ziyah reads and writes!

3/5 stars 😬

I was in Anguish and wished for Anarchy while reading this book.

I am extremely conflicted about this rating. There were so many things that I didn’t like but there were so many things I do like. 

It was still fast-paced but left me wanting so much more

This series is going to become a movie franchise where Children of Blood and Bone is going to be adapted into a motion-picture produced by Paramount Pictures (which produced the Titanic, Transformers, Interstellar and more) Gina Prince-Blythewood is the director, same as The Woman King, which is so good and I’m so happy we have this icon directing. I just hope and pray they get mega funding. The world-building is like Black Panther meets Avatar the Last Airbender. I want the set to look real but also really good and in-depth. I need the set designers from Avatar: Way of the Water and Black Panther to make sure the dreamscape, and the world looks so good and realistic.

And since we KNOW It’s going to be a movie, here’s my fan cast:

(Snippets of the Presentation is shown in the slideshow below)

Full Presentation is Linked Here:

Isn’t this cast perfect! 🤩

UPDATES!!!!! (Jan 21st, 2025) WE HAVE AN OFFICIAL CAST FOR CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE!!!

I am so excited for this oh my goodness, I’ll link the official details here but I’ll explain below as well. All we know for now is that it’s set to come out in 2027! Some of my fan cast picks ACTUALLY are going to be in the movie which I’m so happy about! We see a lot of recycled actors from the Woman King movie (if you didn’t watch it please do it was very entertaining), which makes sense since the Director is the same for both films; we have Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, and Lashana Lynch yet again on the big screen.

• Thuso Mbedu Plays Zelie (our Main Character)

• Amandla Stenberg as Princess Amari

• Damson Idris as Prince Inan

• Tosin Cole as Tzain (Zelie’s Brother)

• Viola Davis: Plays Mama Agba

• Chiwetel Ejiofor: Plays King Saran

• Cynthia Erivo: Plays Admiral Kaea

• Idris Elba: Plays Olamilekan a.k.a Lekan

• Lashana Lynch: Plays Jumoke/ Zelie’s Mother

• Regina King: Plays Queen Nehanda

Overall I am amazed by this cast, we have Oscar winners, Golden Globe winners, Grammy winners and more. This cast looks very expensive and I just hope that with box office numbers these actors can pull in a lot of viewers so this movie can be a hit and hopefully develop the other books in the series into movies as well.

I saw a lot of discourse on TikTok and Twitter regarding the cast. Here are most of the opposition comments about:

• Amandla Stenberg is mixed race and in the novel Amari is dark-skinned.
• The cast is not made up of majority Nollywood actors and therefore its a misrepresentation.
• The story takes place in Nigeria and prioritizes Yoruba language, culture and mythology but the main characters have the letter “Z” in their names and the Yoruba language doesn’t have the letter “Z”.
• Due to the variation of where these actors are from the accent will be a generic “African” accent and will not be accurate to what actual Nigerians sound like.
• The African/Nigerian actors that are listed are mostly raised in the UK or America and therefore aren’t an accurate enough representation of what actual Nigerians in Nigeria sound like.

I would like to take a stab at some of these comments although some do have merit.

• In regards to Amandla Stenberg’s ancestry and the character Amari. I interpreted Amari being a normal brown-skinned girl, probably medium tone and since the royals are light skinned and prioritize high levels of colorism, people were spreading rumors about whether Amari is the actual child of the King. To be fair, the King Saran, Prince Inan and Queen Nehanda are too dark technically for the role, since royals are supposed to be light-skinned. Since nobody actually cares when a character doesn’t fit the exact character in these cases I don’t think its particularly fair to hone in solely on Amandla Stenberg’s role, the colorism aspect is only in the first few chapters of the book and are never spoken about again so this colorism issue isn’t a main plot point of the novel. To be fair, Amandla Stenberg is notorious for playing roles of dark-skinned characters (*cough* The Hate U Give* The Hunger Games* cough) but I do believe that choosing Amandla over a lesser known actor will bring more people to the theaters and will be profitable, not to mention she is a good actress nonetheless.

