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Africanfuturism in Children of Blood and Bone

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Africanfuturism in Children of Blood and Bone

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The world created within Tomi Adeyemi’s, Children of Blood and Bone, is heavily inspired by Africa. The novel definitely fits into the subgenre that is Africanfuturism. Children of Blood and Bone is a work of young adult fantasy filled with magic, and mythical elements. Now, where does Africanfuturism tie in? Children of Blood and Bone not only includes fantastical themes, but it is heavily influenced by African culture. Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian native, which really shows in her work. Children of Blood and Bone is a West-African-inspired fantasy, though, a Nigerian-inspired fantasy especially. I concluded this due to the fact that the capital city of Orisha, the world in Children of Blood and Bone, is Lagos, the same as the Nigerian capital. The cities of Ilorin, Sokoto, and Ibadan are, too, real cities present in Nigeria. Also, one of the main languages of Nigeria, Yoruba, is the same as the language the Divîners, and Maji use to do magic within the novel. It is clear that African mythology was also used as inspiration in the piece. For example, within Yoruba lore, there is a concept known as ashe which means you have power over certain uncontrollable things. Ashe is used within Children of Blood and Bone, as a “state” in which the magic people achieve. As you can see, Africanfuturism is clearly tied into the novel, Children of Blood and Bone.

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The Environment & World-building of Children of Blood and Bone

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The Environment & World-building of Children of Blood and Bone

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The worldbuilding in Children of Blood and Bone is nothing short of spectacular. The world is a blend of magic, African culture, mythology, and interesting settings. Before our story begins, Adeyemi lays out the Maji clans: the Reapers, Connectors, Tiders, Burners, Winders, Grounders, Welders, Lighters, Healers, Cancers, Seers, and Tamers. Adeyemi also creates a new language, and uses the language Yoruba. She combines Nigerian culture with magical elements so well. I was simply enthralled with the world.

The map, and different cities were also very interesting and provide many different environments. One of the cities, Lagos, the capital city, has a large population and is overcome with traders. However, there is also a “bad” part of town where the Maji are forced to live. There are also desert settings, ocean-side towns, mountain regions, and forest-like locations. Nearly every detail in this book ties in with West-African mythology, and Nigerian culture. Overall Tomi Adeyemi’s, Children of Blood and Bone, is a wonderful piece of media with an intricate world that I can't wait to keep exploring.

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In coercing their employees to succumb to the manipulation of their minds in exchange for a job, the company exploits the most valuable resource our narrator can provide. After a history of Europeans exploiting the physical resources of the African continent, "they mined the minerals, diamonds, and jewels of our very thoughts and histories and cultures that had been buried in our brains" (Tsamasse 50). It is compelling to think about how the richest people in the world can shift from stealing the resources from others to stealing their intellectual property. In exploiting their employees' minds, these companies are profiting from the culture of Africans. The fact that the police in this story could not catch the company in the act of intellectual theft makes me think about the ways in which this theft probably already occurs without us noticing it.

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I found it shocking how the bosses in "Behind our Irises" not only used their apps to control the minds of their employees, but also to control their bodies. Under the control of these apps, the women, like our protagonist become "loyal, unmarried employees who occasionally loved to sleep with their bosses" (Tsamasse 50). While sexual harassment is nothing new in the corporate world, it is appalling to think about it going to the next level, in which women have absolutely no control over their bodies.

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The conflict in "Fort Kwame" underscores the conflicts that have already begun to arise in our own world as the climate crisis forces people to move from their homes. The climate crisis is bound to reshape society, just like in the story "when the ice sheets first started melting and submerging continents, the coastal towns migrated inland" (Lubangakene 56). Climate refugees already exist, and as people are forced to move, there is bound to be conflict. Unfortunately, it appears that those who are the main causes of the climate crises are also those who will have the resources to exert power over those most affected by the climate disasters. I think Lubangakene did a good job highlighting the injustices that become highlighted in a crisis such as we are seeing with our environment today. "Everyone Naleni knew had lost family members to radiation leaking from the pylons. This was the unfortunate legacy of the scramble to survive in a broken world (59).

