Children of Blood and Bone

**Children of Blood and Bone** is the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha series by Tomi Adeyemi.

## Publisher's Synopsis

> "*They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise.*"
> ― Zélie Adebola
>
>

"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."

## Plot

*See also: Children of Blood & Bone: Chapter Summaries*

In the land of Orïsha, there were once ten might clans of maji, each clan had a connection to a particular god or goddess, and were granted power over the element of their clan's god or goddess. The maji were born as divîners, with white hair and silver eyes, and gained their powers when they turned thirteen. For years, the people of Orïsha, both maji and kosidán (non-maji) lived in peace. While the maji clans were once secluded, they soon became integrated into the society of Orïsha, and were respected by all. But some of the maji began to abuse their magical gifts, leading to the murder of the kosidán king’s wife and children. In retaliation, the King orchestrated the Raid, one night in which every maji in Orïsha was slaughtered. During this night, the King also severed the bond between the maji and their gods, removing all magic from Orïsha and preventing the surviving divîner children from ever becoming maji.

Zélie Adebola, a divîner, was six when she witnessed the death of her mother, a Reaper maji, during the Raid. Eleven years later, she lives in the fishing village of Ilorin with her older brother, Tzain, and her father, Baba, who is haunted by the death of Zélie’s mother in the Raid years before. Tzain helps Baba with fishing, the family’s main source of income, while Zélie trains with other young divîner girls under Mama Agba, a kosidán seamstress who trains them in the art of staff-fighting.

After the Raid, surviving divîners and their allies are punished with ever-increasing taxes, and those who cannot afford them are forced to work in “the stocks.” Zélie’s family is visited by the tax collectors, who demand more than they can afford. Afraid for her family, Zélie goes to the city of Lagos to trade a valuable fish and to try to come up with the money. There she runs into Amari, a kosidán girl who has stolen an ancient scroll, possibly with the potential to return magic to Orïsha. Zélie helps Amari escape from the guards chasing her, who are led by the Orïshan prince, Inan.

Once they escape, Zélie learns Amari’s true identity: she is a princess, Inan’s sister, whose father, King Saran, orchestrated the Raid. Amari witnessed the death of her divîner friend and handmaid Binta at the hands of her father. Binta was killed after being used to test the powerful scroll, which could transform a divîner into a maji.

They return to Zélie’s village, Ilorin, atop Nailah, Zélie’s lionare. They then go to Mama Agba’s hut, where Mama Agba confirms the the scroll could indeed bring magic back to Orïsha. Mama Agba then reveals that she is a Seer, a maji that sees visions of the past and future. Before the Raid, she visited a Cancer, a maji that can cure and spread disease, and had her white hair removed. The scroll reawakens Mama Agba’s power and she brings forth a vision of the future, one in which Zélie, Tzain, and Amari travel through the jungle to the Hidden Temple, the place they must travel to to in order to restore magic to Orïsha.

King Saran sends Inan and his second-in-command, Admiral Kaea, to retrieve Amari and the scroll. They accidentally burn down Zélie’s village in their search, but Zélie, Tzain, and Amari, along with Baba and Mama Agba, escape. Zélie, Tzain, and Amari begin their quest, but along the way Inan begins to visit Zélie in her dreams. Inan has a secret; a white streak has appeared in his hair, and he has begun to see visions as well as the thoughts and emotions of others. At first, he thinks that Zélie is somehow poisoning him, but soon he realizes the truth. To his horror, Inan learns that he is a maji, and that his powers awoke after he touched the scroll. He becomes determined to find Zélie and kill her, and thus prevent the return of magic in Orïsha and ending his “curse.”

While on their quest, Zélie sees that Amari bears a horrible scar across her back. Though initially reluctant to talk about it, Amari reveals that it was the result of a training accident while she was sparring with her brother, something that Saran often forced them to do.

