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picklesoup's reviews
131 reviews
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
3.0
Rating: 3.75/5
This entire book had me conflicted throughout the entire story. My review is kinda a mess so please bare through it.
The Plot: Looking at the plot as a whole, it was quite slow. There were multiple times where scenes it felt as though they weren't contributing towards the plot as much. Although I enjoyed reading it, the plot was rocky and at times it felt as though it wasn't even there. There were multiple different times where I was confused myself about what's going on because the plot wasn't as solid as comparing the Children of Blood and Bone. It wasn't until the last 200 pages where the plot began to pick up in its pace and the tension was slowly increasing.
The Writing: The writing felt completely different than what we were first introduced which was heavily shown through the characters and the plot. The entire writing style seemed to switch halfway throughout the book. Having the first half being really slow and maybe even questionable... but the second half truly felt like the sequel to an amazing novel, is the fast-paced and solid writing we all feel in love with. I truly wished the writing had stayed consistent from the start of the novel because it felt as though I was reading a completely different novel at the beginning and wasn't until the end were it felt I was reading the sequel.
The Characters: Ooo now I got a lot to say about theses character.
For starters, Tzain is completely irrelevant in this novel, its almost as though he isn't even in there. It wasn't until the second half were we start seeing him more but even then he doesn't have much of a role. In Children of Blood and Bone, he was one of the non-official main characters. Having quite a role in the first novel with helping bring magic back to Orisha. It seems as though he's role in the first novel to this one seemed to completely disappear. I wished we had seen more of Tzain in this novel and learn more about him, but sadly he had a little to no role in this novel.
Amari: From the start, I felt for her from the way she was being treated. From the beginning of the novel, it seems as though everybody wanted to eraser her role in bringing back magic and wanted to downplay her multiple different times. It seems as though no one had cared about her anymore. However, throughout the novel, we get to see the way her character develops and it was something that I wasn't expecting. I was rooting for Amari from the start and wanted her to get the recognition that she deserved. But as the story continued and she began developing, it's almost as though she is a completely different person. From the beginning of Children of Blood and Bone to the end of Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Amari was the one that has changed the most and her character arc is the one that shocked me the most. At first, I wasn't completely sure if I had liked Amari's character arc but the more I think about the more I enjoyed the way Adeyemi had handled Amari's story. Showing how much the entire situation took a hold on Amari and completely changed her from who we first met.
Zelie: She was a character that I had the most difficulties on liking, sadly. In the first half, it angered me on how she was treating everyone around her. Going through a grieving phase, she mainly placed all of her anger on Amari because she couldn't go and place it on Inan. That was something that truly made me begin to despise Zelie as a character, having her characteristic slowly begin to become quite toxic and very much not thinking anything through. There were parts where we saw the Zelie we all know and love and it wasn't until the second half were her character finally began to think shit through and not be a dumb dumb. Anyways, her character had truly turned into a very complex and interesting character to read. I can feel her pain and suffering and throughout the novel, you can see how much of a toll all of the events have been on her. Once I stopped hating on her, I enjoyed her character, and watching her grow was something that I enjoyed reading.
Inan: Oh my god, what in the world do I say about this boy. Inan has been a complex character from the start. Always getting caught up between what is right and wrong and never knowing which one is the correct one. In this novel, it expands on that and all of the pressure starts to build upon him. Watching him having to make all of the theses difficult decisions when not even he knows what he is doing, was something that put me on edge a lot of the time. I always enjoyed reading Inan's chapters, they were times where I was very much questioning him, but in the end, he was the character that I enjoyed the most.
Romance & Interactions: I'm going to start off with the romance. Romance isn't a heavy plot point in this series but it's still there so I'm going to talk about it.
Starting with Tzain and Amari, who we've already seen a glimpse of in the first novel. In this novel, since Tzain wasn't featured that frequently here, there were only like one or two scenes between the two. I was hoping we were going to get more scenes with the two, but sadly that wasn't the case.