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I found this story to be so fascinating! Aliyu really dives deeply into the issues of women becoming infertile and the injustices that arise out of this issue. In many ways, this story reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale and the way that only those with means were able to have children, even though it meant using the bodies of poor women in order to bear those children. In this world, society is split into areas with children and those without and "on the outside, there was an assumption that everyone in the zones had children and even if they didn't, they had the money or ability to have one created" (Aliyu 70). This concept focuses in on the fact that even today, many treatments for infertility are often only available to those with the means to afford them. This means that if infertility rises across the world, only the women with money will be able to bear children. What happens when society robs women of the choice to have children simply because she lacks excessive amounts of resources? Is this not the same as the forced sterilization of poor people and people of color as has happened in the past and present? Is one only worthy of life if one has money?

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Becoming one with the trees is something that I found quite compelling. This story reminded me of Ken Liu's short story, "Staying Behind" about people choosing to upload their consciousnesses to the Singularity. Here, the characters are told that they are able to use engines to "parse out our human consciousnesses and pulse them into the network...where they become one with the planet" (Diene 81). For some reason, the concept of joining a technological virtual reality is much more terrifying than joining my consciousness with a tree. I think it is because one is so inherently manmade and the other is so much more natural. Either way, it was compelling to think about technology being used as a tool to help humans connect back with the Earth, a concept that we should consider more in our own world.

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Gender & Sexuality in Children of Blood and Bone

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Gender & Sexuality in Children of Blood and Bone

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It is very common, especially in media, to see men play warrior-type characters. Though, something I believe may be a prevalent trope in the Africanfuturism genre is female warriors. Zélie, one of our main characters, is a fighter. The opening scene of Children of Blood and Bone is Zélie sparring with one of her arch rivals. We learn a bit more about the operation of this “sparring club,” but these are the main elements. They are all women, and the class is led by a women fighter. “A collective exhale echoes from the fifteen other girls who weren’t chosen.” (Adeyemi 4) They spar with staffs. Lastly, the class is “racially” blended. Meaning some characters are Divîners, and others are Orïshans. Divîners have magic, white hair, and darker complexions. Orïshans do not have magic; they have lighter skin, and golden eyes. The story, as I said, begins with Zélie sparring with Yemi. Yemi is an Orïshan who constantly ridicules Zélie. This scene sets up Zélie’s character quite nicely. Zélie is fierce, hot-headed, an incredibly skilled fighter, almost to a fault, and at times arrogant. We meet another character named Amari, who is quite different than Zélie. Amari is very passive; she doesn't like to speak up, and she has a lot of anxiety, but she will fight for the people she cares about, which is something she, and Zélie have in common. Reading both the POVs of these incredibly strong female characters is captivating. Seeing how they both work out issues, bond with characters, and deal with complex themes helped me understand them, and really appreciate their characters. Reading about a female character, such as Zélie, who is abstinent, and emotional but still so capable, and skilled, was refreshing. Then reading about a character like Amari, who is shy, and very anxious, but also such a gifted fighter, is wondrous. Even though I am only a third of the way through the novel, watching their relationship grow is so beautiful. While they do come from different backgrounds, and upbringings, watching them come together and begin to form a relationship is already so rewarding.

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Culture, Politics, & Race in Children of Blood and Bone

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Culture, Politics, & Race in Children of Blood and Bone

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There are many discussions on culture, politics, and race within Children of Blood and Bone. Firstly it is no surprise that many people's perspective on Africa is very poor. They believe the content to be completely unsafe, and filled with corruption, crime, poverty, and war. Obviously, this perspective is incredibly short-sighted, and clouded by racism. I believe one of Adeyemi’s goals with this story was to show the reader all the beautiful parts of Africa. The harsh stereotyping of Africa is so prevalent, especially in Western pieces, that many believe Africa to be a place completely deprived of hope. While the world of Orïsha does suffer from evil, and corruption Adeyemi still instills so much hope into her novel. Squashing the idea that Africa is just a pit of misery.