The trio finally reaches the ruins of Chândomblé, a maji temple, and discover that a sêntaro named Lekan remains there, the last of his brethren. The sêntaros were meant to be spiritual guardians of the magic, but all but Lekan were slain in the Raid. Lekan tells them the story of the gods, and the history of the maji. The Sky Mother created the gods in her image, and gave each one a piece of herself, the source of their powers. The sêntaros were led by the mamaláwo, who would perform a ritual in the Hidden Temple once a century, which would maintain the magical tether between the maji and the gods. The Temple was located on an island that only appears once every one hundred years, and the ritual must be completed during this time. For the ritual, the mamaláwo would use three artifacts: the scroll, the bone dagger, and the sunstone. King Saran learned of the ritual and had the mamaláwo and the séntaros killed, thus breaking the tether. He attempted to destroy the artifacts but did not succeed.

Lekan gives them the bone dagger, and tells Zélie, Amari, and Tzain that they must find the missing sunstone, which is a piece of the Sky Mother’s soul, and perform the ritual before end of the centennial solstice, or the Temple Island will disappear once again. Zélie then undergoes an awakening to connect her to the Sky Mother, making her the new mamaláwo, but the ritual leaves Zélie weakened. Before she can recover, Inan, Kaea, and the guards catch up to them and attack.

Lekan dies defending Zélie, Amari, and Tzain, and allows them to escape. Though Inan hates his “curse,” he decides that he may need to use his secret magic to find and kill Zélie. With his magic, he is able to sense her location and determine where she has gone next.

The trio then travels to Ibeji, a desert city with an enormous coliseum. Within the city the are many slave workers, who are told that they have a chance at freedom, riches, and eternal life if they fight in the coliseum. Eternal life is granted by a stone—the sunstone, and the riches come from the nobles who pay to watch large, mock naval battles in the flooded colosseum. The trio watch one of the competitions where crews on boats fight to the death. No one ever lives to win. Zélie, with her connection to the dead, is tormented by the spirits of those killed in the battles.

Inan visits Zélie in her dreams, and learns that his gift originates from, Orí, the God of mind, spirit, and dreams. Through Zélie’s dream he also learns where they are, but Commander Kaea then learns of his powers and Inan accidentally kills her with his uncontrolled magic. Inan blames Zélie for Kaea’s death, and for bringing this “curse” upon him.

Meanwhile, Zélie and her friends try to steal the sunstone, but they are unsuccessful. To Amari’s dismay, Zélie enters them into the competition, in hopes of surviving long enough to win the sunstone. During the competition, Zélie manages to raise an army of the dead and Amari kills the last other remaining captain, making them and their crew the winners. They share the prize money with their crew and obtain the sunstone.

The city celebrates well into the night, naming Zélie “the Immortal,” Tzain “the Commander,” and Amari “the Lionaire.” Having obtained all three artifacts, the trio continue their travels the next day. Inan manages to catch up with them and he and Zélie fight. While they are distracted, Tzain and Amari are kidnapped by a group of bandits.

Upon realizing Tzain and Amari have disappeared, Inan and Zélie agree to work together to find their siblings. They interrogate one of the bandits left behind and track down the camp where Tzain and Amari have been taken, and Zélie raises another army of the dead to help them breach the the camp. Once inside, they learn that the bandits are actually a group of young divîners that once possessed the scroll, and a few used the scroll to awake their powers.

Their leader is a girl named Zulaikha. Zulaikha agrees to help them on their quest, but first they must hold the celebration of Àjoyò, which commemorates the Sky Mother and the birth of the gods. During the celebration Zélie meets a foreign pick-pocket called Roën. She then questions whether giving all of the divîners their power back right now is a wise choice, and she decides to not share the scroll with them.

During this time Inan begins to trust Zélie, and thinks about a future where he is a fair king to all people. Zélie then helps Inan to control his magic, as he has been constantly suppressing it, something which has caused him pain and led to Kaea’s death. Tzain, however, still does not trust Inan, and decides to stop talking with Zélie, giving her the silent treatment in response to her being so quick to dismiss his crimes.

