The second installment of Tomi Adeyemi’s young-adult trilogy, Legacy of Orïsha, finds its fierce protagonist Zélie Adebola facing unexpected consequences from her success in restoring the magic to her kingdom. Though the maji—the oppressed white-haired people whose powers were stripped when the evil king wiped out magic—now have their abilities back, the monarchy has them, too. In Adeyemi’s absorbing and elaborately constructed novel, the two sides engage in a bitter civil war over control of Orïsha. As the kingdom begins to self-destruct, Zélie must fight to save it. Like its predecessor, Children of Virtue and Vengeance is fast-paced and unafraid to ask tough questions about the cyclical nature of oppression and the systems that enforce it. —Annabel Gutterman
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