Fabulous reads – Adventure beckons in ground-breaking novel

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha #1), Tomi Adeyemi, Pan Macmillan, ISBN: 9781509871353

I ABSOLUTELY applaud using dark-skinned characters as protagonists in a main-stream YA fantasy novel for once.

Adeyemi has conjured up a group of easily-relatable heroes for readers of all races to enjoy and has included black-struggle issues in such a subtle yet heart-wrenching, eye-opening manner.

Orisha once hummed with magic until one day it vanished.

Adult maji (magic users) were hunted down and killed. Zélie was not yet 10 when she watched as guards dragged her mother and strung her up.

The same men beat her father to a shadow of his former self.

Years later and her people are oppressed by the ruling class, deemed lesser than animals, forced into labour camps and are referred to as maggots.

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The determined yet somewhat fearful princess, Amari, flees the palace with an object that could change the lives of thousands. It is a piece of hope that could help ignite magic once again.

Despite their differences, Zélie, her brother Tzain and Amari set off on an epic quest to restore power to the 10 maji clans and put an end to the suffering.

While the book has its issues with repetition and overuse use of basic plot points, I breezed through it and am currently on the scout for a hard copy to add to my collection.

Adeyemi may bring a few of her own unique ideas to the genre, but I am hoping the second novel will contain something mind-blowing.

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