The King of Crows by Libba Bray Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- The King of Crows

Author- Libba Bray

Series- The Diviners

Published- 2020

Page Count- 547 pages

Publishing House- Little Brown Books

Rating- 3/5 stars 

Photo taken from Goodreads.

About the Author

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series. She is originally from Texas but makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and two sociopathic cats.  You can find her at…oh, wait. You already did. Nevermind—you are a genius!

Taken from Libba's website. 

Plot

The breath-taking finale to the epic New York Times bestseller, The Diviners, from Printz winner and beloved author, Libba Bray.

After the horrifying explosion that claimed one of their own, the Diviners find themselves wanted by the US government, and on the brink of war with the King of Crows.

While Memphis and Isaiah run for their lives from the mysterious Shadow Men, Isaiah receives a startling vision of a girl, Sarah Beth Olson, who could shift the balance in their struggle for peace. Sarah Beth says she knows how to stop the King of Crows-but, she will need the Diviners' help to do it.

Elsewhere, Jericho has returned after his escape from Jake Marlowe's estate, where he has learned the shocking truth behind the King of Crow's plans. Now, the Diviners must travel to Bountiful, Nebraska, in hopes of joining forces with Sarah Beth and to stop the King of Crows and his army of the dead forever.

But as rumors of towns becoming ghost towns and the dead developing unprecedented powers begin to surface, all hope seems to be lost.

In this sweeping finale, The Diviners will be forced to confront their greatest fears and learn to rely on one another if they hope to save the nation, and world from catastrophe...

Taken from Goodreads

Opinions

Here we are. My final review for The Diviners series. I've been reading this for the past two months and I finally finished it. I have to admit that this was my least favourite in the series. With each instalment, I've lost interest. This is heartbreaking as I adored the first book and really enjoyed the next two, but this one just wasn't for me. I've seen a lot of reviews from die-hard fans saying how they felt let down by this ending. I've noticed this is becoming a reoccurring trend in YA books, that they don't seem to have as good endings as they did back in the day. 

As I've already touched on, I found this an unsatisfying and slightly disappointing conclusion to what should have been an epic series. This was essentially over 500 pages of a journey across America told from multiple perspectives. There were moments of action, but I just didn't care about half of them. It became a bit repetitive at times as they were split into three groups and all went through similar experiences. I wanted an epic finale and this is what I got. I'm glad I came to this series quite late as if I had waited that long for the finale I would be beyond upset. 

Something I touched on in my review for Before the Devil Breaks you was that I was let down by how Jericho's character was ruined by the scene with Evie and the serum. I liked Jericho. He was one of my favourite characters. This book also ruined his character for me. I didn't like that he fell in love with the first women he met after his disastrous relationship with Evie. To me, he was still in love with Evie and to then go and fall in love with someone else felt very odd. He then went and slept with that woman. I just miss Jericho from book one, he was my favourite and I wish he had stayed like that. Poor Jericho then went and died (disappeared?). His character was just unrecognisable by the end of this series and it was sad that this happened to him.

I have to admit that I'm slightly confused by what happened in this book. Did we find out who the King of Crows was? How did they defeat him? I just felt a bit lost due to the amble like pace of this book. I know that some characters died, such as Jericho and Jake Marlowe. I was also very confused when Isaiah seemed to die but then didn't. Also by the end of the book, The Diviners had all lost their powers. As I've said, I'm very lost with what actually happened in this book. 

I can't just mention negatives in this review, I do have to mention something positive. Evie is still one of my favourite female fictional characters. I was unsurprised but happy that she and Sam are getting married. Henry is also another all time favourite fictional character as he is the biggest softie and I would be very happy to have him as a friend in real life. The cast of characters has always been one of my favourite things about this series and I am a bit sad to see them go.

I know that I will reread this series again, as despite the issues I had with it, I adored Libba's writing style. I've already spoken about my love for the cast of characters. I could also see this becoming a really good TV show, if in the write hands. I will revisit these characters again and pray for a good TV show adaptation.     

That concludes my review of King of Crows and The Diviners series. What did you think about this series?

Carenza :) x

How I Decided What Books to Bring to University| Carenza Bramwell

Recently, I had to make a very difficult decision. It was particularly challenging and I couldn't afford to mess it up. I'm talking about deciding what books to bring with me to university. These would be the only books I had access to for four months. I have learnt the hard way when it comes to deciding what books to bring to university and I thought I would share how I've been able to make the ultimate packing list. 

