. Would it have been worse if Anon was really playing her all along, or is it worse that he had a genuine change of heart and then reverted to his old ways? Both are pretty shit scenarios. Also, when Baba died, I kept telling myself that Anon was just making her see that with his magic, and he wasn't really there. Turns out I was wrong and I'm still a bit wrecked inside the only thing is when they left Baba and Mama Agba, I knew one of them would end up dead. I think I was just in denial about it though. Didn't think the king would die in this one, but I'm glad Imari did it at times. I really hated some of the characters, not in a way that took away from my enjoyment of the book, but the way they were acting was ridiculous. The good thing is that they improved on, said ridiculousness by the end of the book. I had to cut a bunch.

Amanda:

Okay. That

Kelsey:

is,

Amanda:

I actually, while you're reading, I was like, my question that I have, and I dunno if it was answered in the book, and I dunno if you know the answer.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

When they're at the Diviner encampment, when they're having that celebration and like everyone's happy and whatever, and the King's Guard show up, do we ever find out how they got there? Like how they found that?

Kelsey:

I was wondering that, and I was trying to think of like, when was Anand's last, like the last time he reached out to them because I thought. By the time he meet, when does he meet up with them? He meets up with them there, right?

Amanda:

Yeah. Like at that river that's near the encampment.

Kelsey:

Like it must have been him, right? Like I thought that he, but it was right before he meets up with them because he, that's when he has like the change of heart and everything, right? It was at the camp.

Amanda:

No, it's before that. It's before they get to the camp because, he and Zelie have to come up with a plan and all of that. So that's when he has this change of heart. So my question is this, because he, kills Kaya, which I didn't mention in my summary. He kills Kaya action Doble and then basically runs off on his own. There's no soldiers with him.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

He goes to the desert, tracks them down to the desert. They've already left. So then he follows them and that's where he meets up with them at the river. They have the fight, all of that stuff. And so I'm like, when would he have had time to Send word to the troops to come. And if he did tell them when was it?'cause if he did it after he said he loved Zelie, then the whole thing was a lie. And I don't think that's true because he ends up saving her from the torture chamber and he's clearly really torn up about it. Mm-hmm. So I don't know. Like I was very confused unless they like, unless they were tracking him. Yeah. Unless the soldiers were tracking him and found him.

Kelsey:

But I thought he, he sent word after he killed what's her name? K Kaya. Yeah. Didn't he send word after that?

Amanda:

He did. He sent word. Sent word to his dad. I think

Kelsey:

that the

Amanda:

saying that he was going to continue looking for her. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. So that part, yeah, that part was like really murky as to how the soldiers got there and they never actually said. And that actually is important. Yeah, it's important because if it was a non, then that does change how I feel about him too. It's like, yeah, maybe you did. Yeah. Yeah. So anyhow, would be happy to hear your theories listeners on this book. Yes. And your predictions for the next book. Hopefully you'll keep reading along with us. Yes. Both of us are

Kelsey:

going to be reading.

Amanda:

Yes. We will be reading this whole series, all three books. So Kelsey, do you wanna let people know where they can find us on socials?

Kelsey 2.0:

Definitely. We have a new one to add. It's exciting. Yay. So let's start with our fables fable accounts. Something we didn't mention yet is that you're gonna have the opportunity to vote on what books we are highlighting here and covering. Currently my book club is covering this book. Mm-hmm. And so now we're gonna be voting on what book is next. And so that's really exciting and something like you haven't had, or the opportunity to give voice on mm-hmm. Quite yet. You can find me at Lit Vibes only. Kelsey. Mm-hmm. And you can find Amanda at Live Vibes only Dash, Amanda. And we both have our respective reading groups or clubs, book clubs. Mm-hmm. And then of course you can always find us on Instagram at Live Vibes only under podcast and on TikTok at Live Vibe Only Lit, vibes only podcast and YouTube at the same username. So we look forward to seeing you Yes. On those

Amanda:

platforms out, like follow, comment, and subscribe. And again, if socials are not your thing, you can send us an email at Lit vibes only podcast@gmail.com. We love it when folks send his emails. And yeah, make sure to chime in on Thursday on our socials and let us know if this book was a lit or quit it for you. We always love seeing folks' perspectives on the books that we've chosen. And we'll see you next Monday.

Kelsey:

Bye

Amanda:

bye.