Zelie and Roen, these two have an insta love type of romance. Typically I am not a fan of insta love, I'm all about the slow burn type of romance, but the way Roen cares about Zelie made me let these two slides for once. They were really cute together, however, there were multiple different times were I wondering why Zelie even bothers with Roen because they too don't interact as often and cause of the multiple different things Roen has done and who he works for.
For the interactions, the one that caught my eye the most and probably the reason why it was so difficult for me to enjoy the story, in the beginning, was the interaction between Amari and Zelie. At the end of Children of Blood and Bone, we see the two grow close and even referring to each other as family. In Children of Virtue and Vengeance, it seems as though all of that process of the two learning to trust each other seemed to be thrown out of the window. Having the two of them wanting to reach the same goal, but the two have a very different way of how they want to achieve it, their relationship began to strain. Throughout the book, it seems as though they lost in touch with each other and the friendship that I was so excited to see blossom, only seemed to die. It was really interesting watching the two interact with one another when they have a completely different point of view on things and struggling through their differences.
In the end, I enjoyed reading Children of Virtue and Vengeance. The begining was a struggle for me and I had to push through it, but I'm glad that I did. The way the story ended had my jaw on the ground, screaming for more answers. I would recommend reading this book if you already have read the first book and I would be reading the third book once it comes out.
This entire book had me conflicted throughout the entire story. My review is kinda a mess so please bare through it.
The Plot: Looking at the plot as a whole, it was quite slow. There were multiple times where scenes it felt as though they weren't contributing towards the plot as much. Although I enjoyed reading it, the plot was rocky and at times it felt as though it wasn't even there. There were multiple different times where I was confused myself about what's going on because the plot wasn't as solid as comparing the Children of Blood and Bone. It wasn't until the last 200 pages where the plot began to pick up in its pace and the tension was slowly increasing.
The Writing: The writing felt completely different than what we were first introduced which was heavily shown through the characters and the plot. The entire writing style seemed to switch halfway throughout the book. Having the first half being really slow and maybe even questionable... but the second half truly felt like the sequel to an amazing novel, is the fast-paced and solid writing we all feel in love with. I truly wished the writing had stayed consistent from the start of the novel because it felt as though I was reading a completely different novel at the beginning and wasn't until the end were it felt I was reading the sequel.
The Characters: Ooo now I got a lot to say about theses character.
For starters, Tzain is completely irrelevant in this novel, its almost as though he isn't even in there. It wasn't until the second half were we start seeing him more but even then he doesn't have much of a role. In Children of Blood and Bone, he was one of the non-official main characters. Having quite a role in the first novel with helping bring magic back to Orisha. It seems as though he's role in the first novel to this one seemed to completely disappear. I wished we had seen more of Tzain in this novel and learn more about him, but sadly he had a little to no role in this novel.
Amari: From the start, I felt for her from the way she was being treated. From the beginning of the novel, it seems as though everybody wanted to eraser her role in bringing back magic and wanted to downplay her multiple different times. It seems as though no one had cared about her anymore. However, throughout the novel, we get to see the way her character develops and it was something that I wasn't expecting. I was rooting for Amari from the start and wanted her to get the recognition that she deserved. But as the story continued and she began developing, it's almost as though she is a completely different person. From the beginning of Children of Blood and Bone to the end of Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Amari was the one that has changed the most and her character arc is the one that shocked me the most. At first, I wasn't completely sure if I had liked Amari's character arc but the more I think about the more I enjoyed the way Adeyemi had handled Amari's story. Showing how much the entire situation took a hold on Amari and completely changed her from who we first met.
Zelie: She was a character that I had the most difficulties on liking, sadly. In the first half, it angered me on how she was treating everyone around her. Going through a grieving phase, she mainly placed all of her anger on Amari because she couldn't go and place it on Inan. That was something that truly made me begin to despise Zelie as a character, having her characteristic slowly begin to become quite toxic and very much not thinking anything through. There were parts where we saw the Zelie we all know and love and it wasn't until the second half were her character finally began to think shit through and not be a dumb dumb. Anyways, her character had truly turned into a very complex and interesting character to read. I can feel her pain and suffering and throughout the novel, you can see how much of a toll all of the events have been on her. Once I stopped hating on her, I enjoyed her character, and watching her grow was something that I enjoyed reading.
