A lot happened in the end. In my opinion, it was a terrible ending because, spoiler, Inan died. However, I see she wrote a second book so suddenly this ending seems alright. Anyways, after the group gets captured, it turns out they were diviners who want to help the gang restore magic. Another example of the nostalgic, cliche feel of the story. A comfortable feeling nevertheless. Anyways, their camp gets raided by the kingdom troops and it’s here where you see the types of person everybody is. Inan is distraught with an internal battle. The others end up fighting and he wants to run.

Later on, Amari gets captured individually and Inan doesn’t do anything about it for the longest time. Eventually, he frees her after she’s nearly dead and bleeding out. This shows the pressure of duty vs self coming out. He couldn’t figure out what to do. Similar to individual versus society too! And finally, for the ending. After getting abused and dehumanized by the king, Amari loses all faith in herself and her magic. Amari, who used to be the weak frail girl, steps up and gives courage to Zelie. This was good to see her grow from her mistakes and fear and actually pick up Zelie. In the “Final Battle”, Inan saves his father using his magic.

This is ironic because his father spent his whole life trying to eradicate magic, and his son uses it to save his life. And how does he repay Inan? By ripping his majicite sword right through Inan’s chest. The whole situation is ironic which demonstrates the previously discussed themes. Amari is the one that drives her blade through her father’s chest and kills him. This shows Amari’s newfound courage. Another possible theme. Come to think of it, I like how it all ties together now.

As I anticipated in the earlier post, they did fight it out. Except they did it on boats. It turns out the battle was a race battle, where you can board other ships and attack others while still trying to finish first. During the battle, Zelie lets it rip!! So cool! She goes bonkers with Reaper magic summoning spirits from the battlefield and ordering them to blow up ships. Not to be redundant, but this all seems incredibly familiar. I thought it was what I wrote my previous post on, but I guess not. The itch to discover where I’ve seen this before is still there. Anyways, they win and get the stone. And Amari and Tzain fall madly in this chunk. I thought it was interesting how quickly they just fell. When they’re on the most important quest they’ve ever done/ever will do?? Time and place smh.

Anyways, the characters are really starting to show themselves and some of their inner struggles. Inan is going through a huge change. He actually ends up crushing Kaea’s skull and making her bleed out her eyes. It wasn’t intentional, he was overly emotional. I suspect that his emotions are coming from his father and the pressure he feels from his father’s expectations. A sort of individual vs society theme, Inan vs The Kingdom/His father.

Amari appears to have some trauma. Family trauma. The book has mentioned a little bit about her brother accidentally slicing her with a sword and I think that has something to do with it. I think she needs to talk to him and have time to think to herself, not in the kingdom. Also, thinking of thinking. My thinking song is an instrumental song called Experience. It’s perfect for all scenarios of thinking. Inspirational, comforting, encouraging. Literally everything.

Later, Inan finds Zelie and the gang and they have an amazing duel. They both get licks on each other, but they kind of stale mate because they’re equally matched. Anyways, the author writes with vivid imagery for a lot of these action scenes, and that makes the read 10x more enjoyable.

The last part, is them getting captured. It gave me a sneaky ninja vibe. Some strangers hopped on them from trees and kidnapped Tzain and Amari. Shocker.

Amari continues to see everything her family, specifically her father, is responsible for. Honestly, it’s impressive how well she’s holding up. She’s tough. In just a few days, her only friend was murdered in front of her, her father was found to be responsible for genocide, and she was being hunted by her own brother. The only people who can help her are glaring at her with disgust on this journey. I have mad respect for her. Anyways, the first part for them to save magic and the diviners is to acquire a stone. That’s what they’re looking for. This book seems really cliche to me. A quest looking for items, much less a stone, to save a bunch of people. It feels like Percy Jackson, or even Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. Cliche has a negative connotation though and I don’t think that’s the case. I’ll say it feels familiar. Yes, comfortably familiar. While on the topics of cliche, this reminded me of a stand-up comedy video! How Harry Potter is a knock-off of Star Wars. If, you do watch it. The part I’m referencing is at 1:50.