This isn't the only racism Adeyemi discusses within, Children of Blood and Bone. In the Author’s note of this novel, Adeyemi discusses how writing this book helped her work out some of the frustration, and helplessness she felt during the Black Lives Matter movement. “I felt afraid angry, and helpless, but this book was the one thing that made me feel like I could do something about it.” (Adeyemi 526)

You also see one of the main characters, Zélie, experience racism in the first chapter. The girl she is sparring with refers to her as a “maggot.” Which in this fantasy world, the word is used as a slur for the Divîners. “Yemi’s voice dips so low only I can hear it. ‘Listen to Mama Agba. Be a good little maggot.’ And there it is. That word. That miserable, degrading slur.’” (Adeyemi 6) I cannot wait to keep reading this story and watch the culture, and politics continue to develop.

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Summary of Chapters 1-19 in Children of Blood and Bone

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Summary of Chapters 1-19 in Children of Blood and Bone

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The novel begins with Zélie sparring with one of her arch-rivals. She belongs to a sparring group composed of all women. She hopes to graduate from this group, which is why she is sparring with one of the best girls in the class. We are also given some insight into Zélie’s life. Zélie lives with her brother, and father. Her mother was killed in a massacre a few years previous. Within this world, the Royal family used to have magic. Though they grew too cocky, and the Gods punished them by taking away their magic. The Royal family then faced some backlash; the citizens now believed they were inferior since they were weaker than the Maji. This caused an uproar, and the Royal family retaliated by killing all the Magi and orphaning their Divîner children. Zélie’s mother was one of the Magi who was killed; she was strung up in a tree barred in Magacite (their kryptonite) chains.

Ever since the genocide, the Maji and Divîner’s are constantly being persecuted. They are seen as second-class citizens, and even taxed higher. Due to Zélie’s mother dying, her father has been struggling to the point where he needs someone with him at all times. Even though Zélie left, to graduate, it was her day to stay at home with her dad, not her brother. However, Zélie can be very hot-headed at times, and almost selfish. Due to her not being with her father, he ends up almost drowning. Zélie feels very bad about this, so she goes on a quest to the capital city in hopes of making a grand sum of money. On this journey, she meets another main character, Amari.

Amari is the princess of the kingdom in the world of Orïsha. She is quite passive, very shy, and incredibly afraid of her father, the King. In the palace, there is only one Divîner, Binta, who happens to be Amari’s best friend. At the beginning of the story, Binta is called in to see the King. Amari grows nervous and sneaks into the room to make sure Amari is okay, and what she sees is shocking. Binta is holding a scroll; a scroll said to bring magic back into a person. Then after the King shows this to Binta, he kills her, leaving Amari shocked. She is so overcome with grief she steals the scroll and runs away.

Amari runs into Zélie, and Zélie takes her back to her village. Mama Agba tells them about her vision, in which they go on a journey together. That is where our story starts, Amari, Zélie, and Tzain going on a journey. We also follow Inan, whose fate may be intertwined! I am very excited to see the direction this story takes!

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One similarity I found between both words was the prevalence of corruption. The Maji and Divîners are persecuted heavily within this world. The Royal family, especially the King of Orïsha, is a tyrant. He feels inferior to the Maji, due to the fact that he does not have magic, therefore, will never be stronger. Due to this, he extends control over his subjects to an extreme degree. This tyrannical government reminds me of some current countries' ways of governing in our world. Very controlling, intense leaders never work well, and these countries and this novel proves that. Corruption is so prevalent in our world. I hope this novel explores these themes more deeply since I find the political intrigue of this piece very interesting.