Inan: Oh my god, what in the world do I say about this boy. Inan has been a complex character from the start. Always getting caught up between what is right and wrong and never knowing which one is the correct one. In this novel, it expands on that and all of the pressure starts to build upon him. Watching him having to make all of the theses difficult decisions when not even he knows what he is doing, was something that put me on edge a lot of the time. I always enjoyed reading Inan's chapters, they were times where I was very much questioning him, but in the end, he was the character that I enjoyed the most.
Romance & Interactions: I'm going to start off with the romance. Romance isn't a heavy plot point in this series but it's still there so I'm going to talk about it.
Starting with Tzain and Amari, who we've already seen a glimpse of in the first novel. In this novel, since Tzain wasn't featured that frequently here, there were only like one or two scenes between the two. I was hoping we were going to get more scenes with the two, but sadly that wasn't the case.
Zelie and Roen, these two have an insta love type of romance. Typically I am not a fan of insta love, I'm all about the slow burn type of romance, but the way Roen cares about Zelie made me let these two slides for once. They were really cute together, however, there were multiple different times were I wondering why Zelie even bothers with Roen because they too don't interact as often and cause of the multiple different things Roen has done and who he works for.
For the interactions, the one that caught my eye the most and probably the reason why it was so difficult for me to enjoy the story, in the beginning, was the interaction between Amari and Zelie. At the end of Children of Blood and Bone, we see the two grow close and even referring to each other as family. In Children of Virtue and Vengeance, it seems as though all of that process of the two learning to trust each other seemed to be thrown out of the window. Having the two of them wanting to reach the same goal, but the two have a very different way of how they want to achieve it, their relationship began to strain. Throughout the book, it seems as though they lost in touch with each other and the friendship that I was so excited to see blossom, only seemed to die. It was really interesting watching the two interact with one another when they have a completely different point of view on things and struggling through their differences.
In the end, I enjoyed reading Children of Virtue and Vengeance. The begining was a struggle for me and I had to push through it, but I'm glad that I did. The way the story ended had my jaw on the ground, screaming for more answers. I would recommend reading this book if you already have read the first book and I would be reading the third book once it comes out.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
5.0
Why did it take me so long to finally read this book? I love this book and every single part of it.
This book grabbed my attention from chapter one and I’m still craving more of its story after over 500+ pages. I adored the characters that were featured in this novel. They felt so 3d and complex and I can really understand them and feel their emotions at the point where I can imagine them actually being real. I loved the characters with all of hearts and I can see their motives and goals without being so confused on why there doing what their doing.
This was the first time I have ever read a book that was inspired by African Mythology and learning bits about the history was really fun and I loved the way it intertwined with the story. I’ll definitely be reading more inspired African Mythology after reading Children of Blood and Bone.
The world felt so real and I can really imagine myself within the world, of course there can be some improvement with it but as a whole I really enjoyed the world and how it’s history and it’s people intertwined with one another.
The last 100 pages torn me apart, I can really feel all of their pain and watching all of what they did slowly going to hell was definitely a ride and gave me multiple goosebumps.
To conclude this review, I loved the story and would definitely recommend everyone to read this.
This book grabbed my attention from chapter one and I’m still craving more of its story after over 500+ pages. I adored the characters that were featured in this novel. They felt so 3d and complex and I can really understand them and feel their emotions at the point where I can imagine them actually being real. I loved the characters with all of hearts and I can see their motives and goals without being so confused on why there doing what their doing.
This was the first time I have ever read a book that was inspired by African Mythology and learning bits about the history was really fun and I loved the way it intertwined with the story. I’ll definitely be reading more inspired African Mythology after reading Children of Blood and Bone.
The world felt so real and I can really imagine myself within the world, of course there can be some improvement with it but as a whole I really enjoyed the world and how it’s history and it’s people intertwined with one another.
