About the Book:
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.
Reviewed By: Jessica P.
Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
How I Acquired this book: Purchased
Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, California. After graduating Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, she studied West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. She is the author of Children of Blood and Bone.
Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: This book was 525 pages of outstanding literature! A strong cast of character and three POVs made this one a true joy to read. Join Zélie, Amari, And more on an adventure to save their world.
Recommend this book? Yes
Notes and Opinions: I really loved how this one started out.
The only real issue I had with this one was the language. I think using the conjunctions of don’t etc made this seem very informal when their world felt like it would be VERY formal. So that was a little off-putting. But other than that it had great pace and an amazing story.
The three POVs worked out well we get a villain, a princess, and the heroin to follow and it worked out so well. We got to see this world from three very different POVs. One of Zélie where she is in the middle of all the hatred that is thrown at her culture, then we got one of the princess who had friended someone from the culture but was still not directly connected to it, than we had Inan who as the future king was torn between what he has learned from his father as well as what he has seen and learned from Zélie. It gave me the reader a wider perspective of the world and story at large. And it made it very interesting. It reminded me of The Black Witch if we would have gotten different POVs from the other creatures and beings in that world.
As for the characters themselves they were all a hit. I loved that no one was protected and everyone could lose if they made the wrong chose. No one was really safe and this made the feel very real. In a time when just going to the store can end I. Trag,edy this made for a very real story with very true outcomes. Even if it was centered around magic.
The distinction of those who were magic users having white hair was fantastical and the ending made so much more sense because of it. I really loved how each culture was described within this one.
The story itself was well paced and it never let up. I was never bored within the 525 pages and the epilogue was perfect! I couldn’t pit it down and even fell asleep reading because I was so engrossed in the story. I just didn’t want to put it down!
Go Into This One Knowing: If your looking for a fantasy about culture, survival, magic, epic adventure, and hope you found it right here!!
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FTC Guidelines: In accordance with FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials for bloggers, I would like my readers to know that many of the books I review are provided to me for free by the publisher or author of the book in exchange for an honest review. If am compensated for any reviews on this site I will state that post has been sponsored.
Donations: All donations are to help keep this site running via costs from shipping, .com charges, and other giveaways.
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1 comments:
I really hope this is going to be one of my Mom's Day gifts! I've been resisting buying it/borrowing it for myself.
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