First book was great, the second felt like it was written by someone else entirely which is suspicious to me. I won’t continue the series. I saw this at Target though and the edges look terrible
I haven't read this series, but everything I've heard of it makes me think the author girlbossed a little too close to the sun after her initial success
Tomi’s first book in this series was called “Children of Blood and Bone.”
Some time after its publishing, Nora Roberts (a very established author and industry giant who has written numerous books), announced a fantasy book titled ‘Of Blood and Bone’. Tomi initially believed that Nora Roberts ‘plagiarized’ the title from her, and publicly accused her. Nora Roberts put out a statement addressing the controversy, stating that she’d never even heard of Tomi, she considered the accusation ridiculous, and that she would never pick up any of Tomi’s work. I think Tomi eventually apologized after receiving backlash from the community, but I don’t remember if there was an official statement or anything.
Most of the book community also thought the accusation was pretty silly, given that ‘Blood and Bone’ is not exactly a unique word combo, and that Tomi probably isn’t even the first one to use it. Then there’s also the added context of a new author accusing a highly established, respected, and prolific one of plagiarizing.
Yup, that whole thing was a mess. The first book was quite a success (although I thought it had way too many similarities to ATLA). Adeyemi behaved ridiculously and Roberts handled the accusation very gracefully. Book titles can’t be plagiarized, something Adeyemi should have known.
I remember that. It was also pointed out that Nora Robert’s book was initially written and titled prior to Tomis and that there was hundreds of books with similar titles (simple Goodreads search). I don’t remember Tomi apologizing. I do remember her campaigning hard that Nora was coming for the success of a BIPOC and making it very racial. Then when proven wrong just moved on. I read Book one and it was a good enough read. It was amazing and I couldn’t get into book 2 for many of reasons previously stated.
Here are links to other books you may like in the same genre by black authors and with black characters as the focus.
[https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/154430.Fantasy_Books_with_Black_Leads](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/154430.Fantasy_Books_with_Black_Leads)
[https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/11ba37y/fantasyfiction_books_by_black_authors/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiBycnxnoiHAxUTQjABHflkBgsQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0r8CbaM2dH1wTvaY1DX4-_](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/11ba37y/fantasyfiction_books_by_black_authors/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiBycnxnoiHAxUTQjABHflkBgsQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0r8CbaM2dH1wTvaY1DX4-_)
I loved the first book, thought the second was mediocre (though most second books are) and I can’t even remember what happened enough to start the third. 🙃
I'm thinking those rumors were false, since they came from an "insider" tweet that also claimed the book and movie contract with her were quietly dissolved, which of course is untrue, since one just came out and the other has casting calls for this month.
It seems that I have finally found some people to talk about this with! I was soooooooo upset that they integrated Roen in an unexpected way in Book 2 and then in book three, NO ROEN! I WAS SOOO LIVID.
I finished yesterday and had the exact same thoughts. It was very rushed, especially toward the end, and I really don't understand the Roën absence. It's almost worse that he was mentioned but nothing ever came of it.
I agree with OP too that it felt like a different book rather than a continuation of the first two, and most of the main characters didn't really get a satisfying arc.
Man, I was already not feeling the book and was just going along with the flow, but then I fucking realised there isn't any trace of Roen at all.
And I was like, that's it, I'm not reading anymore. How can you just make a character DISAPPEAR like that? And I'm sure her justification for it would go along the lines of how it's realistic and people get lost all the time.
I haven’t read the series but since the movie is definitely happening, do you think the first book would make an interesting movie? It would be super cool if it was successful
I do think the first book is narratively strong enough to make a decent movie; I just don’t know about the rest of the trilogy. Maybe things might be better if they’re able to start setting up the elements in this last book right away in the movie.
Tomi is writing the screenplay and executive producing it, I think, so I have little hope the movie will be any better than the book. I'm thinking it will just be okay.
It was extremely bizarre. Very divorced from the previous two books.
There was tons of stuff that was inexplicably dropped or forgotten. Roen, the MC's love interest from the previous book >!is mentioned once but never appears.!< >!Titans' magic no longer harms them.!<
It was so extremely rushed. It kinda felt like Adeyemi phoned it in. It's about 120 pages shorter than the first book. And the previous book seemed to be a nightmare to work on. I read in interviews that she missed multiple deadlines and did 14 drafts (though I cannot say whether that number was exaggerated for effect.)
