Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Writing fiction is hard, which is one reason I haven’t done it. Achieving an attractive balance of character, plot, pacing, description, vocabulary, pathos, prose, and poetry is tough. So I’ll start by saying Tomi Adeyemi is impressive in terms of her skill as a debut novelist. She’s got the gift. I admire it.

You’re right to brace for the other shoe. Adeyemi’s middle child in her “Legacy of Orïsha” trilogy is not quite a misfire, but something’s missing. I’m not the only one who noticed: the first book won a laundry list of awards and thrilled the fans, while the second was nominated for a Goodreads award and discouraged the fans.

The story picks up three weeks after the bloody clash with the monarchy on the mystical show more island of Ilorin. The magic of the gods is back, but not without cost or chaos. Civil war ravages the kingdom of Orïsha as factions wield their new gifts to enforce their will. The throne hangs in the balance.

Adeyemi pushes the lore forward with skill. The origins of bad blood between Kosidán and Maji were always murky, and the future hinges on the secrets of that past. The reconstitution of the Maji clans sheds light on the culture the monarchy tried to exterminate. Adeyemi even resolves a dangling thread involving Zélie's father, in such a way that it both makes sense and contributes to the plot.

For all that, the story is like a merry-go-round of angst. Zélie rages over her dead family and tortured body. Amari frets over how to unite, in her own royal person, the hostile peoples of Orïsha. The ruler of Orïsha, awash in self-hatred, waffles between war and peace. Round and round we go, where the pain stops, nobody knows.

With all that adolescent angst boiling away, the romances feel like a layer of paint slapped on as a concession to YA tropes. Zélie’s brother Tzain, virtually the only level-headed character in the first book, is now a muscled cardboard cutout so Amari has something to do when she isn’t agonizing over the kingdom. Zélie’s love interest is what central casting sent up when the call came down for “Rogue with a Heart of Gold.” He exists mainly so Zélie can burn every chance of happiness.

This ocean of emotion masks a deeper problem: the plot just isn’t that interesting. The issue, I think, is that Adeyemi wrote her first book in a hot rush at the high tide of the Black Lives Matter movement. She channeled her feelings into a fantasy of Black people fighting for lost power in the teeth of systemic oppression built on genocide and racism.

In my opinion, she frontloaded everything she felt, everything she had to say. What comes next is less a passion project and more an exercise in writing: well constructed, logically consistent, and aimless. Adeyemi is a competent author in search of inspiration, and until she finds it, well, here’s a book. show less

Having brought magic back to Orisha at great personal cost, Zelie and Amari travel with their friends to take on the monarchy. But they soon find Lagos in disarray, Zelie's mother and a group of nobles also have strong magic, and the young people aren't sure they can overthrow her - meanwhile, the maji are mobilizing, and Zelie and Amari find themselves at odds once again fighting for a land they love with disparate goals.

This fantasy series is steeped in Nigerian culture and a blast to read. The characters are well-defined, each convinced they are in the right and you can sympathize with several of them even while tearing your hair out because they can't get along. Kind of sounds like our modern day, doesn't it? I have discovered a new show more pet peeve: when a character declares "I had no choice," and that happens a lot in this book. You always have a choice, make it and convince me that it makes sense for you as a character. That's it. The book started off a little slow for me - though that could have been my choppy reading in the beginning - and picked up tremendously. By the end, I was turning pages furiously and got completely walloped by the cliffhanger. show less

I thought the previous book was a pretty darned good adventure, but this sequel takes it to a whole other level! At the finale of the previous book we are left with magic having returned to Orisha, but our group of heroes have become splintered as betrayals and deaths begin to make their struggles more challenging, so Adeyomi has set us up well to explore the magic system of the world she has built as well as the developing personalities of our main characters. Obviously the draw for most readers of fantasy are the unique worlds that the author creates through their storytelling, but Adeyomi uses this setting in a much more meaningful way to explore the politics of our current world as we see the struggle of minorities to make a place show more for themselves in a world that rejects them. Through the Maji’s struggle for independence and freedom from the rule of the throne we see the flaws in a broken system revealed as power corrupts even those with good intentions, and we see how the pain of loss leads to ever increasing violence on both sides as each is blinded by sorrow and vengeance. What strikes me most about this second story is how much each of our main characters has grown up, as they struggle to wield their power to make a positive difference in Orisha but are seemingly blocked at every turn. Just when we think that one final strike will end the war the story shifts as new truths are revealed and hidden motives come to light. At this point in the saga I wonder if Orisha will be able to find peace and heal itself, as neither side seems able to look past their suspicions and work towards a legitimate solution. We are left with Amari and Zelie trapped on what seems to be a slaver ship moving away from Orisha’s conflict, so we’ll see if removing some players from the game makes any difference or whether they will fight their way out of this latest conflict as well. show less

