Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone

by

Tomi Adeyemi

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Children of Blood and Bone makes teaching easy.

Children of Blood and Bone Quotes

Need another quote?
Need analysis on another quote?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
Need analysis for a quote we don't cover?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Request it
Request it
Request analysis
Request analysis
Request analysis
Chapter One Quotes

Deep down, I know the truth. I knew it the moment I saw the maji of Ibadan in chains. The gods died with our magic.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Mama Agba
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Two Quotes

He wants to believe that playing by the monarchy’s rules will keep us safe, but nothing can protect us when those rules are rooted in hate

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Tzain
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Five Quotes

You must protect those who can’t defend themselves. Mama Agba’s words from this morning seep into my head.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Amari, Tzain, Mama Agba
Page Number: 58
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eleven Quotes

Yemi meets my eyes with a hatred that impales me like a sword. Though her mouth never opens, her voice rings in my skull. “Safe ended a long time ago.”

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Yemi
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirteen Quotes

I arch my eyebrow at Amari and think back to her mention of a training accident. I assumed the scar came from her brother’s sword, but was she holding a sword, too? Despite her escape from Lagos, I can’t imagine the princess locked in battle.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Amari, Inan
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Two Quotes

Though the royal seal is etched into the clay wall, it waves in my mind like the velvet banners in Father’s throne room. After the Raid, he abolished the old seal, a gallant bull-horned lionare that always used to make me feel safe. Instead, he proclaimed that our power would be represented by the snow leopanaires: ryders who were ruthless. Pure.

Related Characters: Amari (speaker)
Page Number: 195
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Four Quotes

Growing up, Father led me to believe that those who clung to the myth of the gods were weak. They relied on beings they could never see, dedicating their lives to faceless entities.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), King Saran
Page Number: 210
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Five Quotes

After I perform the ritual and bring magic back, after Baba is safe and sound. I’ll rally a group of Grounders to sink this monstrosity into the sand. That announcer will pay for every wasted divîner life. Every noble will answer for their crimes.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Baba
Page Number: 212
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Four Quotes

I don’t know what disturbs me more: that I killed him, or that I could do it again. Strike, Amari. A thin whisper of father’s voice plays in my ears.

Related Characters: Amari (speaker), King Saran
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Six Quotes

“Those are Father’s words, Inan. His decisions. Not yours. We are our own people. We make our own choices.”

“But he’s right. Inan’s voice cracks. “If we don’t stop magic, Orïsha will fall.”

Related Characters: Amari (speaker), Inan (speaker), King Saran
Page Number: 275
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Nine Quotes

Zélie’s memories don’t hold the villains Father always warned of. Only families he tore apart. Duty before self. His creed rings through my ears. My father. Her king. The harbinger of all this suffering.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Forty-Seven Quotes

This pawn was the only piece I managed to salvage. Shame ripples through me as I stare at the tarnished metal. The only gift he’s ever given me, and at its core is hate.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran
Related Symbols: Majacite Pawn
Page Number: 324
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Fifty-One Quotes

Zu’s tears make my own eyes prickle. Kwame’s face pinches with pain. I want to hate him for what he did to Tzain, but I can’t. I’m no better. If anything, I’m worse. If Inan hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve stabbed that masked divîner to death just to get answers.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Amari, Inan, Tzain, Kwame, Zu
Page Number: 343
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Fifty-Four Quotes

A pit of guilt opens in my chest, tainted with the smell of burning flesh. The fires I watched from the royal palace resurface, the innocent lives burned before my young eyes. A memory I’ve pushed down like my magic, a day I longed to forget. But staring at Zélie now brings it all back: the pain. The tears. The death.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran
Page Number: 364
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Fifty-Six Quotes

The children of Orïsha dance like there’s no tomorrow, each step praising the gods. Their mouths glorify the rapture of liberation, their hearts sing the Yoruba songs of freedom. My ears dance at the words of my language, words I once thought I’d never hear outside my head. They seem to light up the air with their delight. It’s like the whole world can breathe again.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker)
Page Number: 377
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixty-Three Quotes

“I thought things could be different. I wanted them to be different. But after what we just saw, we have no choice. We can’t give people that kind of power.”

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran, Kwame
Page Number: 412
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixty-Six Quotes

In that instant it hits me: Zulaikha’s death. Zélie’s screams. They don’t mean a thing to him. Because they’re maji, they’re nothing. He preaches duty before self, but his Orïsha doesn’t include them. It never has.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran
Page Number: 432
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixty-Eight Quotes

Binta’s voice rings loud. The sight of her blood fills my head. I can avenge her now. I can cut Father down. While the maji take out the guards, my sword can free Father of his head. Retribution for all his massacres, every poor soul he ever killed […].

Related Characters: Amari (speaker), Binta, King Saran
Page Number: 443
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventy-One Quotes

The ache that cuts through me is sharper than the blade that cut through my back. It’s like losing Mama all over again.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Mama
Page Number: 456
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventy-Four Quotes

I stare at the blade; the inscription gleams in the moonlight. Its words simplify my mission, creating space for my pain. A soldier. A great king. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. Duty over self. Orïsha over Zélie.

Related Characters: Inan (speaker), Zélie, King Saran
Page Number: 476
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventy-Five Quotes

I don’t want to be alone. Not when tonight could be my last night. Blind faith in the gods may have taken me this far, but if I’m going to get on that island tomorrow, I need more.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Amari
Page Number: 481
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventy-Eight Quotes

Minutes stretch into hours, an eternity that drags like death. Each second that passes is another second my mind tumbles in guilt What if they’re captured? What if they die? I can’t have more people perish for this. I can’t have more blood stain my hands.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker)
Page Number: 494
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventy-Nine Quotes

As I approach Inan, Baba’s shaking grows frantic. I can’t let him break my resolve. I don’t want them to win, Baba. But I can’t let you die.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), Inan, King Saran, Baba
Page Number: 499
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eighty Quotes

As long as we don’t have magic, they will never treat us with respect, Baba’s spirit booms. They need to know we can hit them back. If they burn our homes—I burn theirs, too.

Related Characters: Zélie (speaker), King Saran, Baba
Page Number: 503
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eighty-Three Quotes

I cannot end it like this. If I do that, I’m no better than him. Orïsha will not survive by employing his tactics. Father must be taken down, but it is too much to drive my sword through his heart—Father pulls back his blade. Momentum carries me forward. Before I can pivot, Father swings his sword around and the blade rips across my back.

Related Characters: Amari (speaker), Inan, King Saran
Page Number: 513
Explanation and Analysis:
No matches.