Zélie is a Reaper, the first one in eleven years. But with the power of death, can she really bring magic back to life? Find out in Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. The buzz around this new African-inspired YA fantasy novel has been taking over Twitter since well before the book’s release last month—so much so that I already had it on my radar when writing my list of Books I’m Excited for in 2018 at the beginning of the year. I had the audiobook on hold from the library for almost a month before finally getting it in, but it was definitely worth the wait.
Zélie Adebola is a divîner—a child marked by the white hair that in years past would’ve meant that she would inherit one of the elemental powers of the ten maji clans once she turned thirteen. But when she was still young the king of Orïsha waged war on magic, killing every adult maji, including Zélie’s mother. Now white hair is a symbol of shame, as Zélie is harassed and threatened by the king’s guards, and her teachers and family members are forced to pay exorbitant taxes meant to keep divîners and their allies impoverished and enslaved. Zélie rages inside, but there’s nothing she can do to change Orïshan society … until she meets Princess Amari fleeing from the royal palace. Amari has a scroll that she says can help bring magic back to the world. When Zélie touches the scroll, she awakens her inner Reaper—a maji, like her mother, who wields the power of death in her hands. Together Zélie, Amari, and Zélie’s brother Tzain set off on a quest to use the scroll to bring back magic permanently to Orïsha. But with Amari’s brother and captain of the guards, Prince Inan, hot on their trail, will they be able to perform the ritual in time?
One of my favorite things about this book is the way that Reaper magic is depicted. Free from a European legacy of necromancy and other negative connotations, Children of Blood and Bone approaches death from a less familiar cultural lens. Through this lens, death is a potentially positive force, one that is complementary and compatible with life. As a Reaper, Zélie can harness the souls that are trapped on earth to create animations that do her bidding. But rather than enslaving unwilling spirits, her magic helps these souls pass on to the afterlife once their task is complete. In the old Orïshan society, Reapers worked side by side with Healers, helping to keep death at bay and prolong life. The most important aspect of this death magic, however, is the way that it connects Zélie with her ancestors. Zélie is deeply attuned with her sister goddess Oya, and through her feels a connection with her dead mother, and with all of the other maji who have come before her.
Death isn’t all positive, however. Another thing that this novel does really well is its depiction of trauma. Author Tomi Adeyemi has said that she was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and the deaths of black children as a result of police brutality. This legacy is evident throughout the book. The novel is frank about the traumas that Zélie has experienced, but it doesn’t glorify them as sometimes happens to women in fiction. The brutal murder of her mother is not treated as a mere motivating plot point, but rather as a world-shattering trauma that haunts Zélie every day of her life. It isn’t there to “make her stronger” but, instead, the memory often fills her with a feeling of helplessness and paralyzing fear. The daily harassment that she faces as a divîner wears on her, alternately producing anger and terror. Her varied reactions to trauma are all treated as valid by the text, though sometimes not understood by the other characters. While there is plenty of violence in the novel, it is not gratuitous, and Adeyemi accomplishes that rare feat of describing a scene of torture in a way that is not voyeuristic. The novel explores some dark themes, but in a necessary way.
Overall, Children of Blood and Bone was a fantasy novel unlike any I have read before. The world that Adeyemi has created is elaborate and fascinating, and Zélie is a particularly compelling protagonist. I highly recommend it to all fantasy lovers who are looking for something a little different. You can find Children of Blood and Bone at your local retailer, or purchase it online from this Bookshop.org affiliate link and support both indie bookstores and The Gothic Library in the process. Once you’ve read it, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!