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One similarity between the world of Orisha and our own is the way that the government uses prisons to exploit the minorities in the society. In Orisha, people who cannot pay the unjust taxes, typically the Divîners, are forced into stocks to become the kingdom's labor force. While it is meant to be a system that people can escape from, "it's no more than a state-sanctioned death sentence. An excuse to round up my people" (Adeyemi 28). Unfortunately, here in America, we see our society toss people of color into prisons at far higher rates than white people, and our prison system is one that tends to trap prisoners in for a long time. Also, the fact that prisoners are forced to do labor for stupidly low wages means that our prisons are not that far off from the stocks in Orisha.

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In the world of Orisha, not only are the citizens separated into divîners and kosidáns based on their white hair that indicates the potential for magic, but also by their skin complexion. When Zéile faces off against Yemi, she notes, "the only thing I see is her luscious black hair, her coconut-brown skin, so much lighter than my own" (Adeyemi 4). Throughout the book, we see how Zéile is treated differently because of her hair and skin color. Those with lighter complexions choose to exert power over those with darker complexions.

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One of the many ways in which the ruthless King of Orisha exerts control over others in his kingdom is through the power of language. As we know, language is an essential element to culture and heritage. Unfortunately, in our own world, English gets used to steamroll other languages, threatening the cultural practices of many around the world. In Orisha, divîners are not allowed to speak Yoruba, because it is the language of magic. When Mama Agba uses the language after gaining her magic again, Zéile realizes that all she's "heard are the harsh stops and guttural sounds of Orishan, the tongue we are forced to speak. It's been...too long since the language of my people didn't only exist in my memories" (Adeyemi 90). By utilizing Yoruba once more, Mama Agba shows the power of language and cultural practices.

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Ilorin, Zéile's hometown, is built upon the sea. "Waves crash against the wooden pillars that keep our settlement afloat" (Adeyemi 21). Not only do the people in her village rely on fishing from the sea to feed themselves and earn a living, they literally rely on the sea to keep their homes afloat. This direct connection with the water is both life giving and dangerous. We see the former when Zéile is able to sell a prize fish in Lagos that was caught from the waters of her home. We witness the harshness of the water when her father almost drowned while attempting to go fishing on his own.

The whole country of Orisha is geographically complex, with mountains, fields, and water changing the landscape in each direction. I think this adds depth to the story, as the environment becomes its own character in the book. In fact, it is on a sacred mountain that Orishans are able to become connected with the gods.  I am excited to see more of how the world of Orisha unfolds with the rest of the story.

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Summary of Chapters 20-52 in Children of Blood and Bone

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Summary of Chapters 20-52 in Children of Blood and Bone

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This portion of the novel would be considered the middle. We are following Amari, Zélie, and Tzain as they go on a journey through the land of Orisha. They are journeying, specifically, to a temple that they hope will provide them with answers. When they arrive at Chândomblé, they meet a religious figure who resights stories of the gods to our group of characters. He tells them in order to bring magic back to Orisha; they will need the sunstone, scroll, and bone dagger. Then they will need to conduct a ceremony of sorts, on an island, with the magical objects, on the day of the solstice. Then he awakens Zélie’s magic.

They then arrive at a rather busy desert town. This town houses an arena of sorts, almost reminiscent of the Colosseum. People are fighting in this arena for a prize, which evidently is the sunstone. Amari fights in the arena, and they end up winning the sunstone. Now they have all the artifacts.

Alongside Amari, Zélie, and Tzain’s journey, we are also following Inan. Inan has built a dreamscape in his mind where he can see and talk to Zélie. This use of his magic has caused a white streak in his hair to form. Inan ends up finding the others in the temple and murders the priest. However, the group ends up escaping. Inan is really struggling with his magic, since he continues to suppress it, which hurts him greatly. Due to the pain, he ends up trying to use his power and, in his rage, kills Kaea.

After the group acquires the sunstone, they meet up with Inan. Inan and Zélie end up fighting, and Amarti and Tzain get captured by divîners. These divîners end up torturing Tzain for information. They torture him because Amari, a noble, has the scroll that, which scares them. Inan and Zélie decide to work together to save their siblings, quite reluctantly, might I add. Through their allyship, Inan begins to see the world through Zélie’s point of view, which causes him to be empathic towards her, which strengthens their relationship. Inan and Zélie then make it to the divîners base, and attack. Zu, one of the divîners, stops this fight and realizes they are with Amari and Tzain. The divîners stop torturing Tzain since they now know Amarti was telling the truth, that they are traveling with a maji. They all come to the conscience that they all want to restore magic to Orisha.

