(Legacy of Orïsha #1)
Publication
Date: March 6, 2018
Hardcover, 544 pages, Henry Holt
Genres:
YA, Fantasy
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
So this was my recently-created high school book club
reunion’s book club pick for July. I’ve had it on my shelves for about a year
or so, and I’ve just been waiting to dig into it once the last book is closer
to being released. And I can definitely say that I’m happy we read it. It’s a
super fun and inspiring fantasy world.
Zélie, our main character, is rebellious, and she can also
be super stubborn. That stubbornness was actually refreshing, especially with how
it took her time to trust people versus other main characters in fantasy series
who trust waaaay too easily and end up paying for it in the end. However, Zélie
did make some strange decisions, like stopping for a party when she had a
limited amount of time to complete a task. As for Inan, he’s the brooding prince
with secret magic. I should love him. And I do. But I’m also mad at him. But at
the same time, I get where he's coming from. He’s definitely got a Prince Zuko possible
redemption arc thing going on. It intrigues me.
The third point-of-view we get is Amari, Inan’s sister. She
started out as a kind of a meh character, but she actually grew into a fierce
protagonist. I’m excited to see how her role expands in future installments,
and I’m glad she isn’t just another spoiled, rich princess with no skills. And
the final main character, who doesn’t get a POV chapter, is Tzain. He’s the
overprotective big brother. He makes me think of a squishy-soft deadly grizzly
bear. Cute, fluffy, and friendly, but deadly.
As for the big bad of the book, we have Saran, Inan and
Amari’s father. He’s kind of a cross between a stereotypical villain and yet not
at the same time. He gets a lot of his characterization from his children’s flashback
scenes, which I very much enjoyed and wanted more of. Towards the end of the
book, when he’s seen on page, he just wasn’t as intimidating. I think the fear
his children had for their father really made him seem monstrous. Through other
POVs, he just wasn’t as terrifying.
There’s plenty of action between these four characters and
all the chaos of Adeyemi’s world. I was only slightly bored during one scene,
which I think was just because I was having issues picturing what exactly was
going on. It was a boat, gladiator-type scene that I just couldn’t seem to wrap
my head around. And that’s also where I have to admit that the magic could be a
tad confusing. Not in the abilities, but the actual scope of the powers and how
they could/couldn’t be used. There wasn’t a limit explained (or maybe I just
didn’t understand it), as to what each power could do. Honestly, because of the
lack of limitations, the battle magic was the least interesting part to me. I
preferred when they all fought with regular weapons or were on the run.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this, despite some nitpicking.
There’s plenty of action, a ton of magic, and some romance that has me ready
for books two and three, though I’m nervous about the sequel, as I’ve heard
not-so-great things.