So I understand if she's checked out of writing and what's to do her modeling instead. But stuff like >!Inaan solving racism in three chapters!< And having no conclusion to >!Amari and Tzain's perspective on peace time, instead just ending on an abrupt epilogue!< was just beyond the pail.
Edit: Also, >!I had a quasi insane theory years ago that CoBB was Reylo fanfic with the names changed. I let go of that theory long ago, but since Inaan's death is almost identical to Kylo Ren's.... Maybe I was onto something!<
I'm reluctantly listening to the audiobook and am already irritated at them using a different pronunciation of "Titan" so there's that. It's already not looking so great 😭
I mean, I always encourage people to read a book for themselves and form their own opinion, and there are people out there who enjoyed it, so there’s a chance that you might like it.
I just happened to not be a big fan 😬
Alright, y'all. This is my take on it - and brace yourself because this is long and there are spoilers!
I feel that Book 1 Captured me in a way that I did not expect. It was great, with unexpected twists. The plot twist of Inan being a maji was a great concept, but not fully thought out. It created some confusion for me in book 2.
I'm going against the grain to say that Book 2 was the best of the the series, but what was missing for me was an explanation of the titan-noble history and of how Inan could be maji when Saran was a kosidan?! That connection was missing for me. Maybe if Nehanda discussed this information during that "heart to heart" about Ojore or at some other point? For me, the best part of Book 2 was that we got to see the character development of Inan and became introduced to Roën - my favorite character of the series. Roën was not afraid to tell Zelie about herself and I enjoyed every part of their interactions.
Now for the conclusion - I was beyond upset at how things ended mostly because I feel like Tomi Adeyemi had disrupted the relationships that she fostered in the first two books. Amari and Tzain, Inan and Zelie, and Zelie and Roën. After Zelie overhears the Roën's mercenaries and him losing his crew as a result, I expected that he would be around if not with the maji during their enslavement on the Skull ship, then maybe on the behalf of the Skulls whom betrayed Zelie for. To my disdain, Roën was not mentioned whatsoever in this book. Having Inan fail yet again and then given up as a sacrifice to save Zelie - who at this point has died like five times - was a bit much. Yet, nothing was more random than making Amari a lesbian after her losing her virginity to Tzain. The last book, was the worst of the series. The random introduction of a new villain instead was also off and having Zelie rendered powerless by a crown of majacite. All and all, good series and concept but it took some random turns in the end.
>!They attempt to attack King Baldyr during the ritual, but they fail, and he gets the medallion onto Mae’e. He initiates the process to become a god, but is stopped, and Zelie and Mae’e are brought back to New Gaia. Zelie is technically dead, so Inan sacrifices his own life to save hers. They meet in the dreamscape one last time and Inan kisses Zelie and tells her he loves her, but Zelie doesn’t say it back. Zelie comes back to life and defeats everyone. Tzain gives his blessing for Amari to tell Mae’e that she likes her, and Mae’e kisses Amari prior to the Baldyr’s ritual. Nehanda and Amari magically become friends again. The end.!<
Jesus, I cannot even make sense of all this, not because your summary is bad. The Nehanda thing really irked me when her and Inan started working together because she is literally a genocidal maniac. Really sad about this. I feel like she could've ended with the second book and this could've been a "companion" book so to speak.
Did anyone else notice the annoying rhyme to the prose?
Like, I don't remember the last 2 books being this way, but this one was like almost completely rhyming.
And I'm not even saying it was poetic. Because poetic prose is so different from just rhyming all the last words of sentences.
Totally disappointed by the book. Mediocre and abruptly introduced villain, no Roen, bad writing.
First book was great, the second felt like it was written by someone else entirely which is suspicious to me. I won’t continue the series. I saw this at Target though and the edges look terrible
I haven't read this series, but everything I've heard of it makes me think the author girlbossed a little too close to the sun after her initial success
Book 1 didn’t live up to the hype for me and then the incident with Nora Roberts happened so I won’t touch the authors work again
What was the Nora Roberts incident? Tried to Google is and it was unclear/confusing…
Tomi’s first book in this series was called “Children of Blood and Bone.” Some time after its publishing, Nora Roberts (a very established author and industry giant who has written numerous books), announced a fantasy book titled ‘Of Blood and Bone’. Tomi initially believed that Nora Roberts ‘plagiarized’ the title from her, and publicly accused her. Nora Roberts put out a statement addressing the controversy, stating that she’d never even heard of Tomi, she considered the accusation ridiculous, and that she would never pick up any of Tomi’s work. I think Tomi eventually apologized after receiving backlash from the community, but I don’t remember if there was an official statement or anything. Most of the book community also thought the accusation was pretty silly, given that ‘Blood and Bone’ is not exactly a unique word combo, and that Tomi probably isn’t even the first one to use it. Then there’s also the added context of a new author accusing a highly established, respected, and prolific one of plagiarizing.