Tzain sees Inan and Zélie kissing and decides that he cannot stay to watch Zélie make another mistake. He grabs his things and leaves the camp, with Amari running after him. While they are away from the group, Saran’s soldiers arrive. They kill Zulaikha as she tries to reason with them and fighting breaks out, with many being killed and Zélie being captured.

Tzain and Amari travel to Gombe, where they enter the Gombe tóju, a place where divîners can gather and socialize freely. There they meet with one of Tzain’s agbön friends, Kenyon. They convince Kenyon and several divîners, including members of Kenyon’s agbön team, to touch the scroll and awaken their powers. Among them are Khani, a Healer, Imani, a Cancer, and Ife, a Tamer. They form a plan to break Zélie out of the fortress that the soldiers took her to.

Meanwhile, Zélie is tortured, with the word “MAGGOT” carved onto her back. To Zélie’s surprise, Inan is there, and despite Kaea’s death, he has returned to his father’s good graces following Zélie’s capture. While there, he tries to get Zélie to tell him how to destroy the scroll.

Tzain, Amari, and Kenyon go to the fortress, along with Imani and a few other divîners from the tóju. They go over their plan one last time, before attacking the fortress with their newfound magic.

During the attack, Inan breaks Zélie, who is now extremely weakened, out of her cell. He brings her down to Amari and Tzain, but decides to stay with his father. During the attack he sees the destructive capabilities of Imani's Cancer magic, and though he wanted to help Zélie, he becomes convinced once again that magic is too dangerous to remain in Orïsha.

The group brings Zélie back to the tóju, where Khani uses her Healer powers to heal many of her injuries. When Zélie wakes up, she realizes that her magic is gone, but decides to keep this a secret from the others, as she trusts that the gods have a purpose for her.

Their group travels to Jimeta, a lawless city, hoping to find someone who can take them on a boat to the temple island. To Zélie’s surprise, they find Roën, who happens to be the leader of a group of mercenaries, and Zélie convinces him to help them. As they are traveling, they encounter at least a dozen royal warships. Roën and his crew manage to commandeer one of the warships, and the group is able to make it to the island.

Once they enter the Hidden Temple, however, they are ambushed. Saran and Inan are there with dozens of royal soldiers, and there are more waiting in the battleships near shore. Saran then demands the three relics in exchange for Zélie’s father, who has been taken prisoner. Zélie goes through with the trade but once Saran possesses the relics he has Zélie’s father killed. The spirit of Zélie’s father reawakens Zélie’s magic, and she summons an army of the dead, leading to a battle.

Inan, desperate to rid Orïsha of magic forever, provokes Zélie into attacking him directly. As she attacks him with her magic, he holds out the scroll and it is destroyed. He drops the remains of scroll before seeing that one of Roën’s mercenaries is attempting to kill Saran. Inan, desperate to stop him, uses his magic to kill the mercenary. Saran sees this, and turns on Inan, as he is now "one of them." Saran kills Inan, but Amari sees this and attacks and kills her father.

With the battle over, Zélie tries to mend the broken scroll, but she is unsuccessful. The solstice begins, and the statues of the gods within the temple begin to glow.  Zélie uses her Reaper magic to call on the spirits of her ancestors, to forge a new connection with the gods. She speaks with the spirit of her mother, who tells her that soon she will learn what it is that she has done. Zélie tries to stay with her mother, but her mother tells her that it’s not over; it has only just begun.

Zélie wakes up at sea, surrounded by Amari, Tzain, and Roën. She asks the group if they were successful in bringing magic back to Orïsha. Everyone is silent, but Zélie notices a white streak in Amari's hair, and a blue aura swirling around her hands.

1. ↑ "Children of Blood and Bone | The #1 Bestseller." *TomiAdeyemi.com*. https://www.tomiadeyemi.com/books. Retrieved: 22 January 2021.