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In addition to Zéile being a fantastic fighter, she also is a Divîner, having gained this magical ancestry from her mother. While it was purely genetic chance that Zéile got this trait instead of her brother, I found it interesting how the trait followed the women in the family, especially when it is so common to see things like powers being passed from fathers to sons in many stories.

Another trait that Zéile got from her mother is her rage. When she is groped by a guard outside of the capital city of Lagos, she feels "a black rage, a darkness [she] sensed in Mama whenever the guards dared to get in her way" (Adeyemi 51). This deep anger is a part of her Divîner self, but it is also a tie to her mother. I find it awesome to read about a protagonist who is a girl who channels her rage into being a brutal warrior. This is not a character type I see often in literature, but I fully support it.

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Inan Realizes the Evil Present in His Kingdom 

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Inan Realizes the Evil Present in His Kingdom 

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One character’s journey, in particular, I found to be interesting was Inans. Inan, at the beginning of the novel, was portrayed as a villain character. “‘Magic is the root of all of all our problems. It’s the root of Orisha’s pain!’” (Adeyemi 311) He treated the divîners like second-class citizens and used his own power to harm others. Inan was heavily influenced by his father, however, so it is hard to condemn him fully. Though as the story progresses, Inan becomes more aware of his father's faults. “I see it all. The world Father created. The pain she’s forced to live in.” (Adeyemi 285) Inan begins to see Orisha from Zélie’s perspective. The pain his father caused, this evil world he has created. Inan still has this internal conflict, however. His whole life, he has been taught magic, and the divîners are the root of all evil. Unlearning something, such as that, is difficult. Seeing someone, who believed that killing the maji and removing magic was a good idea realize it was not, helped cement the idea that the royal family's actions were the root problem. Inan realized the error of his and his father's ways. This proved to the reader what the king did was wrong.

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The world is created in Children of Blood and Bone is inspired by Nigeria. The author Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian native, so this makes sense. However, Orisha is not a carbon copy of Nigeria in any sense. The author describes vivid desert scenery, which is not present in the Nigerian landscape; there are multiple deserts near the country, however.

“In that moment I pictured what a sand city could look like, unrestrained by the laws and materials governing our architecture.” (Adeyemi 195) There are multiple moments in which our characters journey to, or through a desert region. I especially enjoyed how Adeyemi described these particular settings. With the sweltering heat, the dry dusty air, and the arid climate, I truly felt transported to the sand dunes. The landscapes in the novel, while they all are similar in a sense, all contrasted rather nicely. For example, the sandy desert, compared to the seaside town Zélie and Tzain grew up, provided a complex world.

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Within Children of Blood and Bone, the divîners were treated incredibly harmfully. When our main character Zélie was a child, all the maji, the adults with magic, were massacred. Leaving the divîners, magic children, orphaned. Why were all the maji killed? First, the royal family was getting too cocky and powerful. Therefore the gods decided to punish them, by taking away their magic. The king felt powerless and began to overcompensate since he wasn't as strong as a maji. Ultimately he came to one conclusion; the royal family did not have magic; therefore, he thought no one should have magic; this is what led to the massacre.

Now the divîners, in current times, are treated as second-class citizens. When the royals and nobles discuss the divîners, it is as if they see them as disposable, or simply just collateral damage.“Those people died so Orisha could live.” (Adeyemi 223) They are not valued, they are heavily taxed, and many live in poverty. They are not offered many jobs, and the ones they are offered have horrible working conditions. “Mostly divîners, the laborers outnumber the villagers by hordes, dressed in nothing but tattered rags. Their dark skin blisters under the scorching sun, marred by the dirt and sand seemingly burned into their beings. Each is hardly more than a walking skeleton.” (Adeyemi 198)

The way the divîners are treated, and their way of life reminds me of immigrants coming into America. Many immigrants are not treated with proper respect, nor are they given ample opportunities. Many of the jobs presented to immigrants have little pay and poor conditions. This is similar to the work divîners are presented. It is very hard to move and begin a new life anywhere. This is why it would be very helpful if both the royals, and America were more inclusive, and moved on from their prejudices.