• The cast is not made up of Nollywood actors, this is true. I do think it’s important to include Nigerian actors when Nigerian culture is being discussed. To be fair though, the author herself is not born in Nigeria. She is a first-generation Nigerian American as many of the other actors in this movie are. I don’t think it’s productive for us to be arguing as a community who is “Nigerian-enough to play a Nigerian”. Also, these are actors, it’s their job to do the research and portray them accordingly. Which brings me to the accent argument. Technically the culture is Yoruba, and Yoruba tribes exist outside of modern-day Nigeria (for example Benin Republic). Do Yoruba Beninese people who have a slight french accent count? Nigeria has many tribes other than them that make up the “Nigerian accent” we can go farther and farther down a rabbit hole to find the authentic Yoruba accent but at the end of the day, that is the job of the dialect coach – these are actors, its their job to act. Also, this is a FICTIONAL story, it’s not real, they don’t have to be perfectly accurate to YOUR [the movie viewer] Nigerian Grandmother. This story came out of a woman’s brain and only has to be accurate to her, the author since its her [Tomi Adeyemi’s] book and she’s been a very active member in the production of the movie, so if she’s happy then I’m happy. If Nollywood wants to adapt this book and have their own actors they should reach out to Tomi to do so, but Tomi is going to choose the company that’s going to bring her the most checks and Paramount Pictures is REALLY rich, I don’t blame her for choosing western actors for a movie produced by a western company.

• Last but not least: The issue with the letter “Z”, to be fair, in the book there are other names too that make zero sense like Salim that are Arab names but these characters are not Muslim because they are literally practicing Yoruba mythology and magic, so yeah I have no rebuttal for that. Maybe Tomi just likes the letter Z.

Either way, I don’t think these are valid enough reasons to cancel the movie or books altogether. The story is still fascinating, it’s giving young actors a place in media and allowing older actors to shine once more on the big screen. At the end of the day, it’s your money, no one is forcing you to go, but I on the other hand will be enjoying every minute. I think we should all support this movie so that in the future big movie production companies will be more likely to take a risk on investing in Black stories from all of the Diaspora, and with time they will get better. Now, on to the actual book and reactions while reading!

Random Fan Art I Thought was Cool:

By: meliescribbles on DevianArt >

By: auradite on DevianArt

Spoilers Below Obviously

General Questions I STILL HAVE

• WHERE IS ROEN?? He just disappeared, I thought he would be a major plot point in this book, maybe hired by King Baldyr, but his disappearance is never explained.
• Where did this fine man go? 

• [I’ve always been Team Zelie and Inan (#Team Zenan or #Team Inelie) but Roen was fun and good for the plot]
• Who rules Orisha now? We still don’t have a definite answer and we are 2 books from the beginning of this war, it still feels unresolved.
• Especially now that Queen Nehanda is still alive, is she queen? Is Zelie? Does Zelie even want to be Queen after everything she’s been through (What if she’s a spiritual leader and warrior like Mae’e?)

• Does Amari live with Mae’e after the war is over back in New Gaia or does she stay and help build Orisha?
• How did King Baldyr know about these two countries and all their powers but they didn’t know shit about him or his country? Even in 2000 BC Rome they knew about China and had trade routes. Does Orisha trade with other countries?
• Is King Jorah still alive or is Mae’e Queen now?
• That whole rib thing for Tzain, wtf was that? Is he just missing a rib and the rib has transformed into a weapon and he’s just walking around with a missing rib or does it go back into his body? 
• How did that power work anyway, okay you gave him a tattoo wtf does that have to do with powers, and I thought the vine weavers were the powers of this place?
• What is the magic system of New Gaia, do they have different tribes with different powers like Orisha or is it just the Laminas and the vine weavers?
• Why are New Gaians speaking Portuguese? I thought these were like the native people of Brazil inspired so shouldn’t they be speaking the ancient languages not the colonized ones, (the same way Orisha is based on Yoruba mythology so they speak Yoruba not the colonizer’s English… duhh)
• Why does Tomi Adeyemi literally hate Inan? In every book in this trilogy, Inan suffers so much mental and physical stress and “dies” or is “presumed dead” just so he can die for good for Zelie? REALLY? I DON’T LIKE THIS INAN WAKE UPPP?
• Me:

• “I don’t like this Chrissie wake up!!!!!!”
• Isn’t the Isles of Balderik just gonna elect a new King, to finish what he started? How is this fight just over?
• Is no one going to sail out and look for more countries? Some “what’s west of westeros” type shit? That sounds pretty useful right now. What if there are more opps out there right now?