The last 100 pages torn me apart, I can really feel all of their pain and watching all of what they did slowly going to hell was definitely a ride and gave me multiple goosebumps.
To conclude this review, I loved the story and would definitely recommend everyone to read this.
Legendary by Stephanie Garber
5.0
UGH! This book left me off with so many questions in a good way. I love this book so much more than the first book. I love how we got to see Tella’s point of view and I definitely like reading her more than Scarlett, not trying to be mean in anyways. The ended had to just tare me into shared. 😥 Still a good book!
Finale by Stephanie Garber
5.0
I love the way this book wrapped everything up. That doesn’t mean I’m not sad that this wonderful world is done, but I felt as though everything was answered and no questions was left undone that would make me want to ripped my hair out. I truly enjoyed the Caraval Trilogy and this has to be my favorite out of the three books.
Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
5.0
I couldn’t put the book down! Kept me turning the pages to know what will happen next. I definitely enjoyed this book just as much as I did with the first book!
In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken
5.0
The beginning felt quite slow to me but after that I couldn’t stop turning the pages once again! I love how the how story wraps up itself and didn’t leave me with too many questions. I’m so upset that I reached the end to this wonderful story 😭
Evermore by Sara Holland
4.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5
This story honestly truly wrapped up the entire duology up perfectly. Now I would say that this story wasn’t as fill with action comparing to the first book, and was more filled with about Jules life before she was Jules. It did seem as though the story wasn’t really going anywhere for the first half of the story due to the excessive amount of information being tossed at you. However, I still devoured up the entire story up and loved learning about the Alchemist and her story. The way the story ended was truly something I didn’t see coming and it made me a little bit emotional if I’m being honest. I loved the Everless series and I really enjoyed the sequel to the first book.
This story honestly truly wrapped up the entire duology up perfectly. Now I would say that this story wasn’t as fill with action comparing to the first book, and was more filled with about Jules life before she was Jules. It did seem as though the story wasn’t really going anywhere for the first half of the story due to the excessive amount of information being tossed at you. However, I still devoured up the entire story up and loved learning about the Alchemist and her story. The way the story ended was truly something I didn’t see coming and it made me a little bit emotional if I’m being honest. I loved the Everless series and I really enjoyed the sequel to the first book.
Death Sworn by Leah Cypess
2.0
EDIT [Oct. 2, 2020]: I bumped my rating down to two stars because now thinking back to it I really didn't enjoy the book at all except for the ending and that really wasn't enough to receive a three-star rating.
Rating: 3/5
To be honest I would've rated this 2 stars but the ending is the only reason why I bumped up my rating to 3 stars.
The Plot: The story follows seventeen-year-old Ileni who is losing her magic but has to go out and teach a bunch of assassins how to control and use their magic. The plot actually felt really strong, the conflict and her goals were clear and I could clearly understand her goals, but her motivations seemed lost and I didn't really know why she was preceding her goals. It wasn't mentioned once why she was preceding with her goals, except that she was sentenced to it, which doesn't really say much on why she is doing it for herself in general. While the plot felt strong during some of the times, there were definitely times where it felt really weak and where I just wanted to DNF it. The beginning and the end were really strong but the middle was so weak and felt like it was all over the place. The middle is the reason why this entire story fell flat, while the tension was there, it wasn't the type of tension to have you on the edge of your seat and instead of the type where you want to chuck the book across the room. However, the ending pulled the entire story together having lots of open ends and is the only reason why I want more of this story.
The Characters: Having Ileni being our main character, she was a character that would think one thing and then do something completely different to her thought process. Honestly, I don't have that much of a connection with Ileni due to the fact that we really don't know much about her, except that she was a powerful sorceress even from such a young age, but then she began to lose her magic. That's all we really know about her, her history is very much a mystery and how she ended up in the assassins' cave and why she accepted the mission, is very much untold. This is really annoying due to the fact that I was really excited to learn more about her history and her in general, but it seems that we didn't really get that. A lot of reviews were saying how Ileni was a badass strong female character, while in the beginning, we saw this, we didn't really get to see this during the middle. Where does the line between confidence and stupidity come together? For me, Ileni didn't feel as though she was this badass character that I first hope to be, instead, we get this character that doesn't think things out correctly and goes headfirst into arguments with trained killers, while she has little to none of her own magic left. While she is very much confident, it gets blurred with stupidity, making her just feel like a hot mess.
