My friend, the same one who surprise purchased me “Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha)
I was at a loss for words. No exaggeration. Forming full sentences was too difficult a task for my brain to effectively manage.
I.
Sounded.
Like.
This.
This fantasy novel snatched my edges, or as my Boriqua homie refers to them, my J-Lo’s, right up off my head. That is the level of craft and skill we are talking about.
Excuse me as I attempt to channel Evelyn from the Internets who, without debate, had the most epic response to Beyonce’s “Lemonade” album.
It’s hard to believe or understand how this could be Tomi Adeyumi’s debut novel.
Tomi.
Tomi was giving me Wakanda (think struggle for the throne) meets Harry Potter (replace schools at Hogwarts with maji clans in Africa.)
Angie Thomas meets Daniel José Older.
She was giving me “The Last Kingdom” but with stronger characters, more magic and a better storyline.
She was giving me Black Lives Matter and then West African Mythology sprinkled on top.
She was giving me Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things” meets Malcolm X “by any means necessary.”
She gave me African ancestors.
She gave me the kind of hatred that destroys cities and kills innocent children.
She gave me a whole new world of superpowers.
She gave me a resilience that was fueled by the ultimate sacrifice.
She gave me … black girl fantasy magic at it’s freakin finest.
Thank you Tomi.
Beyoncé would be proud.
Her writing was impeccable. It was impossible not to get caught up in the beauty, the complexities, the sorrow, the resounding trauma and the courage in every single one of the characters that Tomi Adeyami carved into the pages of this book.
I don’t know that any wrong or right existed. There were just choices to be made. Paths to choose.
It is difficult to dig deep without giving you spoilers and even if I warn you before I do give spoilers, I know some of you will go ahead and read anyways thinking one of two things:
- I don’t care about reading spoilers OR
- I’m not going to read it anyways.
And I refuse to play into either of those two mindsets.
Do yourself a favor. Go out and read this book. NOW.
This is the kind of book you lose sleep over. The kind of book that has you turning the pages late into the night despite knowing you have an early alarm set for work.
Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha)
Seems like such an exciting book 🙂 Will surely read it 🙂
I just ordered this book on Amazon… all I want to do is read and write from 9-5pm.
I feel you sis … I feel you.