Tag: magic

Top Ten Tuesday | Books that Feature… Divination

Posted March 10, 2025 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 12 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books that Include/Feature

Not exactly a plot device but definitely a sort of theme; I decided to go with books that feature divination. It made me realize that for someone who loves learning about divination tools, I don’t read a lot of fiction that features divination. Maybe some minor mention here and there, but not many that have divination as a main plot point.

I’m not sure that all the ones listed below do either because I haven’t read many of them, but searching for books that fit the theme certainly made me interested in reading them!

Top Ten Books that Feature… Divination

  1. The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick – One of my favorite series, it features a form of card divination, but the beauty of the books are the characters and the relationships between them.
  2. The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware – This one features tarot cards. I remember not really liking the story very much but being impressed with the accurate portrayal of tarot cards.
  3. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick – Featuring the I Ching. I haven’t read the book but I watched the tv series and loved it. I don’t remember the I Ching in the show though.
  4. The Darksword Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – I have these books on my physical bookshelf but haven’t read them. They feature a form of tarot cards, but not exactly the same as real tarot I think. I love the Dragonlance series by these same authors!
  5. All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue – The main character is a tarot reader who goes to a Catholic school in a conservative Irish town. I am hooked! It’s YA and looks like it’d be an easy read so maybe I’ll get to it soon.
  6. Fated by Benedict Jacka – I haven’t read this one but I’ve heard some good things about it and I’m intrigued. The main character is Alex Verus who is a mage diviner and uses many different forms of divination. This is the first book of twelve.
  7. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig – I’m not sure if I’d consider this one a form of card divination, but it does have cards with magical powers.
  8. The Lost Tarot by Sarah Henstra – I borrowed this from the library because of the title and the gorgeous cover. I don’t know what this is about except that it features tarot.
  9. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I have been wanting to read this series forever but never got around to it. I also love that there’s an actual tarot deck you can buy, my only issue with it is that I didn’t like the orange color, but I’m starting to change my mind about the color so we’ll see.
  10. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman – The alethiometer is the divination tool here, which is great because it’s different. I’d love to get my hands on one and figure out how it works if it was real. It sounds so fascinating when you read about it in the book and watch the film adaptations.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi | Book Review

Posted December 16, 2023 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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

Now we rise.

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.

The Reason

I’ve seen this book pop up a couple of times on Bookstagram, and then it was available on Libby while I browsed, so I thought why not? I was also looking for new series to try and this one sounded really good.

The Quotes

“As it fades, I see the truth – in plain sight, yet hidden all along. We are all children of blood and bone. All instruments of vengeance and virtue. This truth holds me close, rocking me like a child in a mother’s arms. It binds me in its love as death swallows me in its grasp.”

“When your opponent has no honor, you must fight in different ways, smarter ways.”

“You crushed us to build your monarchy on the backs of our blood and bone. Your mistake wasn’t keeping us alive. it was thinking we’d never fight back”

The Characters

I listened to this on audiobook, so if I misspell the names, I apologize!

The four main protagonists are Zelie, Tsain, Amari, and Inan. I find their characters all very interesting in how dynamic they are. They aren’t the same people from beginning to end, they are changeable, flexible, they have good and bad days, times when they are strong and fierce, and other times when they are weak and defeated.

For most of the book, it’s Zelie, Tsain, and Amari on the same side, and Inan who is the villain pursuing them. I loved the way that the individual relationships between Zelie, Tsain, and Amari evolved through the book. Love, hate, anger, support, etc.

Inan, however, is the most complex character. I heavily dislike him as a person, but I absolutely love him as a character. One that moves the story along and makes you really think about people and what makes them tick.

My Thoughts

I loved the story! I love the world-building, the lore, the history, the people. It feels big and vast, and I love how it completely transports me into that world. The people and relationships in the story are by far the most interesting thing though. There’s so much push/pull, ups and downs, rational thinking vs. emotional feeling. This book manages to evoke so much of that with the characters, and it extends to the reader.

My Feels

So many different feelings evoked. Anger and frustration, distrust and caution, hope, heartbreak, warmheartedness, fear, triumph, satisfaction. I felt it all. I must say that Inan evoked the most feelings in me. Again, I don’t like him, but I am in awe of Tomi Adeyemi’s understanding of people in order to be able to write a character like him.

There’s also a lot of prejudice and senseless violence in the book that angered and horrified me. And there are scenes in the book when you can feel the hopelessness, the helplessness, the feeling of not being able to do a single thing to change anything or make things better.

At the end of the book, Tomi says in her Author’s Note:

“Children of Blood and Bone was written during a time where I kept turning on the news and seeing stories of unarmed black men, women, and children being shot by the police. I felt afraid and angry and helpless, but this book was the one thing that made me feel like I could do something about it. I told myself that if just one person could read it and have their hearts or minds changed, then I would’ve done something meaningful against a problem that often feels so much bigger than myself.”

I feel like she achieved what she set out to do. She captures the human condition so well in this book, and all the complicated and irrational thoughts and feelings that come with prejudice and indoctrination of prejudice. Maybe that’s why I am so fascinated by Inan’s character. He encapsulates a lot of people we maybe know in real life, maybe even some of his flaws being things that we see in ourselves.

My Rating

5/5 stars. I loved it, and honestly, I think this is one I will come back to again and again. I cannot wait to read the next books, and apparently there’s a movie in the works too. I’d be all over that!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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