The World: The worldbuilding is 100% the most interesting part of this entire novel. I loved learning about the world they all live in and how magic and the assassins' caves work it was truly fully thought out. While, there are some holes in the story, such as why in the world is the empire viewed as evil, for what reason why the assassins target the empire. We learned very little about what seemed to be our main villain, being the empire. Having the entire world being around the empire and that's who we learned the least about. All I could tell you what I learned about the empire is that they are up to no good. What exactly is that no good you might ask? I have no idea. While the worldbuilding was there it seemed to leave out the biggest picture of all and only focused on the smaller worlds, having that we don't really know what the big picture of the world looks like.
In the end, this book was truly a miss for me. The ending was the only reason why I am desiring more from this world. The ending was left on a huge cliffhanger, meaning of course I'm going to be intrigued about what happens in the next novel. The likelihood of me picking up and reading this novel again is very slim but not zero.
Rating: 3/5
To be honest I would've rated this 2 stars but the ending is the only reason why I bumped up my rating to 3 stars.
The Plot: The story follows seventeen-year-old Ileni who is losing her magic but has to go out and teach a bunch of assassins how to control and use their magic. The plot actually felt really strong, the conflict and her goals were clear and I could clearly understand her goals, but her motivations seemed lost and I didn't really know why she was preceding her goals. It wasn't mentioned once why she was preceding with her goals, except that she was sentenced to it, which doesn't really say much on why she is doing it for herself in general. While the plot felt strong during some of the times, there were definitely times where it felt really weak and where I just wanted to DNF it. The beginning and the end were really strong but the middle was so weak and felt like it was all over the place. The middle is the reason why this entire story fell flat, while the tension was there, it wasn't the type of tension to have you on the edge of your seat and instead of the type where you want to chuck the book across the room. However, the ending pulled the entire story together having lots of open ends and is the only reason why I want more of this story.
The Characters: Having Ileni being our main character, she was a character that would think one thing and then do something completely different to her thought process. Honestly, I don't have that much of a connection with Ileni due to the fact that we really don't know much about her, except that she was a powerful sorceress even from such a young age, but then she began to lose her magic. That's all we really know about her, her history is very much a mystery and how she ended up in the assassins' cave and why she accepted the mission, is very much untold. This is really annoying due to the fact that I was really excited to learn more about her history and her in general, but it seems that we didn't really get that. A lot of reviews were saying how Ileni was a badass strong female character, while in the beginning, we saw this, we didn't really get to see this during the middle. Where does the line between confidence and stupidity come together? For me, Ileni didn't feel as though she was this badass character that I first hope to be, instead, we get this character that doesn't think things out correctly and goes headfirst into arguments with trained killers, while she has little to none of her own magic left. While she is very much confident, it gets blurred with stupidity, making her just feel like a hot mess.
The World: The worldbuilding is 100% the most interesting part of this entire novel. I loved learning about the world they all live in and how magic and the assassins' caves work it was truly fully thought out. While, there are some holes in the story, such as why in the world is the empire viewed as evil, for what reason why the assassins target the empire. We learned very little about what seemed to be our main villain, being the empire. Having the entire world being around the empire and that's who we learned the least about. All I could tell you what I learned about the empire is that they are up to no good. What exactly is that no good you might ask? I have no idea. While the worldbuilding was there it seemed to leave out the biggest picture of all and only focused on the smaller worlds, having that we don't really know what the big picture of the world looks like.
In the end, this book was truly a miss for me. The ending was the only reason why I am desiring more from this world. The ending was left on a huge cliffhanger, meaning of course I'm going to be intrigued about what happens in the next novel. The likelihood of me picking up and reading this novel again is very slim but not zero.