A review by d_liountris
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
4.0
This was frustrating. There is a TV show called The 100 that I absolutely adore but take no joy from. It is amazing but it is designed to make you scream at it. I feel Tomi Adeyemi watched all 7 seasons of that show before she wrote this book.
I don't love this. It didn't bring me joy like the first one did. But it was good. Adeyemi expanded on the world she created and ramped up the stakes at every turn. It's just that certain actions seemed to come out of nowhere. For one, Amari and Zelie at one point switch positions between getting peace and getting vengeance, a decision that leads Amari to becoming a flat-out mass murderer. And it wasn't her actions that bug me, but the way we got there.
This story feels like it suffers from great ideas without enough of an execution. What I mean is that as separate scenes, there is a lot to love. But together, some things just didn't work. Some deaths were not as gut-wrenching as the book wanted them to be. Some choices were not as understandable as they were presented. And, my biggest issue, the ending felt like it was entirely rushed.
Now, this may all be because of that terrible curse of being the middle part of a trilogy, but as it stands, I'd probably give this a 3.5 (rounded off to a 4 because I still love the world that was crafted here). Still a good score, but considering I gave the first book a 5, it is a big dip.
That said, I am looking forward to the third book. I think Adeyemi is fantastic at crafting a world and her mythology, and I truly think she will end this series off on the note it needs.
I don't love this. It didn't bring me joy like the first one did. But it was good. Adeyemi expanded on the world she created and ramped up the stakes at every turn. It's just that certain actions seemed to come out of nowhere. For one, Amari and Zelie at one point switch positions between getting peace and getting vengeance, a decision that leads Amari to becoming a flat-out mass murderer. And it wasn't her actions that bug me, but the way we got there.
This story feels like it suffers from great ideas without enough of an execution. What I mean is that as separate scenes, there is a lot to love. But together, some things just didn't work. Some deaths were not as gut-wrenching as the book wanted them to be. Some choices were not as understandable as they were presented. And, my biggest issue, the ending felt like it was entirely rushed.
Now, this may all be because of that terrible curse of being the middle part of a trilogy, but as it stands, I'd probably give this a 3.5 (rounded off to a 4 because I still love the world that was crafted here). Still a good score, but considering I gave the first book a 5, it is a big dip.
That said, I am looking forward to the third book. I think Adeyemi is fantastic at crafting a world and her mythology, and I truly think she will end this series off on the note it needs.