Ope, the stone turns out to be part of a competition where the labored diviners need to fight each other. I’m picturing gladiator style. Or for a more modern touch, Thor: Ragnarok style.

This was the coolest section so far. I’ll start with the boring first. Inan just keeps going more insane with himself and magic. He continues to freak out about it. The predictable continues to happen. Zelie’s brother is falling hard for Amari, Amari, and Zelie are getting closer, blah blah blah. Now for the cool part! An epic battle scene. This is why I read books.

The guy who was kidnapped turned out to be a Sentaro, a religious type leader, named Lekan. He was amazing. He helped them out and told them exactly how to restore magic. Then Inan showed up and things went down. Fight scene. Apparently, colored runes appear on a magi’s skin when they use magic. I think mine would be sage green because that’s my favorite color. Or lightsaber green. Yes actually, lightsaber green glow. That would be super cool. Here’s the link to good lightsabers: https://ultrasabers.com. Anyways, Lekan and Inan get into it. All their magic is speaking words to use it and there is strict rules for the way you must speak them. It reminds me of grammar and diction stuff. Mrs. Johnson would probably be good at this magic. She could save the kingdom! Lekan throws Inan’s cat thing into spikes and kills it and Inan’s right hand Kaea kills Lekan, but not before he gets Amari and the gang to safety. I wish I was Lekan. Just to use magic would be cool.

I forgot to mention, prior to his death Lekan made Zelie the only person capable of saving Orisha and all the diviners. He gave her a connection to the Sky mother which I’m assuming is their God. Anyways, a theme I’m picking up on is the very cliche “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but also a resentment is corrosive and often misplaced type deal. Anyways, I hope Zelie figures out how to trust Amari and Inan chooses for himself. That could be another future theme.

I might have been a little tiny bit too quick to judge in the last post because Zelie’s starting to make a comeback. She’s starting to trust Amari more. Anyways, both Amari and Zelie go to the local market to sell Amari’s dress and headdress for things they need. What I’m imagining is the Panama markets in Old Town. Everybody selling something and trying to make an honest living or for some, extra money on the side. Amari bought a magical sword which is literally a knock-off of Riptide from Percy Jackson except it’s a hilt instead of a pen. Same concept though. Also, Inan is going through it. He’s really fighting his own demons with guilt and emotion and literal magic in his blood. I think he really just needs to go lift to help him calm down.

Next, the gang starts climbing a mountain to find Chambodle, the temple that’ll bring magic back. To be honest, I don’t even think any of them know what they’re looking for at all. Mama Agba is likely a little senile so she might’ve just doomed them for no reason.

I’m typing this the day after I finished typing what I wrote the other day. I was wrong. They found it. Except they got kidnapped by some strange man. I don’t think he’s with Inan though. Too mysterious to be of royal blood. My guess is that he’ll likely just end up being another maji that helps them later on. Maybe he’s a long-lost family friend undercover. He’s nice though. He thought Zelie and others stole it but now he’s guiding them.

This chunk is interesting because it sets up all the action I expect to see happen here soon. I’m really excited to see Amari do some cool things and see what Zelie’s powers are hopefully. Maybe they are light powers. Maybe I’ll catch a glimpse.

Well, I was right. They teamed up. But Zelie strongly dislikes Amari. Actually, I’ll go so far as to say she HATES Amari. To me, Amari is super innocent. I was befuddled when Amari brought Zelie a scroll that could restore all of the magic for all the diviners and Zelie was like no. Are you serious?? Your enemy’s daughter brings you the key to destroying your enemy and you just say no?

Later, with the scroll, Mama Agba does magic with visions and stars. That reminded me of Dormamu from Doctor Strange, he’s just a giant head made of the galaxy that’s speaking. Now they’re going on a quest to restore magic, but they’re being hunted by Inan. I predict that Amari is gonna figure out that she has magic too. There’s gonna be an epic sibling battle, Inan vs Amari at the end. I also think Zelie is gonna kill Inan. But before that, I think Inan is gonna kill his father and take over the kingdom.

