by Tomi Adeyemi
Book: Legacy of Orisha #1
Publisher: Henry Holt
Pub Date: March 6, 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads Amazon
They killed my mother. They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha
hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s
Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic
disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving
Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and
strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must
outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for
good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires
prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be
Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings
for an enemy.
My Review: My husband and I started picking books out for
each other. No questions ask, just pick a random book the other will like and
read it. This was his choice and WOW did he pick a winner here.
Zelie is strong, wild, angry and also powerful. Right now for
Zelie it's a big day for her, she can finally graduate. Just as the fight is
happening, things come to a stand still quick as everything is hidden and
soldiers enter. They demand more coin from mama and well Zelie mouth gets her
in trouble...but it was them that took her mother from her and that anger still
lingers so strongly at the surface.
Things pick up the pace even more when the Princess runs away
and runs into Zelie who helps her out before knowing who she is. Well now its
them plus Zelie's brother heading back home. When they arrive they mention the
scroll to mama and that is when everything changes. Magic comes back to mama
and the scroll is a key role in what must be done. As mama regains her magic
and is able to see a vision of them fulfilling the quest to restore magic and
Zelie being the one to do it.
By now we know how Zelie is. But she knows that she has to do
this, because suddenly her town is in trouble and they have too get out now and
start their journey.
I loved this story. I loved reading this culture and the
details that the author gives is so well done that it makes the story really
magically and keeps you sucked in. The only things I wasn't over the moon about
was the romance and some character development. Romance was meh, but that's
okay since magic was the main goal here. Some characters developed great
throughout the story while some didn't change and just made them feel like
annoying secondary characters.
Regardless, I can't wait to jump into the next book and see
where this takes us next.
