Hi Booklovers. I've finally finished dragging my feet and took the plunge to read the latest story in the Legacy of the Orisha series.
At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to read Children of Virtue and Vengeance(CoVaV) since I wasn't as hype over Children of Blood and Bone(CoBaB) like so many people were. I saw so much talk of how that story transcended and I can very much admit I initially bought the first book because of all the marketing it was receiving prior to release. We were finally getting fantasy books written by black authors that were actually being promoted that year. Celebrities were telling you to go out and read this book. A movie deal was announced months before the book release. And Black Panther had just been released. It was an exciting time.
CoBaB promised a lot of things and I don't believe it followed through with all those promises. However it was fast paced and action filled which made it enjoyable. I did find it relied too heavily on influence from Avatar the Last Airbender to the point where I can name the ATLA equivalent to each CoBaB character. Despite some areas where world building and characterization lacked I still found myself rooting for Amari and at times Zelie to succeed. And with it being announced as trilogy there was plenty of room to improve.
Why has the world building not improved? Nothing about this kingdom makes any sense. It's like Tomi Adeyemi assumes we've all watched ATLA in it's entirety so we basically know how the magic system works. Yet when she does lay down rules for the magic system they are immediately contradicted in other parts of the text.
And for the Legacy of the Orisha there's very little explanation about who the orisha are. Where are monuments and shrines dedicated to these deities? The misuse of Yoruba (and in the case of my audiobook mispronunciation) aside I just don't feel like a good job was done incorporating that culture. Naming cities and areas after places in Nigeria didn't impress me. More in depth research needed to be done. What about these cities set them apart from each other? What gods and goddesses do they worship in the different cities. Are there any foods unique to each place? I was confused at how far apart these places actually were from each other.
I'm not even going to go in depth in the really bad relationships. If I read one more line about Zelie's sea salt soul! That relationship between Zelie and Inan is toxic. Tzain just exists solely to be Amari's romantic partner. He had no real role or purpose!
Why are there so many comparisons to real world oppression of African Americans in this fantasy pre-colonial African story? The comparisons to Jim Crow, slavery, Black Lives matter,etc felt inauthentic.
CoVaV just felt like a cheaper retread of book 1 with the same characters having the same conflicts and despite what they endured there is no growth. The only thing that changed was everyone having magic now. Why are the girls still against each other despite all they've gone through? It was constant back and forth and lack of trust between Zelie and Amari. Why is Inan still alive?
But where are the critical reviews of this story? Are people just buying it simply because they want to see a black book succeed? It's great to want to see black books succeed I want to see the same. But let's not be afraid to criticize them as well. Criticism actually helps writers understand what they need to improve on and helps them grow. This series is an NY Times bestseller and had become the story to which all Black fantasies are compared. Tomi Adeyemi has basically become the token black fantasy writer in the mainstream publishing world. This is not the only black fantasy series on the market and I see people are far more critical of the other ones compared to this. Go show love to some of the other black fantasy stories that don't have a machine behind them to succeed.
I'm tired of people saying, "Yeah, this book is pretty basic but white folks write mediocre fantasies too!" True are all newly released white YA fantasies compared to one story? There are nowhere near enough black fantasies on the shelves to justify half baked ones being lauded. This isn't the most poorly plotted fantasy I've read but it should be better. I'm being critical because I want to see black authors succeed.
And if you haven't watched Lex Mamie's critical reviews of CoVaV I highly suggest you watch those as well. There is a spoiler filled and non spoiler review.
Non Spoiler review
Spoiler review
I really enjoyed Jesse's take in their reading vlog which not only included both books but also included one of my favorite 2020 reads which was Raybearer. That book was amazing! It deserves more recognition and hype. And you can find my review on this blog (Raybearer Review).
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