Review: Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tomi Adeyemi took almost two years after her debut to bring us Children of Virtue and Vengeance, and the final product we got - the middle entry of the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy, that is, unless Adeyemi pulls a Victoria Aveyard and extends it to four novels, which I would NOT be surprised if she did - is more than worth the wait. And like last year with Queen of Air and Darkness, 2019 has saved its best for (borderline) last, with CoVaV all but guaranteed to earn itself the top spot in this year's Pinecone Awards.


I can't get too deep into the plot of this one without giving away major spoilers for Book 1, so I'm going to keep it light. All I will say is that if you're a student of Marie Lu, especially of the Young Elites series, you'll remember a lot of Rose Society plot beats that this book covers too. Zélie, in particular, is increasingly angry and ready to exact that Vengeance in the title, and not without reason either. Meanwhile, Amari is struggling to keep Zélie grounded alongside Tzain - for numerous reasons, because while Amari/Tzain is one of the primary ships of this book (along with Zélie/Roën, the latter being even more of a Nikolai than ever), it's pretty strongly implied (at least to my bi eye) that Amari's infatuated with Zélie too. But Amari's got her work cut out for her, because Zélie is following a path not only similar to Adelina Amouteru, but also Jess from Court of Fives and Mare Barrow, in that she's bound and determined and super committed to social upheaval at any cost.

And then there's some surprises in store. Again, no spoilers, but damn. I mean...BLOODYDAMN. Though this book is significantly shorter than its predecessor, Adeyemi doesn't slow things down for a second, nor does she spare a good, lyrical detail. The sheer rainbow of magical hues, when Lucasfilm gets around to making this film, will boggle the mind and make them have to invent whole new lighting systems for all our theaters.

But the cliffhanger on this book has to be seen to be believed. No joke, it's the most brutal in all of modern YA history, especially now that Adeyemi's incorporating another, very devastating, real-world reference.

The third book is going to be a long wait, and the stakes for that one are some of the highest we'll ever see, of that I can guarantee.

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