*puts on flame-retardant suit*

Ok, I get that people love this book, and the series it forms the center of. I even get *why* they love it. I want to love it, too. It's fantasy, it's epic, it's romantic(sorta), it's written by a black woman, and it's super-duper, Afro-pick with a fist, fufu and plantain, cocoa butter and respect your elders BLACK. Not just Black, Black and *feminine*. Lord knows we need more books and authors like this out here in these spec-fic streets and based on that alone, this got a pre-order and preliminary 3 star rating from me.

However none of that erases the fact that this is a dryly written, 90 chapter, by-the-numbers monstrosity that messily changes POV every 5 pages or so and is full of whiny teenage angst show more that leads to murder, death and mutilation for no real reason except that all the adults who show up are crazy and our POV characters generally have the relationship skills of pounded yam. The book doesn't get genuinely enjoyable to read until the last 20 chapters or so. Up to then I was just struggling through the bad prose thinking DEAR GOD THERE'S GOING TO BE ANOTHER BOOK WHY AND PLEASE STOP ADDING -AIRE TO ALL THE ANIMAL NAMES LIKE THAT'S SPECIAL IT'S JUST ANNOYING AHHHHH...

That said, read this anyway. Game of Thrones has even worse writing, and the land of Orisha will make a *much* better TV show when it happens. Read this, because we need to increase the presence of Africa and black people in our speculative collective consciousness and they don't all have to be genius, they just have to *be*. Then go read N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson because all Black women who are speculative fiction writers need love (and they are geniuses. show less

Three stars is the best I can do. I'm just flummoxed.

The idea is great, I like the story, just not how it unfolded. So far the only character I can get behind is Roen, the mercenary from a distant land with skin like sand, and Tzain the older brother of the main protagonist. The characters just flip flopped too much for me. I understand a bit of confusion and being at a loss as to who you are and what you should do especially considering the situations they all find themselves in, but it seemed they were changing who they were every chapter. And that ending?! Ugh! As much as I am not loving the way this series is unfolding, I am invested, which means I gotta wait for at least one more novel. WTF?!

After Adeyemi’s astonishing debut it’s understandable that she might experience a bit of a sophomore slump. Really she set the bar incredibly high!! Unfortunately this book lacks the lustre of Blood and Bone. Often the plot seems to be spinning its wheels as characters repeat their mistakes without any real development. Even worse they flip flop their stances from chapter to chapter so it’s hard to keep up with anybody’s motives at any given time. Adeyemi is clearly trying to paint a picture of how messy revolution can be, and how, in war, it is very hard to identify “good guys,” how quickly hurt turns to hatred, and how even those with “good” intentions can do terrible things. I believe you can get all of this across show more while still maintaining good storytelling. And thats what made Blood and Bone so remarkable !!!

Virtue and Vengeance lacks the beautiful world-building, pacing, and just the simple narrative power of the first book. And Adeyemi introduces a number of last minute plot devices that make little sense and really ask the reader to stretch the imagination too far.

My final critique is maybe a little selfish and unfair but I was also pretty distressed by the unrelenting torment of this book. Of course I didn’t expect sunshine and roses — the main characters are all children with huge amounts of trauma who are carrying the weight of the world. Still I wish Adeyemi had provided us with a little more light and wonder to balance out all the pain and despair. show less

I'll be real, sometimes it's frustrating that the characters can never get a break. Even when they think they're going to win, something always prevents them from it. Granted, that is just how you're supposed to write a novel, but it does get disappointing. I just want Zelie to have one victory without losing someone she loves, is that too much to ask? I liked how Inan kept his characterization from the last book, and the way other characters from the past showed back up. I'm excited for the next book!!
One thing that isn't as much of a spoiler is just how amazingly diverse the characters are. There are characters with physical disabilities, queer characters, and other diverse traits that are just really well done. It's nice to see such show more things included and not have it be a huge deal. It's just part of the world. show less