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Summary of Chapters 53-Epilogue in Children of Blood and Bone

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Summary of Chapters 53-Epilogue in Children of Blood and Bone

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At the beginning of the end of novel, Zélie and Inan start to form a romantic relationship. Guards attack the divîners base and end up murdering Zu. Though another divîner, Kwame, erupts into flames, killing many of the guards. Tzain and Amari are very scared since they cannot find their siblings; they believe Zélie may even be dead. They band together with a group of divîners, who they use the scroll on, to go and find their siblings. Zélie is currently being tortured at one of the king's bases, and Inan offers her freedom if she destroys the scroll. He now believes magic is too powerful, and unruly. Zélie doesn’t relent, and the King ends up carving maggot into her flesh. Inan stops torturing Zélie just as Amari and Tzain arrive.

The King and Inan devise a plan since they both agree that magic is too powerful. Due to the scar Zélie now bears, she is unable to access her magic, meaning she cannot complete the ritual for magic. Zélie moves to a more safe but more unlawful town and finds a man named Röen. He decides to help her on her quest to restore magic. Though as they arrive on the island, Inan and his father arrive with Zélie’s father. She immediately hands over the artifacts. Then they kill her father anyway. Zélie tries to retrieve the artifacts once again and go conduct the ritual.

Inan ends up being disowned once his father sees him doing magic. Inan does convince Zélie, however, to destroy the scroll. Amari ends up killing her father in a fight. Zélie tries to talk to the gods and please them since she doesn’t have the scroll. Zélie believes she is dying since she sees the god that appears before death. She also sees her mother and tells her it is not her time to go. She wakes on Röen’a ship, and Amari shows her the white streak in her hair, meaning Zélie’s ritual worked.

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Ibeji is one city that Zélie, Tzain, and Amari find themselves in as they travel across Orïsha to restore magic. Ibeji is a city in the middle of the desert, a place where water is used to torture the laborers who are trapped there. When our protagonists first arrive to the city, they are eager to quench their thirst only to find a sign above the water that reads: "One cup=one gold" (Adeyemi 199). They can fortunately afford this price, but the laborers who are working in the heat cannot, so Amari purchases water for them. This is a clear example of water being weaponized against marginalized communities in Orïsha.

Unfortunately, it only gets worse. Our protagonists find themselves in an arena in Ibeji where laborers are forced to battle to the death for the hope of winning gold and the sunstone--what they believe to be an Immortal stone. What's worse is they are forced to fight on battle ships that float on a sea of water in the center of the arena. Zélie is appalled as she watches "metal gates fly open on the sides of the arena floor, and an endless wave of water rushes in. This has to be a mirage. Yet liter after liter flows in...so many dying for water and they waste it on this" (204). All of the laborers who fight in this battle end up dying, drowning in the manmade sea. This resource that could have given these prisoners life is instead used as a weapon to kill them with.

In our own world we see how access to clean drinking water is often unequitable and commoditized. Flint, Michigan has gone years without access to clean drinking water and there are many corporations who profit on bottling and selling back to us one of our most precious resources.

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The King of Orïsha is a ruthless tyrant. One of the ways that he exerts his power is through relentless adherence to "duty." He instills this belief in his son, Inan, who often has to remind himself, "duty before self" as he faces many conflicts throughout the book (Adeyemi 224). Much of Inan's internal conflict comes after he becomes a maji by a fluke accident. He is terrified of his father finding out, because he knows that deep down, Orïsha means more to his father than his family does.

