Children of anguish and anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi

It is easy to slip into the final episode in the Legacy of Orisha trilogy which began with Children of blood and bone, and followed with Children of virtue and vengeance; you don’t need to have read the first two novels to enjoy the third. Zelie, a descendant of magic makers, along with her companions, is a captive of the Skulls, warriors with human bone masks led by the ruthless King Baldyr. The challenge of the outside invaders means that Zelie, Amari, Tzain and Inan have to overcome their past differences to unite to save the people of Orisha.

Adeyemi is an accomplished writer of action scenes, and the fight sequences are brilliantly described over multiple pages. The only problem is that one battle inevitably leads to another and the novel seems to become one long sequence of gory battles without end. There are also some shifts in character development that don’t meld well with previous depictions. It is as though the author was at a bit of a loss what to do with the characters she’d created and where to take them.

For those that were really invested in the fantasy world created by Nigerian-American writer Tomi Adeyemi, this book will bring all the tangled threads to a final conclusion, though some may find it all a bit rushed and disconnected from the vision of the first two novels.

Themes: Fantasy, Magic, Sacrifice, Slaver.

Helen Eddy