Summary from Goodreads
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.
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Overall Impressions
4/5 stars
So unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that this book has had some MAJOR hype around it. Movie rights for this book were secured even before the book was published, a seven figure book deal for the trilogy, instant #1 NYT bestseller (literally instant), and international book rights have made CBB a big hit in the YA industry to say the least. So did it live up to the hype?
Why yes, yes it did.
So obviously, no book is going to be completely perfect and there were some minor flaws that snagged my attention that I’ll get into, but overall this story was AMAZING. Entertainment Weekly is calling Adeyemi the next J.K Rowling, and I get why. The lush world building of the novel and the clear dedication that Adeyemi has given the culture of her characters is reminiscent of Rowling’s command over setting. CBB has a wonderful cinematic quality to it that is going to be STUNNING when CBB hits the big screen. It was an energetic, fantasy adventure novel that took you through an inspired West African narrative, with an important underlying message about police brutality in our world today. The characters were powerful, Zelie was a badass heroine whose fierce nature and quips had me cheering her on through each of her battles and personal struggles. Inan was an interesting “villain”, his inner turmoil made him a morally grey character in some ways as he struggled to reconcile his role as heir and enforcer of an oppressive regime. Even the secondary characters felt very real, and grounded. Basically what I’m trying to say is that you should def pick up this novel and give it a read!
Characters
Like I said before, Zelie is a boss girl who is basically kicking ass and taking names the entire novel. She’s a character that likes to stab first and ask questions later, ( an endearing quality in my opinion lol), and that gets her into a bit of trouble sometimes. While there’s no question re Zelie’s ferocity, there’s a great deal of vulnerability shown with her character because of the traumatic situations that mark her childhood and the oppression she grew up in. One of the great things about this novel is the way that Adeyemi is able to balance those two aspects, making Zelie a heroine that readers can identify with and admire. Inan, oh my bloodthirsty Inan. I don’t want to get too spoilery here so I’m just going to say that Inan’s world perspective does some pretty big shifting and re-shifting in this novel, which gives him a 3D quality that I like. Towards the end Inan does something that upsets the balance in his relationship with Zelie and her goals, and while the reader in me wishes he hadn’t (WHY INAN WHY?) the writer side of me really likes how Adeyemi was able to give readers a different perspective on the situation through the use of Inan’s motives and actions near the conclusion. Amari and Tzain were adorbs and I loved their interactions. Even though Amari gets her own POV chapters in CBB I would consider her and Tzain secondary characters, (Zelie just dominates the narrative!) But this classification doesn’t detract in any way from the quality and depth of their character. They both felt really real to me and I enjoyed reading about them. That being said, the one thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the romance between Zelie and her love interest. The flaws didn’t detract from the narrative in anyway, but it just felt a bit rushed to me. If you don’t think about it too much it’s fine, but I think the point from flirty interest to actual romantic feeling/actions was a bit hasty and surface level. I think I feel that way because I’m more of a fan of slow burns… I don’t know, I have mixed feelings about it lol.
Plot
The plot was well paced, (although I felt it lagged in a few spots, a minor flaw though) and the structure was very clear which I really appreciated. There are some twists and turns, intrigue and betrayals that kept me on the edge of my seat. I finished CBB in two days, which was pretty good time in light of my busy schedule. Like I said in the beginning the world building was top notch, the settings were all so clear and the novel played out like a movie in my head. The Maji clans, the gods and goddesses, and the power structures were well thought out and you can tell that Adeyemi put a lot of dedication into bringing this west african inspired novel to life. Another element that gives CBB a unique richness is the fact that Adeyemi uses her story as an allegory for the black experience in America. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that certain deaths and situations have real and impactful connections to the police brutality incidents that are very prevalent in our society today. Knowing the context, it makes the story that much more raw and powerful as it delivers a very important message to its audience.
Concluding Thoughts
READ THIS BOOK. It’s cinematic quality makes it an engaging read, earning it a 4.5 star rating from me. The quest to bring back magic and remake Orisha was a harrowing and transformative tale and I’m so excited for the next novel, Children of Virtue and Vengeance!!
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About the Author of CBB
Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, California. After graduating Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, she received a fellowship that allowed her to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. When she’s not working on her novels or watching Scandal, she can be found blogging and teaching creative writing to her 4,500 subscribers at tomiadeyemi.com. Her website has been named one of the 101 best websites for writers by Writer’s Digest.
Her debut West African YA Fantasy novel is CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE (Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan).