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  • Children of Blood and Bone

  • By: Tomi Adeyemi
  • Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
  • Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (903 ratings)

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Children of Blood and Bone cover art

Children of Blood and Bone

By: Tomi Adeyemi
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
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Summary

Winner of Audiobook of the Year at the 2019 Audie Awards

Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut Children of Blood and Bone.

They killed my mother.They took our magic.They tried to bury us. Now we rise.

Zélie remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. When different clans ruled - Burners igniting flames, Tiders beckoning waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoning forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Only a few people remain with the power to use magic, and they must remain hidden. 

Zélie is one such person. Now she has a chance to bring back magic to her people and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must learn to harness her powers and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. 

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where strange creatures prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to come to terms with the strength of her magic - and her growing feelings for an enemy.

The movie of Children of Blood and Bone is in development at Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions with the incredible Karen Rosenfelt and Wyck Godfrey (Twilight, Maze Runner, The Fault in Our Stars) producing it.

©2018 Tomi Adeyemi (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Turpin’s captivating narration, with incantations sung in Yoruba, intense battles, and lively, devastating dialogue, makes this an audiobook not to be missed." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Children of Blood and Bone

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Great story but Yoruba Speaker please!

Great story. I really enjoyed the book but I can't understand why a Yoruba speaking person did not read the Yoruba parts of the book. I couldn't understand what Bahni was saying and this was very frustrating not to mention disruptive to the flow of the story. To get full applaud, please get a Yoruba speaker to read the Yoruba parts. Thank you.

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66 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story - horrible narrating

Children of blood and bone was such a captivating story. I thoroughly enjoyed listening and following all of the characters unfold. I can't wait to read the next book.
However, something has to be said for the narrating performance of this story. The entire story happens in West Africa, Nigeria to be exact. The gross mispronounciations of ALL Yoruba words in this book is unacceptable. A lot of the incantation parts of the book had by far lost its meanings. What annoys me most is that publishers would never let English words be bastardised in the same manner and still go ahead with production so why is it acceptable for our stories? Our culture?
Please for the next book, let the narrator get coaching for how to pronounce the words properly so as to better promote the culture and heritage being explored.

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45 people found this helpful

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Awesome story..

Awesome and engaging book. The narrator did a brilliant job taking me on the journey. I only wish the Yoruba words were pronounced properly. Everything else was great

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34 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I am so disappointed in this already!!!

I have read this book and loved the story. the imagination and creativity splendid! I had such high hopes for the audible! no offence to the reader, but could you not find a west African to read it? a Yoruba to pronounce the names and places properly? and the persons that did the male voices. please someone fire them! the lack of effort put into this book took so much from the books essence. An American faking a Nigerian accent is always disappointing. and at times she even forgets to fake and reads as an American. Kill me please!

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17 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wrong narrator for a nice story

I couldn’t get past the narrator’s accent and pronunciation of the Yoruba words. Surely they could have gotten a native Yoruba speaker to do the reading? The cringe-worthy pronunciation greatly detracted from my enjoyment of what was a very promising story. I hope they don’t make the same mistake with the movie.

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible and stunning

A stunning story, characters, scenery... I felt like I was really there in Orisha. The world building and descriptions of magic are wonderful. I couldn’t stop listening. And the narration is just incredible, I have listened to a lot of audiobooks but the narration was the best I have ever heard, full of emotion and perfect for the story. I would recommend to any fantasy or YA fan. I just haven’t heard / read anything quite like it! Now I can’t wait for the second book 🙂

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7 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good book, BUT i’m trying to hold out till the end...

As a reader who absolutely loves books and stories based on African heritage and culture. I'm struggling a bit with this book. There's part in this book that is slightly sluggish and you almost want the scene to end FAST!

I feel this book has a great story, just a little dragged out in certain parts.

The mispronunciation of Yoruba words is also very extremely frustrating to hear. It's worthwhile this audiobook is re-record to really deliver the cultural context of this book and deliver it at its full capacity.

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5 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

long and annoying

I understand where the author was coming from (which you find out at the end) but the characters were really annoying to me so I didn't care about them.

