Children of Blood and Bone

I found this to be a quick read, despite the length of this book. I listened to the audiobook, and it was a great option to hear the chants and words spoken instead of my mind butchering them. Fantasy is a genre that I haven't really delved into very much in the past but have been wanting to give it another go. This one honestly intimidated me at first, and I was hesitant to pick it up even with so many recommendations coming from readers with similar tastes. I'm sad I pushed it off as long as I did, but I'm really excited to continue on and see where the story goes, especially with so much being established in this one.

The attention to detail in this world-building was great and there wasn't a lot repeated just to fill in space, so each area felt like a new experience with its own difficulties. The characters are also well-built to the point that while they seem fully confident in their goals and desires for the future, they struggle with those decisions when faced with challenging circumstances. It's not just a quick flip-flop and there is constant questioning of what they should be doing in the background.

There were a few moments where I just scratched my head in confusion, but the story and pacing and world-building more than made up for it. This one came across my radar while trying to expand the diversity of my reading, and I cannot begin to describe how much I felt for the characters and how much it reflected into the real world. I absolutely recommend that you pick this one up if it's been on your TBR.

Overall, a powerful and well crafted book. It made me think. I enjoyed the characters, with their fears and passions.

There was quite a bit more death – let’s be honest and call it “slaughter” – than I am comfortable with, but that’s part of the package. We’re not supposed to be comfortable with it. Likewise some of what happened to the main characters.

The animal names also took some getting used to – the world is very much like Earth, and there are, for example, several species which seem to be a mix of big cat, dragon, and steed.

I enjoyed her descriptions, especially of the people.

It’s just fabulous to read a modern fantasy adventure story that seems to do for Yoruba/Santeria traditions what countless Arthurian fantasies do with Celtic/Arthurian legends. I would be really interested to hear or read what people who are familiar with the Orishas think about how Adeyemi repackaged them for the general public to read. I imagine I was a not uncommon reader, going into this story having seen the names of a couple of Orishas on various consumer goods (jewelry, art cards, etc.), and knowing nothing of Santeria except the word – so as the story unfolds, it’s not all completely alien territory, but it’s certainly not familiar either.

Now what I really want to know is where QuickDraw McGraw’s sidekick Baba Looey came from, and I think I heard that name in another, equally random, context, decades ago in the forgotten dawn of time …

Anyway, I would love to see these books come out in an illustrated second edition (preferably paperback), with line drawings of the various big cat-like “ryders,” as well as the characters and some of the landscape.

Pretty good. A bit heavy handed, although the author explains this at the very end. Very compelling and deep story, although I felt the characters packed diversity. All of them tended to run together in their narratives and I constantly had to go back to the start of the chapter to remind myself who's voice this section was in. But worth the read.