Y’all. I don’t even know where to start or what to say. I have waited over half a decade for this book – the final installment of a trilogy that started with such a ferocious and addictive magic. The second installment left me baffled and sorely disappointed. At that time, I wrote:
All the beautiful world building was lost. The momentum behind the magi uprising fell flat. Forced words. Forced plots. Empty characters. And it hurts me to say that, because I loved this world so much. I’m hoping this book was just a rocky path to get us to book three, which will light up with that magic again.
Dear Readers, Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Henry Holt 2024), the final book of Tomi Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orisha series did notlight up with that magic that so captivated me in Children of Blood and Bone. I’m half convinced the special edition with its colorful edges and foil printing on the cover and spine of the naked book was designed in the hopes to distract and breathe new life in the series. The book is pretty. Admittedly, the edges are distracting where they bleed onto the pages. And, in the spirit of what should be obvious, I don’t read books because of the glitz of their covers. But it’s pretty.
The magic of series is gone, without even whispers remaining. The heart of the first novel is nowhere to be seen. Plots and characters have just vanished. That said, if you take this as a standalone and give flesh that is so desperately needed to the bare bones, jarring short chapters of this book, you might have something. That something isn’t the legacy of Orisha, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. In my opinion, Adeyemi should have let Zelie go years ago. This could have been New Gaia’s story with Mae’e at its center. That could have sparked something. Those were without a doubt the best parts of the finale, which, as a whole, seems more of an outline.
I can’t recommend this book or series, but that first book – she was magic.
PS. If I never read the word “russet” again, it will be too soon.
A Girl Named Tommi 