Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha, #2)
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Publisher: Henry Holt
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Note: Content warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
***Description is spoiler for 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 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.
TL;DR Review
Children of Virtue and Vengeance is a great sequel to Children of Blood and Bone. I was seriously impressed by how Tomi Adeyemi built such a tangled, complex political conflict with no clear winners or losers — hate destroys everyone.
For you if: You read and loved COBAB, of course!
Full Review
“You should know that there are weapons so great, they shouldn’t be used.”
The second book in a trilogy tends to be more of a bridge than an independent story. That’s true for Children of Virtue and Vengeance, but in this case, it didn’t really make the book feel like it dragged on as so many do. In fact, I was surprised at how short it is — only 400 pages. Tomi Adeyemi dives right back into Orïsha and the gigantic F-ing mess of a political conflict raging. It wasn’t as exciting as COBAB, but it did do the important work of setting up a really amazing book 3 and tug on my heart along the way.
Bringing back magic had major consequences. Now, not only do the magi have powers, so do the people who have oppressed them for so long. And so does Amari and Inan’s mother, the queen. People, that woman is THE WORST.
Zélie drove me a little nuts in this book — she wallows. She can’t see her nose in front of her face. For most of the book, she can’t pull herself out of victimhood to focus on what’s important, and she’s mean to Amari. Amari grips tighter and tighter onto her dream to do good for society — but from a place of naivety thanks to her age relative to how many years this conflict has raged — until good intentions turn bad. And Inan, oh poor Inan. He has no good options.
So what was really most impressive about this book was the way we got to see into both sides of the conflict and understand, with devastation, just how much hate instigates further conflict and solves nothing. Just how hopeless the chances of reconciliation seem when we close ourselves off. It was honestly heartbreaking.
And that ending. Tomi, please write quickly — we are waiting.
Content Warnings
Violence
Grief and death
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