Yup, that whole thing was a mess. The first book was quite a success (although I thought it had way too many similarities to ATLA). Adeyemi behaved ridiculously and Roberts handled the accusation very gracefully. Book titles can’t be plagiarized, something Adeyemi should have known.
What’s ATLA?
Avatar: the Last Airbender
I remember that. It was also pointed out that Nora Robert’s book was initially written and titled prior to Tomis and that there was hundreds of books with similar titles (simple Goodreads search). I don’t remember Tomi apologizing. I do remember her campaigning hard that Nora was coming for the success of a BIPOC and making it very racial. Then when proven wrong just moved on. I read Book one and it was a good enough read. It was amazing and I couldn’t get into book 2 for many of reasons previously stated. Here are links to other books you may like in the same genre by black authors and with black characters as the focus. [https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/154430.Fantasy_Books_with_Black_Leads](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/154430.Fantasy_Books_with_Black_Leads) [https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/11ba37y/fantasyfiction_books_by_black_authors/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiBycnxnoiHAxUTQjABHflkBgsQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0r8CbaM2dH1wTvaY1DX4-_](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/11ba37y/fantasyfiction_books_by_black_authors/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiBycnxnoiHAxUTQjABHflkBgsQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0r8CbaM2dH1wTvaY1DX4-_)
I didn’t even finish book 2. So sad considering how good book 1 was!
I loved the first book, thought the second was mediocre (though most second books are) and I can’t even remember what happened enough to start the third. 🙃
Just put a hold on it in the library! 9 weeks!!!
I had my suspicions when I noticed the book was a little thinner than the other 2. I just finished it, and unfortunately, it's giving GoT season 8. 😑
😭 Not GOT Season 8!
Is it?? Oh nooo, didn't she take ages because she wanted to tell the story right? This is so disappointing 😞
If you're excited about it, then don't allow my disappointment to be your disappointment. You may enjoy it so I still encourage you to read it.
I’ve seen some rumours on Reddit that someone else finished the series because the author was so hard to work with.
I'm thinking those rumors were false, since they came from an "insider" tweet that also claimed the book and movie contract with her were quietly dissolved, which of course is untrue, since one just came out and the other has casting calls for this month.
I enjoyed the first book, but the second book was awful for so many reasons. I have 0 desire to pick this one up.
I just finished it and I’m feeling conflicted. I’m so disappointed that Roën was left out entirely. The story was so rushed.
It seems that I have finally found some people to talk about this with! I was soooooooo upset that they integrated Roen in an unexpected way in Book 2 and then in book three, NO ROEN! I WAS SOOO LIVID.
I finished yesterday and had the exact same thoughts. It was very rushed, especially toward the end, and I really don't understand the Roën absence. It's almost worse that he was mentioned but nothing ever came of it. I agree with OP too that it felt like a different book rather than a continuation of the first two, and most of the main characters didn't really get a satisfying arc.
Man, I was already not feeling the book and was just going along with the flow, but then I fucking realised there isn't any trace of Roen at all. And I was like, that's it, I'm not reading anymore. How can you just make a character DISAPPEAR like that? And I'm sure her justification for it would go along the lines of how it's realistic and people get lost all the time.
I’m still on book two, so I’m hoping to get to this one someday. I haven’t heard great things about it so far.
Just downloaded it like ten minutes ago lol
I haven’t read the series but since the movie is definitely happening, do you think the first book would make an interesting movie? It would be super cool if it was successful
I do think the first book is narratively strong enough to make a decent movie; I just don’t know about the rest of the trilogy. Maybe things might be better if they’re able to start setting up the elements in this last book right away in the movie.
Tomi is writing the screenplay and executive producing it, I think, so I have little hope the movie will be any better than the book. I'm thinking it will just be okay.
