Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orisha, 2)

Tomi has done it again! I chose the audio book to hear the accents and fully immerse myself in the world she builds and fully see the dynamic views of the lands. This book, in a memorable way and truly effortlessly, continued to build upon the world of book 1. The characters grew and continued to evolve in their thinking and actions while at times still found accepting changed behaviors or cognitions difficult (like any human and especially ones their age). Tomi did an amazing job of allowing the reader to feel the entire weight of the many decisions the characters faced in this book with so many reminders of their youth. Her use of language was creatively and uniquely a driving force in the greatness of this story. The plots were well written and filled. The pacing was just right with it changing throughout to match the building story line. The ending, ohhh the ending…. Not going to recover and starting the next book because my heart can’t sit with it, I must know what comes next.

Love this book. I have less than 100 pages left before I’m done. Zelie is really starting to piss me off. I don’t think I like her at all. Her attitude is the worse. She’s so childish but I guess that’s given since she’s still basically is. Everyone around her seems to be way more mature. Even characters half her age. She’s to immature to be in this war. I already ordered the third book. I’m so invested.

Read the first book 6 years ago. Why did I remember this as a romantic fantasy. A civil war of magical factions, full of intense battles, military strategies and court politics. This is absolutely a YA fantasy. The youth of the characters is clear in the heavy burden placed on their shoulders to protect their lands. True YA highlighted by Zélie’s rage, Amari’s idealism, Inan’s ego which all cause harm to others at some point. I enjoyed the book, but it did feel like a bit of a filler. A lead up to something more. The beginning was a bit slow, like it could have been a bit shorter. Felt a little repetitive. Will be reading next book after that epilogue.

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors! Book: Children of Virtue and Vengeance Author: Tomi Adeyemi Book Series: The Legacy of Orisha Book 2 Rating: 5/5 Diversity: ownvoice Black characters! Recommended For...: ya fantasy, high fantasy, magic, ownvoice Publication Date: December 3, 2019 Genre: YA Fantasy Recommended Age: 16+ (language, violence, gore, sexual content, depression TW, grief TW, racism in context of magic, religious persecution, and some eugenics imagery) Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Pages: 404 Synopsis: After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too. Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath. With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart. Review: I really loved this book! It was a great action packed sequel to the first book. The book kept the same themes of using prejudice and racism in terms of magic, but in this book we got more of Amari’s story and we saw how a well meaning person can still make mistakes and hurt a culture rather than help it and it showed, in terms of magic again, systematic racism and how that can look through two different perspectives. There was also great writing around grief processing, depression, eugenics imagery, religious persecution, and slavery imagery. The characters were well developed and I loved seeing Zelie get closer to Roen. The pacing was also very even and the book kept me hooked from beginning to end. The only things that I didn’t like as much were that I thought the world building could have been better and that the beginning is confusing. When you don’t read the books back to back, it gets a little hard to remember all of the details. Thank goodness for wiki or else I would have been so lost. Verdict: A great read! Definitely recommend this series!

*laughs brokenly* I KNEW I was setting myself up for heartache, but I couldn't comprehend the level until I reached the horroble cliffhanger at the end of this dang book. Tomi Adeyemi has ripped out my heart and stomped it into dust. I feel like I can't breathe. And I'd go through it again because this book is just that good. The absolute wreck this book has made of me... I knew it would though, which is why I hesitated to start it. But I couldn't not read it. Adeyemi continues to weave her magic like one of the maji she created, building her characters up only to send them crashing to the earth again, in a battle not only for their homeland but their own very souls. This book is a killer in so many ways, but it's SO GOOD. There is so much growth paired with such destruction. And now, I've got to bring myself to start the third and final book, in a desperate hope that Zélie and all those she loves and leads will survive so that they can all thrive.

Delivery was great. I’ll update once I read the novel!

What an amazing story! The author has created a world full of power and magic and this final(?) installment to the series was nonstop action and adrenaline. I literally raced through the pages to see what more could happen. In this one, Zelie has more responsibility thrust on her and while old flames die out , a new flame enters the picture. Someone who understands her. Someone who has always been there for her(those are my favorite moments) *Side Note: some characters, like Zelie, Inan and Amari got on my nerves. I just...I don't know, they got on my nerves. The author does not spare our feelings. People DO die in this one and I was unprepared for it. However, when a great War eclipses over Peace, that is what happens. The author says in a note in Book 1 that The Legend of Orisha reflects our racially driven world today. In this series, it carries such a great message of hope and strength that it is impossible to ignore. The white-haired Maji had something stolen from them and those who were not born with the gift, get to have it and EXCEL with it. It is a maddening tale of continuous hate and struggle but the fantasy of it all makes it somewhat palatable. Kudos to this author.