My Thoughts While Reading

• We are 1/3rd through this book and we are still on this stupid ship. 

• Who tf are these people and why are they so fucking evil
• I really don’t want to read a slave story. I want to read a story by black people about black people and not about our oppression

Tomi Adeyemi to Me:

• I’m trying to escape white supremacy which is why I picked up this book in the first place, not be reminded of it
• The constant physical abuse and torture these characters go through is so horrific that I don’t even want to keep reading, its almost discouraging at this point
• Tomi Adeyemi to Me:

• Ok finally Inan and Zelie are talking
• WTF you mean you are going to place this gold plaque on her chest what kind of sick magic system is this????
• Okay wait. How did King Baldyr know about these people and their magic and they didn’t know about him?
• WTF IS GOING ON THEY TORTURING MY GIRL

• Oh I’m not gonna be able to finish this
• Okay they escaped YAYYYY fuck those guys
• Ok now we on this random island
• Inan you need to confess that you still love Zelie this tension is starting to annoy me after 2 books of this shit
• Omg y’all still mad at Inan after he literally saved your asses from the skulls. 🙄
• Okay Inan is going to go to Orisha with these hoes and Zelie, Tzain, and Amari are going to go to New Gaia
• How do you even know where New Gaia is? Oh just vibes okay cool
• Okay we at New Gaia and we are going to die great!
• If its called New Gaia where was Old Gaia – just a random thought 🧐
• Finally we can not die, yayy
• Pause, how does Zelie just magically know how to speak new Gaian???
• Is Amari gay for Mae’e????? What happened with Tzain, okay I know that she was an opp I guess but I want them to get over it lowkey
• Aww Mae’e is so cute
• Okay Inan whats shaking in Orisha?
• Oh everyone hates you, great
• WHAT QUEEN NEHANDA IS ALIVE?????
• Okay this peace treaty isn’t gonna work, these people still at each other’s throats
• YAYYY TOGETHERNESS, thanks to Inan’s dreamscape powers
• Y they torturing Tzain in this training place, this is so unnecessary
• Okay Inan rolling up in New Gaia, speaking to King Jorah like a true leader

• Why don’t Orisha send some fighters to New Gaia to be a united front against King Baldyr?
• Okay Jorah, covert operation, V- formation, I kinda fuck with it.

• OH NOOO KING BALDYR IS USING ZELIES POWERS
• Oh shit Zelie blew up the whole ship
• Thank god she didn’t get captured (well that didn’t last long)
• OH NO ZELIE IS DEAD

• OH NO MOTHER ROOT SAVED ZELIE BUT NOW MOTHER IS IN THE BODY OF MAE!
• Wow this is a lot of info in a few pages
• This book should have definitely been longer and shown more of what’s happening in Orisha right now
• Why are we gonna go back there and do another mission instead of just waiting for them to come to us and use those vine powers to destroy their ships?
• Okay another attack
• Oh shit its a trap, great
• How tf did Baldyr get both Zelie and Mae’e?
• Great they are both gonna die now

• OMG Inan, Tzain and Amari are gonna save them, I love the power of friendship trope

• WTF you mean its only working for Mae, why didn’t the magic restoration shit work for Zelie?
• NOOOOOO I HATE SACRIFICE FOR TRUE LOVE TROPE!

• Why does Inan have to die, who will rule Orisha now that he’s dead?
• Okay happily ever after my ass this blows

The world building in this story is amazing, but it still felt a little rushed. The only thing keeping the story from being a 4/5 is the fact that so much of the plot is a mystery and feels unresolved. The reason that its higher than a 2 though is because it still was able to keep me engaged (for the most part) and it was a good book (if I came in without reading the other two and having high expectations it might not have been that bad). 

So overall, I still support this author and her work because at the end of the day, she’s still an amazing writer and gave us so much representation. I was able to meet her over facetime at her book signing event in LA and I’m so grateful for that. She’s so kind, and does so much for the community, the fact that this book may be a movie is giving me so much joy.

See y’all next time 🙂

Wanna check out my Children of Virtue and Vengeance Review (2nd book in the series)? :

Come Back Next Week for a New Review!

Who would you cast?

Did you read this book?

Subscribe to get notified for when the next review comes out!