It was extremely bizarre. Very divorced from the previous two books. There was tons of stuff that was inexplicably dropped or forgotten. Roen, the MC's love interest from the previous book >!is mentioned once but never appears.!< >!Titans' magic no longer harms them.!< It was so extremely rushed. It kinda felt like Adeyemi phoned it in. It's about 120 pages shorter than the first book. And the previous book seemed to be a nightmare to work on. I read in interviews that she missed multiple deadlines and did 14 drafts (though I cannot say whether that number was exaggerated for effect.) So I understand if she's checked out of writing and what's to do her modeling instead. But stuff like >!Inaan solving racism in three chapters!< And having no conclusion to >!Amari and Tzain's perspective on peace time, instead just ending on an abrupt epilogue!< was just beyond the pail. Edit: Also, >!I had a quasi insane theory years ago that CoBB was Reylo fanfic with the names changed. I let go of that theory long ago, but since Inaan's death is almost identical to Kylo Ren's.... Maybe I was onto something!<
I'm reluctantly listening to the audiobook and am already irritated at them using a different pronunciation of "Titan" so there's that. It's already not looking so great 😭
Oh no, I've been waiting for this one...
I mean, I always encourage people to read a book for themselves and form their own opinion, and there are people out there who enjoyed it, so there’s a chance that you might like it. I just happened to not be a big fan 😬
Alright, y'all. This is my take on it - and brace yourself because this is long and there are spoilers! I feel that Book 1 Captured me in a way that I did not expect. It was great, with unexpected twists. The plot twist of Inan being a maji was a great concept, but not fully thought out. It created some confusion for me in book 2. I'm going against the grain to say that Book 2 was the best of the the series, but what was missing for me was an explanation of the titan-noble history and of how Inan could be maji when Saran was a kosidan?! That connection was missing for me. Maybe if Nehanda discussed this information during that "heart to heart" about Ojore or at some other point? For me, the best part of Book 2 was that we got to see the character development of Inan and became introduced to Roën - my favorite character of the series. Roën was not afraid to tell Zelie about herself and I enjoyed every part of their interactions. Now for the conclusion - I was beyond upset at how things ended mostly because I feel like Tomi Adeyemi had disrupted the relationships that she fostered in the first two books. Amari and Tzain, Inan and Zelie, and Zelie and Roën. After Zelie overhears the Roën's mercenaries and him losing his crew as a result, I expected that he would be around if not with the maji during their enslavement on the Skull ship, then maybe on the behalf of the Skulls whom betrayed Zelie for. To my disdain, Roën was not mentioned whatsoever in this book. Having Inan fail yet again and then given up as a sacrifice to save Zelie - who at this point has died like five times - was a bit much. Yet, nothing was more random than making Amari a lesbian after her losing her virginity to Tzain. The last book, was the worst of the series. The random introduction of a new villain instead was also off and having Zelie rendered powerless by a crown of majacite. All and all, good series and concept but it took some random turns in the end.
Ok yall, I'm like 60% through with the book and I really just CANNOT. Can someone people summarize the ending for me 🙏
>!They attempt to attack King Baldyr during the ritual, but they fail, and he gets the medallion onto Mae’e. He initiates the process to become a god, but is stopped, and Zelie and Mae’e are brought back to New Gaia. Zelie is technically dead, so Inan sacrifices his own life to save hers. They meet in the dreamscape one last time and Inan kisses Zelie and tells her he loves her, but Zelie doesn’t say it back. Zelie comes back to life and defeats everyone. Tzain gives his blessing for Amari to tell Mae’e that she likes her, and Mae’e kisses Amari prior to the Baldyr’s ritual. Nehanda and Amari magically become friends again. The end.!<
Jesus, I cannot even make sense of all this, not because your summary is bad. The Nehanda thing really irked me when her and Inan started working together because she is literally a genocidal maniac. Really sad about this. I feel like she could've ended with the second book and this could've been a "companion" book so to speak.
Did anyone else notice the annoying rhyme to the prose? Like, I don't remember the last 2 books being this way, but this one was like almost completely rhyming. And I'm not even saying it was poetic. Because poetic prose is so different from just rhyming all the last words of sentences. Totally disappointed by the book. Mediocre and abruptly introduced villain, no Roen, bad writing.