Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the second in the fictional young adult Legacy of Orisha series written by Tomi Adeyemi. The book is preceded by the award-winning Children of Blood and Bone (2018).
The book resumes from the events of the previous novel, with Zelie and Amari desperate to restore peace in Orisha. However, their actions in reigniting the magic have led to conflict, with rebel troops arising and Queen Nehanda determined to stop them from replacing her as the monarch. Along the way, Zelie and Amari are challenged by those who they can truly trust and those who are merely biding their time to betray them.
The first book in the series, Children of Blood and Bone (2018), spent 90 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Praise came for the infusions of West African themes and cultures throughout the book. Adeymei used the book as a platform to explore social injustice towards black people, and commented “I wanted people to empathize. Many of these issues come from dehumanization and a lot of dehumanization is a direct result of no-to-poor representation.”
