Reviews

Urmașii de Sânge și Os by Tomi Adeyemi

crly1429's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

houdach's review against another edition

2.0

Going into this after seeing all the hype it got and all the positive reviews and all the 5 stars, I was SOOO ready to get my mind blown by this book, it sounded like the fantasy I would normally enjoy, but sadly I was SOOO disappointed.

I did consider DNFing this book multiple times. I was bored pretty much from start to end, I could not get into it at all whatsoever, but for the sake of all the hype around it, I pushed myself to finish it to see at what point it will get better. IT NEVER DID.
Now the story itself is NOT BAD, it could've been better for sure, it's just not as original or as engaging as I thought it would be, I found that it dragged the whole time, and the whole thing was VERY predictable.
i also did not like any of the characters, I found them to be very dull, and their POVs were very similar that a lot of times I had to go back to the start of the chapter to see who's POV I was reading from.
And what sealed the deal for me with this book is the romance ... if we can even call it 'romance'.. , It was so cringy and cheesy and tacky. it was just bad. IT WAS AWFUL.

overall, I think that this book is overhyped, it does have a good premise, but it was poorly executed.

katiereads_24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition

2.0

Superheroes kind of bother me. I think the whole idea that we need people with special powers to protect us just irks me.

In particular, the Hulk and the X-Men bother me more specifically. The Hulk because I remember a cartoon from when I was younger where he was always fighting the army. And I get that he wanted to be left alone and the army was trying to capture him, but the image that stuck with me was an invincible monster fighting soldiers and my sympathy always went to the military.
The first few X-Men films from Fox in the early 2000’s had a similar effect on me. They played up an oppressed minority angle but mutant powers are scary. Jean Grey, Magneto, and Xavier were major threats if they chose. Rogue and Cyclops required great caution to avoid accidentally killing someone. And the cure/depower story in the third one didn’t elicit much sympathy because it sounded an awful lot like nonlethally disarming a criminal.

So, the use of a superpower or similar as a stand in for oppressed minority rings hollow to me. First, because it suggests that there is really something to fear about the other. And second, because it confuses me how the people who can shoot fire out of their hands, kill with a touch, or magically construct buildings wound up being crushed underfoot (that last one’s not combat related but it sounds like a valuable skill and would seem to help accrue wealth, then again being able to magically create walls out of earth would seem to imply the ability to magically create smaller bullet sized objects out of earth).

To be fair, the above is mostly driven by distaste for the premise. And this book does sort of help explain why the magic users wind up oppressed

Spoiler

the king was able to eliminate magic and then enacted a purge

but it still seems to imply that magic users were looked down on by society even before that.

Besides that, the main character, Zelie, is just so irritating. She’s ticked off at everything and she’s self-centered. Amari is fleeing for her life and helping Zelie out but no, Zelie’s pissed off that Amari exists and ticked off that Tzain shows consideration for Amari.
Then there’s her romance with Inan. She hates him for (this time) justifiable reasons but she also really wants him. I imagine most people would be able to quell attraction for someone they think is a mass murderer.

I do have to say though, Inan was the most sympathetic character and I like him. Being torn between doing the right thing (i.e. not killing everyone) and his perceived duty to his country and father was compelling and interesting to read.

middlemara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. The quick chapters and change of perspective really helped the story move quickly. I’m not sure where the plot will go for two more books but I’m interested to see. 

ngozitodavid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

dragonflymorning's review against another edition

4.0

I had a kind of hard time getting into this book. It sat as I picked at the first fifty pages over a week. Then all of the sudden it picked up and I finished the whole thing in three days. The characters and setting were familiar but the culture was deep and beautifully new.

sumna_sova's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

amberelgee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

talanafaye's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5