Where to Start with Tomi Adeyemi: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Tomi Adeyemi — whether to begin with Children of Blood and Bone or Children of Virtue and Vengeance. A complete reading guide.
Tomi Adeyemi (born 1993) is the Nigerian-American YA fantasy novelist whose debut Children of Blood and Bone (2018) — sold in a seven-figure deal while Adeyemi was still in her mid-twenties — became a New York Times bestseller, won the Locus Award for Best YA Novel, and launched the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. Adeyemi’s world-building draws on West African history and Yoruba mythology, and the trilogy’s examination of racial oppression — the persecution of the maji reads directly as an allegory for anti-Black racism — resonated with particular power in the years of Black Lives Matter activism that coincided with its publication.
Where to Start: Children of Blood and Bone (2018)
The essential Adeyemi — and the only starting point for her series. Zélie Adebola has white hair and dark skin — the mark of the maji, the magic-users who were once revered and are now persecuted by the monarchy of Orïsha. Ten years ago, the king ordered a Raid that killed most of the adult maji; Zélie’s mother was among them. Since then, the non-magical divîners (who would have become maji) are taxed into poverty and live under the constant threat of enslavement.
When Zélie encounters the princess Amari — a girl fleeing the palace with a stolen scroll that holds the key to restoring magic — she joins a desperate journey across Orïsha to complete a sacred ritual before the king’s forces catch them.
Adeyemi writes with tremendous energy; the world-building is vivid and the action sequences are kinetic. The novel’s political argument — that the oppression of the maji by the crown maps directly onto racial oppression, and that those who benefit from oppressive systems are complicit in them even when they personally oppose them — is made through the plot rather than through lecture.
Children of Virtue and Vengeance (2019)
The second novel — magic restored, consequences unforeseen, alliances broken. Darker and more morally complex than the first; must be read after Children of Blood and Bone.
Reading Tomi Adeyemi
Begin with Children of Blood and Bone — it is the only starting point and a complete first act for the trilogy. Read Children of Virtue and Vengeance directly after; the trilogy ends with Children of Anguish and Anarchy (2023), which completes the arc.
For the full Tomi Adeyemi bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Tomi Adeyemi author page on Editors Reads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Tomi Adeyemi?
Children of Blood and Bone (2018) is the only starting point — the first novel in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy, following Zélie Adebola, a young woman in a West African-inspired fantasy world where magic has been suppressed for a decade and the maji (magic-users) are persecuted. When Zélie discovers a way to restore magic, she must race across the country to complete a ritual before the monarchy can stop her. The first book in a trilogy that must be read in order.
What is the Legacy of Orïsha series about?
The Legacy of Orïsha series is set in Orïsha, a fantasy nation inspired by West African cultures and Yoruba mythology. Magic was once widespread but was violently suppressed a decade before the novels begin; the maji, who once wielded elemental powers, are now an underclass persecuted by the monarchy. The trilogy follows Zélie and the princess Amari across a continent in political upheaval, exploring questions of race, power, revolution, and what justice requires when oppression has run deep enough.
What is Children of Virtue and Vengeance about?
Children of Virtue and Vengeance (2019) is the second novel in the trilogy — set immediately after the events of Children of Blood and Bone, with magic restored and the consequences of that restoration more violent and complicated than anyone anticipated. The political landscape has fractured; alliances have shifted; Zélie and Amari are on different sides. The second novel is darker and more morally complex than the first.
Is Children of Blood and Bone comparable to other YA fantasy series?
Children of Blood and Bone was widely compared to Avatar: The Last Airbender and An Ember in the Ashes on publication; it shares their approach of West African-influenced world-building, elemental magic systems, and a young protagonist navigating political upheaval. It is notable for centring Black protagonists in epic fantasy, a genre where this was relatively rare at its publication; its commercial success helped open the market for more diverse epic fantasy.