The book is too long and the ending is infuriating.

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4 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

2.5 stars

I'll be honest: I struggled to finish this book. I don't know if it was the narration with the fake accent and odd pacing or if it was the story or both.
I appreciate the background of the story to raise important matters regarding racism and colourism, and applaud the author for that. It was nice to read a fantasy novel that wasn't set in an all white Medieval Europe or even Far Eastern setting.
I was underwhelmed by the storylines, magic system and character development. I didn't fall in love with the characters and didn't feel like I "Just have to listen to one more chapter". In fact, I fell asleep a lot during this story, and rhaytt doesn't normally happen to me.

All this said and done, I did like the last 30 minutes.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Performance was terrible

As a Nigerian, listening to every single native word butchered just irritated me endlessly. I don't know who is in charge of hiring the narrator , but they did an awful job. Hire the right person for the job. Get a native Yoruba speaker.
The story itself is just average, it's your usual fantasy genre storyline based in a made up land called Orisha but which is really just Nigeria.
The author's note at the end however, was unexpected and makes a bonus for the whole book.

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  • yanic
  • 12-06-18

Horrible but so much potential

If you want to be frustrated this is the perfect book for it. Im guessing the author had a bet with someone about how frustrated she good get the readers to be. The gist of story is people with super powers are oppressed by people without any powers. You have the people without powers be supernaturally cruel killing women and children. Cutting children’s heads off and carving marks in females flesh. However each time someone uses magic everyone loses their shit. I heard they are gonna Make a movie or series about this book, i can tell its gonna be a gigantic flop. This book had so much potential

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 15-06-18

Horrible reading!!!!!

I'm sure it's a good book but the reading is horrendous!!! For lack of a better word to describe what I'm heading that feels like nails scratching my ears!!!!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • nonikiwe
  • 28-04-19

Magical Read

Wow what an amazing story, so perfectly written and perfectly read. Thank you Tomi Adeyemi

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  • Dawn
  • 19-09-18

wow...wow...wow!!!

I cannot wait for the next book in this series! Such an amazing story teller. I was gripped from the first paragraph. well done for inspiring so many and Thank You!

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  • Anonymous User
  • 17-06-18

Just read

Just read it. Listen to it.
Embrace the story told.
Let it be the push you need to make a difference in this world. Let this book be your eye opener to the problems all around us.

In our blood.
In our bones.
We are all the same.



When you are done, read the author's note.

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  • Joseph Jones
  • 29-04-18

great book

amazing book, went on for hours and hours, couldn't get myself to pause for anything. great read

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  • Aden
  • 29-03-18

Children of Blood and Bone

I am not an avid reader but I choose my sources of entertainment wisely. I am very pleased to have “read” this book (I used Audible). Frantic pace, terrific world-building, interesting character arcs and wonderful action-packed adventure. I was hooked and cannot wait for the sequels.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • GB
  • 21-03-18

Will Make A Great Movie

After all the hype and implied political this and that, it's finally just a pretty good story in a pretty solidly constructed world with no idiosyncratic axe to grind.

I loved the world. I thought the concept was excellent. I was fascinated as a tourist with the places the book travelled through and the story is itself exciting enough with never a rest between drama and action.

The problem is the characters. One expects a certain degree of angst, strutting emotional irrationality, intellectual blindness and even teen narcissism in adolescent characters but in this story its all turned up to volume 11 all the time. Now in a good high adventure movie one expects endless action and bravado with characters that respond with endless heroism and damn the torpedoes. However, in a book it's a bit wearying.

The reader is excellent and she adds to the atmosphere. She brings out a wonderful sense of place and situation.

But in the end I suspect the Movie will be better than the book.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 09-03-23

Heartfelt, real and bold

A beautiful and trying story with characters with real development, meeting challenges that feel real. Beautifully written, expertly performed - highly recommended!

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  • michele
  • 05-04-22

Captivating

Wonderful, magical and captivating …. I was completely transported. Thank you Toni Adeyemi and the incredible narrator Baha’i Turpin. I hope there’s a sequel!

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