Is Children of Blood and Bone Worth Reading?
by Tomi Adeyemi
Ada’s Score
Tomi Adeyemi's electrifying debut draws on West African mythology and Yoruba culture to create the land of Orïsha, where magic has been violently suppressed and the people who might have wielded it — the Kosidán — have been ruthlessly persecuted. Seventeen-year-old Zélie Adeyemi joins a desperate quest to restore magic before the ruthless king can erase it forever. Adeyemi writes with fierce, kinetic energy and populates her world with complex characters navigating grief, anger, and radical hope. The book became a massive bestseller and a touchstone for fantasy readers seeking worlds beyond the European tradition.
Deep Dive“Adeyemi brings genuine mythological depth to the fantasy genre. The world-building here is extraordinary.”
When Fantasy Finally Reflected the World
There's a fury at the heart of this book that never lets you settle — Adeyemi writes with the kind of urgency that makes you feel like something precious is slipping away with every page turn. I found the world-building genuinely transporting, rooted in West African mythology in a way that feels both ancient and viscerally alive, and the stakes — not just survival, but the survival of an entire people's magic and memory — hit me somewhere deeper than plot usually reaches. It's the rare fantasy that carries real grief inside it.
Ada Brief
AI reading intelligence“Adeyemi brings genuine mythological depth to the fantasy genre. The world-building here is extraordinary.”
When Fantasy Finally Reflected the World
There's a fury at the heart of this book that never lets you settle — Adeyemi writes with the kind of urgency that makes you feel like something precious is slipping away with every page turn. I found the world-building genuinely transporting, rooted in West African mythology in a way that feels both ancient and viscerally alive, and the stakes — not just survival, but the survival of an entire people's magic and memory — hit me somewhere deeper than plot usually reaches. It's the rare fantasy that carries real grief inside it.
Book Details
- Publisher
- Square Fish
- Published
- January 1, 2020
- Pages
- 560
- Language
- English
Get This Book
Affiliate linksISBN: 9781250294623
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Ada’s Score
4.3
Ada’s editorial score — not an aggregate of reader reviews.
Common Questions About Children of Blood and Bone
- Is Children of Blood and Bone worth reading?
- Adeyemi brings genuine mythological depth to the fantasy genre. The world-building here is extraordinary. Ada rates it 4.3 out of 5.
- How many pages is Children of Blood and Bone?
- Children of Blood and Bone is 560 pages long — around 10–11 hours at an average reading pace.
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