On their trip, Zelie’s brother Tzain gives Amari his cloak. I think Tzain is developing a soft spot for Amari and I’m excited to see how their relationship blossoms. I wonder if there’s gonna be a decision time for him to decide between Amari and his sister.

Lastly, Inan gets powers. He also has a white streak of hair on his head which means he’s likely a diviner. So somewhere his mom or dad probably had an affair with someone who was a diviner and nobody knows it yet. This will likely come out later too. If not then maybe there’s a new way that magic can be given to people too. I think Inan and Zelie have a connection too. They had visions of each other. I think a cool plot twist would be if Zelie and Inan were part of a different royal family that encouraged magic.

As soon as I started reading the book the protagonist and antagonists were identified. Within the first couple of chapters, there was already action. That made me really happy because it kept me entertained. Zelie was sparring with Yemi, which I guess is something they do a lot. It showed their relationship too. Reminds me of my friends. They both are the top dogs and when they gotta hang out they constantly butt heads. That’s how I imagine Zelie and Yemi. Zelie is a diviner; diviners are the people who are less fortunate and discriminated against. They have the potential to use magic too I think. Yemi is a rich girl that can’t do magic. While typing this, I made the realization that this is like Outer Banks, the Pogues, and Kooks. In a way, Zelie is John B in that she’s got a path she’s going to follow and an adventure she’s gotta do. The King is Ward Cameron. They both do whatever it takes to get their way. Anyways, Mama Agba is like the old teacher in the diviner village, and after watching them fight, in which Zelie fought dirty, she decides that Zelie is worthy?? What. She fought dirty and was out of control?? Regardless, she gave Zelie a black Majicite (super powerful metal, I’m imagining like Vibranium) staff that expands. That’s freaking awesome. I want one now. Add that to the list of fantastical weapons I want, (Lightsaber, Iron Man Armor, Black Panther Suit, Wand from Harry Potter, Riptide from Percy Jackson). Still, I’m appalled that Zelie got one because from what I read, she doesn’t deserve that much power. Also, is majicite common because it didn’t specify. Reminder to self to notice where it comes from.

Later on, the story switches to Amari narrating; the King’s Daughter. I wasn’t expecting a multiple-perspective story when I looked at this book. I’m fond of these types of books because I like to know what’s happening in everyone’s heads. Amari ends up getting attached to one of the diviners who serves her right before the servant gets killed by her father. I predict to see a little Amari and Zelie girl power crossover against the King, just based on Amari’s interest in diviners. That would be cool. I also predict that Amari might be a secret diviner too, and that will undo everything the King thought he knew if his own daughter turned out to be what he hates. That would cause an uprising and Zelie would bring light to the diviners and they become no longer hidden. Boom. End. I’m calling it.

My book is the Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I’m looking forward to reading a book that I’m passionate about and challenging myself. To ensure my success, I’m going to set aside 15 minutes a day before bed to read. I picked this book because I like fantasy books since they keep me entertained and make me want to read.

Bartolome de las Casa changed the audience through his honest account of the atrocities happening to the Indians. In his text, “The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies,” he brings light to the Spaniard’s abuse of the Indians. The audience’s perspective is changed from viewing the Spaniards as heroes to wrongdoers. Similarly, Colombus did the same thing. Even though his journal was biased toward making him appear to be a savior, his piece showed the mindset of the Spaniards and why they did the things they did. Finally, in Red Cloud’s speech, the injustices by the U.S. government were brought out to people in a small, New York College. His speech changed the audience and inspired them to make movements and support the Indians.

Bartolome de Las Casa’s text The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies examples the negatives that come with encountering new Frontiers. When the Spaniards encountered the Indians, they believed that they were superior. Instead of embracing this new cultural encounter, they instead decided to force their culture over it. De las Casa wrote about the guilt he felt when watching the Indians be dehumanized. He wrote, “Afterward, when they disembark on the island of Hispaniola, it is heartbreaking to see those naked Indians, heartbreaking for anyone with a vestige of piety, the famished state they are in…” His writing shows the despair and guilt of one of the sides of Culutral Encounters and Frontiers, proving that there is good and bad in the encounters.