Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orisha, 2)

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I have read some spoiler tags for the book's later content, so I know that the characters do much more heinous things before the end. I'll add a Content Warning/Spoiler Warning below for those who are interested. You read that right. All throughout Children of Blood and Bone and even at the beginning of this sequel, Amari is built up to be this really admirable heroine with a heart of gold. Despite her upbringing as a noble, she is able to sympathize with the maji (thanks to the maji handmaiden whom she befriends) and defies her father by stealing the scroll that can restore magic. As we eat up the chapters of Children of Blood and Bone, we witness her grow an actual spine and a remarkable fierceness. By the end of the first book, we do want this girl as the next ruler of Orïsha. To "earn" their respect and gain influence, she demands Zélie to teach her incantations and languages belonging to the maji culture. Zélie eventually agrees, but she explicitly makes it clear that she will only teach Amari if she swears not to use her magic against other maji.

It kind of kept going with that — just that what I wanted became more magical.But subconsciously, what I wanted also became: Oh, in this, my fantasy, I can be white. Like, oh, I can have magic and I can be white; or I can, you know, shoot lightning out of my hands and I can be biracial. And it was like: It took a lot for me to become the type of person who could even write a story like Children of Blood and Bone.Be careful,” Tzain warns as the tremor in my hand makes drops of oil spill over the jar’s rim. After three weeks of bartering to get enough to soak Baba’s casket, the rippling liquid feels more precious than gold. Its sharp smell burns my nostrils as I pour the last of it onto our burial torch. Tears stream down Tzain’s face when he strikes the flint. With no time to waste, I prepare the words of the ìbùkún—a special blessing a Reaper must pass to the dead. All I can say to those two is: WTF?! I mean what happened to their amazing friendship?!!! Did I miss a memo? How did we get from respect, mutual understanding and trust to the sentence above?! I have no idea what I was reading but it definitely wasn’t the kind of friendship I signed up for. I hate what became of those two and I think if Zélie would have just listened to Amari and trusted her they could have found a way to peace. But nope, Zélie decided to be a b*tch and treated Amari like shit. I mean she didn’t even defend her against Ramaya and the things Ramaya said... if someone would say something like that to my friend I’d give them hell for it! And what did Zélie do? Nothing! She let the maji treat Amari like dirt and didn’t care. You know what makes me even more angry is the fact that they all treated Amari so badly and it was so, SO WRONG! And in the end after Amari really steps out of line and does something totally extreme and horrible it’s like: Oh, we were all right and it wasn’t our fault, it was Amari’s because she was wrong from the beginning. Never mind Amari tried to prevent the war from ever happening for about 3 quarters of the book. Never mind that Zélie was a total b*tch and sent so many of her own people to death and actually wanted to abandon them near the ending. Zélie is our precious heroine and she can do nothing wrong. URGH! I’m sorry,” she whispers, tears brimming in her silver eyes. One spills out and Roën wipes it with his thumb, his unbandaged hand lingering on the side of her face. Every single character was so. so. annoying. By the end of the first book, I was an ENORMOUS Amari stan. I mean I was willing to die for her. This book just completely undid her wonderful character development and everything we love about Amari!! I cried, but not because of the emotional scenes, but because of how heartbroken I was that the author was doing this to her.

You keep pretending all you want is to kill my brother, but I saw the way you two looked at each other at Chândomblé. I know there’s more in your heart than rage!” I point at her chest. “If you want to lie to yourself about how you really feel, fine. But if you damn us to this warpath, you’re putting innocent lives on the line!” You re Edited 2/14/2023: I decided to lower this to one star. I didn't like this and I won't be returning to this series. Zélie r?ra o,” Baba called as I drifted toward the tides. I flinched when the seafoam washed over my toes. The lakes in Ibadan were always so cold. But that water was warm like the smell of Mama’s rice. As warm as the glow of her smile. Baba followed me in and lifted his head to the sky. Though he jokes, his words heat my skin. He’s the only one who looks at me like I deserve that title. The one person who believes I can lead.”

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Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi's New York Times-bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first audiobook in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. For all of these things, the world-building, the change of pace, the dynamic action, this book gets all of my admiration. As the Romanian in me would say, it’s beton armat, reinforced concrete (aka super cool). Children of Virtue and Vengeance was the gripping sequel to Children of Blood and Bone. I enjoyed it overall, although it suffered a bit of 'second book syndrome'. It took the story to new heights and the consequences of their actions were graver than ever before.

And finally I got my hands on the second book, feeling euphoric, excited, focused on getting lost in those brave heroines’ stories. But… yes I got lost because I didn’t understand the direction of the story, main purpose and motive of the characters. I found too much yada yada and bla bla… But with that out of the way, I have to say I liked some of the changes to characters. Tzain was given a bit more agency which is something I liked. He seemed like a bit of a useless and extra character in book one. This time he had more purpose. I do think Roen needed more time and development for his drive and motivations to be truly believable. And Amari… Because I had nothing!” he yells at me. “I had no one. You’re going to win and you still have so many of the people you love! I don’t feel sorry for you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself!” We’ll survive.” Amari passes me the torch and my eyes linger on the new streak of white hair pasted to her cheek from the rain. A sign of the new magic that lives in her blood. A harsh reminder of the hundreds of nobles across Orïsha who now possess streaks and magic like hers. I said it after reading the first book and I’ll say it again: Their love story came out of nowhere and it’s still irritating af. *lol* Amari clearly was in love with Binta and no one can persuade me otherwise. I find it weird that she would fall for Zane like that and that he’d become her safe haven in such a short time. Also their love ended as abruptly as it started, which only causes me to be even more irritated by their relationship. At first she is everything for him and the moment she does something horrible and stupid he drops her like a hot potato because that is EXACTYLY what we do with the people we love! We can turn our feelings on and off like a light switch, don’t you know?! It must have been true love! Oh jeez, my sarcasm is showing today. I just can’t with this book! I can’t!The pacing was imperfect, but I still found it readable. It’s a slow start and the suspense builds. This sequel leaves so much to be desired that I cannot possibly list down every single flaw in this book. So I won't even try. But here are my major issues with Children of Virtue and Vengeance: My biggest struggle with this sequel is figuring out whom I'm supposed to root for. None of the main characters are fit to take on any leadership role, much less the throne to rule over Orïsha. You carry all of us in your heart. We shall live in every breath you take. Every incantation you speak.”