Review of Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha, book 1)

 Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, book 1)

Author: Tomi Adeyemi

Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: March 2018

    Eleven years ago, magic vanished from Orïsha. In what would be named as the Raid, the monarchy killed all divîners old enough to be maji, leaving shattered children and families and a caste-divided kingdom. Zélie lost her mother during the Raid. She scrapes by with her father and brother Tzain in Ilorin, a small town literally on the sea. When divîner taxes are raised yet again, she heads inland to make a sale that should provide for her family for the next year. Instead, she is found by none other than Amari, Orïsha’s princess. Amari has fled from her brother Inan, her mother, and King Saran, and has stolen the only thing that can bring magic back. The princess should be a natural enemy of the divîner and her brother, but they are forced together - because it turns out they only have one moon to bring magic back, and Inan is leading the chase for the three fugitives. In the midst of the chase, romances bloom among the four, further complicating an already improbable alliance.

    Children of Blood and Bone is fast-paced and beautifully written. Alternation between the perspectives of Zélie, Amari, and eventually Inan conveys the emotional intensities and complexities that define and bind the characters. Through the disparate perspectives the kingdom itself is also revealed to us, as we become privy to the very different ways that each character sees their homeland. Adeyemi hooks readers from the first sentence and doesn’t release them even once the story closes. The cliffhanger ending makes a sequel both certain and compelling, but does not cheat the reader by leaving the story feeling incomplete. Children of Blood and Bone isn’t a story for readers who want a quick and easy read where details of character and place are secondary to the plot. It is a story for readers who want to feel Orïsha’s soil underfoot, see gods reawakened, and share the desperate determination of an oppressed people. I highly recommend this book for YA fantasy readers who want to inhabit their stories and evolve with their characters.

D. K. Nuray, age 14

Review of The Girl from Far Away

 The Girl from Far Away

Author: Jennifer Austin

Publisher: Far Away Stories

Publication Date: July 2020

    Jessica “Jess” Durand, a seventeen year old on Earth, hates her life. Her preferred escape is her dreams. But her dreams are not normal. She dreams of Ella Day, a seventeen year old girl on the world of Biack. If Ella was real, Jess would know her better than anyone else. Sensibly, Jess assumes that her dreams are just that, until she blacks out at school and wakes up trapped on Biack. At first, neither she nor the people there can believe that the other exists. The place that has been Jess’ escape is suddenly the one place she wants to escape from. Then she finds Ella, and realizes that she can’t go back to Earth yet. Because Biack needs her.

    The Girl from Far Away is a coming of age story with elements of fantasy, mystery, romance, and a little science fiction. The twisting, exciting plot is paired well with characters that grow into themselves through the story. The dialogue is witty and engaging, with a realistic mix of seriousness and teenage flippancy. Occasionally added to the mix is some comedic differentiation between British and English vocabulary. Some of the content is a little adult, but neither explicitly nor a distraction from the story. The dramatic ending sets the book up nicely for a sequel. I would recommend The Girl from Far Away for YA and adult readers who enjoy fast-paced novels with arresting plots and characters and a striking patchwork of genres.

D. K. Nuray, age 14