Years after publishing Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Anguish and Anarchy was released in 2024 and with this the trilogy of the Legacy of Orisha is complete.

The first two parts came in 2018 and 2019 so the wait for the third part was quite long which also meant that I forgot certain details and characters too. At least I remembered the main characters, Zelie, Amari, Inan and Tzain. Children of Virtue and Vengeance ended with the maji being captured and caged on a ship and this book moves on from there.

The helplessness and fear of the unknown is very vividly explained by the author. As Zelie, Amari, Inan and Tzain try to escape the cage, we are introduced to a new enemy who was never even talked of in the first two parts. As the captives escape the ship, we move to a new country, New Gaia which has been depicted in a beautiful way.

Here, the maji and Orishans find a new ally and take the fight to this new enemy who wants to be god and in order to become invincible, he needs the hearts of Zelie and Mae’e to complete a ritual. So it’s a race against time and a dreadful enemy for all.

“I’ve lost count of how many times over the past moon I’ve called out to my gods. How many times nothing but sorrow has answered in return. I cannot bear to hope anymore.”

The storyline has moved away so drastically from the first two parts that it feels like watching some daily soap on television rather than reading a novel. And the conclusion is abrupt and so underwhelming that it seems the writer was in a hurry to somehow finish the book. It reminded me of the last few minutes of exams where we students used to rush against time to finish the word count on our exam papers.

The first part was so promising and well written but the conclusion is totally opposite of it. It was completely disappointing. The ending of the  book left only anguish all around.

My rating: 2.5/5