This book was a let down. There was pain, anguish, vengeance and LOTS of anger, but very little virtue. Zelie is blinded by a combination of rage and grief. So blinded, that she tries to abandon everyone to a war SHE helped start. After Amari and Tzain convince her to stick it out, she uses their time together to turn on Amari every chance she gets, and completely ignore Tzain; the only flesh and blood she has left. (Tzain and Mama Agba are the only likeable characters IMO) Somehow Zelie, and Zelie alone, earns the respect and reverence of the maji, and is elevated to elder status for her part in returning ashe. And does she ever once say, "hey ...I had a lot of help from Tzain and Amari. In fact, if it weren't for them, I would have abandoned all of you to fight alone." NOPE. Instead, she turns on Amari whenever Amari dares to speak or contribute. And I get it ...Zelie was silenced and oppressed by the monarchy and by extension, Amari 's family. But then why keep Amari around? Why stay friends with her? Just so she can be a verbal punching bag? None of this endeared me to Zelie and I found her unlikeable and far less admirable in book two, than book one. It didn't show me a grieving girl, it showed me a girl willing to hurt everyone in order to get her vengeance...and there's no virtue in that. I wanted Amari to grow a spine and tell Zellie to go kick rocks, and I was exhausted by the wounded "I'm sorry for defending my life/honor/name/existence" narrative. I wish Zelie would have disappeared into the coast like she intended, but alas, we are forced to endure multiple bad decisions, impulsive displays of leadership and blaming everyone around her when things go wrong. So much death could have been avoided if the characters just communicated and tried diplomacy. But given Zelie's tunnel vision, I doubt she would have listened anyway. Character development in this book was painful. The characters regress all the way to an elemental leve, almost worse than before. It's like nothing that happened in book one, made any sort of difference in their perceptions and growth was stunted. Inan allows himself to be a complete pawn AGAIN, despite the fact that he should know better after everything that happened with his father, and I just can't fathom how such a heartless king raised two spineless children. The lack of growth was incredibly frustrating, and instead of making me want to turn the pages, I skimmed through to get to the end. The pacing is just awful. You're forced to endure over 180 pages of world building and magic systems all over again and learn a bunch of new characters. This slowed everything down to a crawl. I was taken out of the story multiple times, and bored enough to read several books before coming back to finish. What is done well, is the authors ability to paint a picture. Such beautiful imagery and prose, and such immersive descriptions, I felt like I was right there with them. I think her magic system is intriguing and well thought out, but I will not be continuing the series.

I really enjoyed CVV as much as CBB. The writing is compelling and the story is un predictable. I love the POVs in the book but I wish there was a couple chapters with Roen POV as well. I would like to have heard from his side how he sees this saga. The story focuses on corruption of power, the complexity and emotional struggles of the main characters as they have grown. I find that this book has Amari more in the forefront. She’s my favorite character with the most character development. I loved how she grew in CBB and I really appreciate her in this book. As she deals with what they have gone through and in her struggle to correct what her family has done, she looses her way yet she tries to do the right thing. To me she was the most relatable character. Zelie the Chosen One is more vulnerable as she tries to deal with everything and even though she comes out stronger in the end her vulnerability is so heart wrenchingly realistic. Inan and Tzain also grow as they go through their own struggles. I still have hope that Inan and Zelie will have some sort of relationship in the end even if it’s not romantic. I really like that Roen is back in the sequel. As I mentioned earlier that I love the POVs in the book but I wish there was a couple chapters with his POV because I would have liked to hear from his side what he thinks of this Saga. Though I like how the relationship between him and Zelie blossoms, however I really don’t want them to end up together. It’s just soooo cliche. One of the new characters I fell in love with in this book was Mazeli. He always brought smiles to my face. In the end I really enjoyed this book as it was unpredictable. I love the cliffhanger ending- The epilogue is EPIC and I can’t wait to read the 3rd book.

Siempre quise tener este libro en mis manos. Me encanta que la pasta sea dura, me ayuda a proteger el libro mejor. Y que esté en inglés me encanta porque así puedo adquirir más vocabulario y seguir aprendiendo. En cuanto a la historia... 🤭 Léanlo, no se van a arrepentir.

One of the most wonderful and compelling fantasy book of the last century

The story is highly interesting but thought provoking. Despite being a fictional story it is relevant to the current situation of human nature.

É um livro fácil de ler, que realmente capta a tua atenção. Obrigada.