Audio: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi @tomi_adeyemi @TheRealBahniT @MacmillanAudio

Posted April 20, 2018 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 4 Comments

Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Audio: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi @tomi_adeyemi  @TheRealBahniT @MacmillanAudio Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Series: Legacy of Orisha #1
Published by MacMillan on March 6, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Length: 18 hours, 9 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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one-flame
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star

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.

I am so glad this is the start of the Legacy of Orisha series because I LOVE this world.  The world-building is so brilliant, bringing forth the colors and flavors of the magic. The setting is historical, young adult fantasy, the situations are brutal. Violence and death are part of life.  While this filled me with terror, rage and grief, it also made me feel compassion and hope.

The characters are young adults so they have some struggles and personal misconceptions even, as they learn how things truly are. Fortunately, these young adults have to focus on survival so they have little time to whine, even the royals. They focus their strength and energy with compassion for the world, not just themselves.

There is so much angst, grief at the violence and unfairness in the world. These are young adults so their emotions sometimes run away with them; they don’t make the best choices at times. But these Children of Blood and Bone do not give up in their world. Neither should we in ours.

Narration:

I loved the audio! The voices had a texture which just seemed so right. Both female and male voices were well presented. I listened at 1.25x speed comfortably. The performance added to my enjoyment with the emotions drawn from it.

 

Listen to a clip:

About Bahni Turpin

Bahni Turpin is a Los Angeles-based actress with many television and film credits in addition to being an award winning narrator. She is honored to have been awarded an Audie for Best Female Narrator, 2015, Audible Narrator of the Year, 2016, and American Library Association’s Voice of Choice for 2017. In 2018, Bahni won best female narration again, and was also inducted into the Audible Hall of Fame. She is a two-time Odyssey Award winner, and was also named as one of Audiophile’s Golden Voices for 2019.

Bahni Turpin is also a famous TV and film actress. She started her career in 1987 with the film called “Tiszta Amerika”.

2010 Best Voice in Fiction: PRECIOUS

The talented narrator is now a devoted listener, too, but she came to audiobooks with a bit of skepticism. Another actress referred her to Books on Tape, where she later auditioned. “It was very strange to me at the time because I didn’t listen to audiobooks then.”

In time, Books on Tape engaged her to read A PIECE OF CAKE, by Cupcake Brown, and Bahni was hooked. She had always liked reading aloud and found the assignment to be a comfortable and enjoyable gig. Of course, she’s continued. But sometimes she’s surprised at a director’s requirements. “I auditioned for a new company, and the director was so picky,” she says. “Every time you cleared your throat, you had to restart the paragraph.”

Bahni, who now loves listening to women’s stories as she tools around Los Angeles, was mesmerized by her own voicing of the character Minny in THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. “While listening, I forgot it was me I was listening to,” says Bahni, who enjoyed the book’s rich emotions and vivid characterizations of several female characters.

The experience of absorbing audiobooks can be challenging for some modern listeners, Bahni feels. The heavy reliance on television for entertainment has led some to forget how to listen without a visual component. But she doesn’t draw a line between acting and narration. Bahni reads each book before recording and makes notes about how each character should sound. “I like to give each one a characterization and really try to read the way I feel the text should be heard. I especially enjoy doing dialects.”

About Tomi Adeyemi

Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, California. Her debut novel, CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, comes out March 6th, 2018 and the movie is currently in development at Fox with the producers of Twilight and The Maze Runner attached. After graduating Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, she received a fellowship that allowed her to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. When she’s not working on her novels or watching Scandal, she can be found blogging and teaching creative writing to her 3,500 subscribers at tomiadeyemi.com. Her website has been named one of the 101 best websites for writers by Writer’s Digest.

Rating Breakdown
Plot
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Characters
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Dialogue
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Narration (Audio)
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Overall: One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Anne - Books of My Heart
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2018 Audiobook Challenge
  • 2018 New Release Challenge

Posted April 20, 2018 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 4 Comments


4 responses to “Audio: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

  1. I keep seeing this book everywhere and I haven’t seen a bad review of it by anyone I trust. This is one that needs to go in the ever stacking to be read pile.

    • You want to do the audio! The narration really adds to the overall feel. I know what you mean. My TBR, especially audio, is very high right now.

    • The flavor and feel is very different than most historical young adult fantasy. I really loved it, couldn’t stop listening.