We are the ‘Children Of’ : a ‘Thank You’ to Tomi Adeyemi
Tomi Adeyemi crafted the perfect story, about a place that creative media has long overlooked and about a group of people in a genre, that largely only casts us as b-side characters.
People are almost always surprised when they find out that I didn’t love the HBO series, Game of Thrones, and to be fair, I tried a few times. I watched through most of Season 1 before I had to stop, then through the peer pressure of almost everyone, I skimmed on to about the halfway mark of Season 2 before I finally gave up. My problem with it was that I could never find myself invested enough, nor do I care enough about that time period to have any desire to see the show through to the end, and I think that distinction is important to make. Viewing art should transport us into a place where the world that was created resonates with us on an empathetic level and for me, GoT kept me far removed from it.
As creators, we make art for one of a few reasons: either we believe that our perspective on a familiar topic is so unique that it must be heard, we have discovered a narrative that we believe has never been heard, or our environment is so ingrained within us that we believe we have the best insight to share with the masses. In turn, we hope the audience is either so in awe of this new perspective or can relate to this familiar perspective enough to dive into the world that we have created. The creators of shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men, Entourage, Sex and the City, Ozark, and so many others created a world so imperfect that the realities in each character can latch on to anyone that is watching. While watching those shows, we each pick a character that we identify with and follow them through till the end, for better or worse. And masterfully, Ms. Adeyemi did just that.
art by Mike Machira
When it comes to the Fantasy genre, we as Black people rarely get the opportunity to fully inhabit the world that the story is based on. Even more rare is a fantasy story that uses Africa as a backdrop and our history as Black people as the catalyst for magic, outside of he futurist approach that Wakanda spearheaded. Tomi Adeyemi draws you into the world of Orisha from the first pages depicting a map of the world that she has presented. With each turned page, I become more and more engulfed, going through an emotional rollercoaster for each character as their stories develop.
The Children of Blood & Bone franchise is on par with The Last Airbender, to me, in that we, as an audience, can’t wait for Book 3 and are already speculating the arrival of the animated series. I don’t do book reviews often, so I’ll keep it short. This book is everything the child in me wanted to read growing up, and it’s as simple as that.