The King's violent leadership is born out of fear. He is terrified of magic, especially after it was magic that killed his first family. He flipped the balance of power in Orïsha when he took away magic, transitioning power to those without magic instead of majis. He then uses numerous levels of systemic prejudice to keep diviners as lower class citizens.

In civil wars around the world, there have been versions of a similar political story. Those who were once discriminated against take over power and then unleash violence on the groups of people who were once their oppressors. One example of this appeared with the Rwanda Genocide. Unfortunately, violence begets violence, as we see with the senseless deaths of people in our own world and in Children of Blood and Bone. Even as he is attempting to remember "duty before self," Inan recognizes that this mantra causes unnecessary destruction, but he also wants to make his father proud. This conflict was one of the most compelling elements of the book.

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The strongest element of Africanfuturism in Children of Blood and Bone is the direct inclusion of Isese--the Yoruban religion--in the text. The gods that are connected to the Divîners are inspired from Isese. The country, Orïsha is named after the intermediaries in Isese that connect humans with the gods, aka the Divîners. We see how powerfully the protagonists rely on the gods to guide them, especially Divîners, when Zélie uses the sunstone to connect with Sky Mother whose spirit spreads through her "stitching every wound left by the blood magic's destruction" (Adeyemi 258). This deep connection to this Nigerian religion truly centers this novel as an Africanfuturism text.

I can think of numerous examples where western mythology appears in popular culture, whether that is the Thor movies or the Disney classic, Hercules. It is both fascinating and important for the deities of the Yoruba people to be established in the main stream as well. I know that many English teachers focus on teaching Greek mythology, but I think I might need to establish a unit regarding other mythological literature from around the world, including this text.

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One of my favorite characters to follow in this book was Amari. She is the princess of Orïsha who never quite met the expectations her parents put on her. And then she directly rebelled against her family by stealing a sacred scroll after her father kills her best friend, who was also a diviner. Amari provides a contrast to the intense personality of Zélie as she is more reserved, cautious, and observant. Despite her more timid nature, Amari is a force to be reckoned with, and she continues to grow in confidence as the book progresses. When Tzain offers a chance for her to break away from their group to avoid future danger she strongly reminds him, "do not tell me what I am meant to do...I am a princess, not a prop. Do not treat me any differently. My father is responsible for this pain. I will be the one to fix it" (Adeyemi 263-264). I absolutely loved that Adeyemi wrote several complex women characters. They are messy and often make mistakes, but they are also fierce warriors who vehemently protect the ones they love.

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One character I was particularly fond of was Amari. She was the typical princess character. She was frightful, incredibly scared of her father, passive, and anxious. She knew little of the outside world and the pain and suffering happening past the castle walls. “Before this moment, I never truly understood the word. Chaos meant mother’s screams before a luncheon. It meant the scramble of oloyes to their gold-lined chairs.” (Adeyemi 246)

Though as the story progresses, she becomes more and more independent. As she grows more independent, however, she also grows more distant from her family. “My own brother hunts me. Father probably desires my head. I can hardly fathom all the lies Mother’s spinning in my absence. Perhaps if Binta were still at the palace, I would risk crawling back with my tail between my leg. But even she’s gone. The sand is all I have left.” (Adeyemi 192)

“Amari, sit up straight! Do not eat that. That’s more than enough dessert for you—No.” (Adeyemi 263) Amari’s mother would commonly say things like this to Amari. Amari’s family is not kind to her, so realistically, it was good that she distanced herself. Though the farther away she grows from the palace, the further she grows from her memories of Binta. Binta was Amari’s only friend in the palace. Amari loved her dearly and was completely distraught when she died.

Amari also had a horrible relationship with her father. He would often abuse both Amari and Inan and make them fight one another. Before Amari left the palace, she was too scared to stand up to her father; it was even too hard for her to look him in the eye. Therefore her character arc, killing her father, is rather powerful. “‘Your blood is the true curse,’ I snap back. ‘It ends today.’” (Adeyemi 511) Amari stood up to him; she held her own. Amari was I character I loved following. Her growth was incredibly remarkable, and she became such a strong female character.