My new uni bookcase

A Small History of University and Books

I am going into my final year of university, which means this is the third time I have had to pick which books to bring with me. In my first year I brought around 30 books with me. I then went and purchased another 10 books as soon as I moved in. I swiftly came to the conclusion that this was too many books. I decided I would learn from my mistakes as a Fresher and for my second year of university, I only packed 10 books. I obviously purchased other books. When I went home or when my parents came to visit, I would take the ones I had read and return them. I would also bring new books back with me. However, due to the pandemic this year, it's a bit different this time. I had to bring enough books with me to see me through until Christmas. I do not know what Christmas will bring and I'm praying I will be allowed to go home for a few weeks. That meant that I had to bring enough to keep me going for four months. It was a difficult decision. I made the decision to bring 20 books with me. Alongside the books I plan on purchasing and with the rate I am currently reading books at, this should be enough. 

How Did I Decide Which Twenty to Bring?

It's a good question and I have a good answer for you. My main piece of advice would to be to bring a wide range of genres. You never know when the urge will hit you to read a certain genre and if you don't have that genre, then you're a bit screwed. I went through my shelves and looked at them by genre. I have mostly fantasy books, but I also have a good mix of sci-fi (which is totally outside of my comfort zone) and more modern literature/classics. I have only one contemporary with me. I also factored in if there were books with sequels that I wanted to read. Out of the books I brought, only two are rereads. 

I also decided that I wanted to tackle a lot of series. I have brought a total of four series with me. Two fantasy series and two sci-fi series. It gives me options if I want to read stand alones or if I want to binge read a series. It's always good to have a wide range of things to read as it means you have all the "basic" book needs covered.   

What About Purchasing Books?

I've actually written a whole blog post on this, but I have significantly cut back on the amount of books I buy a year. I'll leave a link to it here. But to paraphrase myself, I'm cutting back due to space and money. I think I'm only planning on buying maybe 10 books at a push while I'm here. I've been mostly buying new releases all year, despite the fact that there is a lot of books I want to catch up on that I haven't bought. I did visit a second hand bookstore with my friends and bought a book there, but for the most part due to me being a student, I am cutting back on physical books. 

It can be difficult to decide what books to bring for such a long period, but I would advice to take your time and to try and pick a wide genre of books as then you'll have something for every occasion. 

Carenza :) x

Navigating "Zoomiversity"- Adjusting to University Online| Carenza Bramwell

Like the thousands of students around the world, I have joined the ranks of attending zoomiversity. I would like to add that I did not invent the term zoomiversity, I saw it on Twitter and it made me laugh. I had never anticipated what it would be like to do my degree from the comfort of my bedroom and yet here I am. I've just completed my first week and I thought I would share my thoughts on using online platforms to learn.

My old university desk that I am missing a lot right now. 

The Beginning 

When we went into lockdown back in March, I only had around three weeks of teaching left. As it was so sudden, like most students, it was a difficult adjustment and then content provided was not adequate. However, I was at the stage in the term where I was moving away from teaching to focus on my assessments for the year. We had a policy introduced that meant that we couldn't do worse than we had been doing pre-pandemic as this was a stressful time. 

I didn't have any classes online. Anything that was available was tasks we did by ourselves or pre recorded lectures. It was a fairly easy adjustment, just doing the work when I had a spare moment and being able to do it at my own pace. I had heard stories from friends and online about dreadful transitions, and although the teaching standards weren't what I usually had, it was better than nothing. It was a very sudden adjustment and I am prepared to be lenient as it happened so quickly. We don't give enough thanks to the teachers and lecturers having to adapt their jobs to this. 

Zoomiversity 

We found out in May/June that all our lectures were going to be online. There is some promise from in person teaching but this will be limited, especially for my course as we can survive without in person teaching for the moment. It does make me sad that the last year and a half of my degree will be impacted by this. That I won't get the typical university experience and will never get it. 

I was anxious about how this online teaching would work. As I study Creative and Professional Writing, we spend a lot of time working independently during lecture time. Did this mean I would just be sitting in my bedroom working on tasks by myself? Would this style of teaching actually work for me? I am someone who works well alone. I find it difficult to concentrate with other people around me. In theory, this should be my idea of heaven. I can sit in my room and fully concentrate on what's happening. Yet, I was very anxious. The main thing that made me anxious was interacting through cameras. I don't know what it is about using a platform like zoom, but it turns me into someone who cannot function as a normal human being. I just flail and become inherently awkward. It also plays into my hatred of forced social interactions. In a classroom, I can sit with my friends but now I have to talk to people I wouldn't normally. My nightmare becomes a reality. 

So how did I find zoomiveristy? Honestly, not as bad as I thought it would be. I like that it's acceptable to take photos of the slides and no one knows. I can do the work at my own pace. It's also mostly acceptable to never turn on my camera or mic. I can be anonymous. It also means I can feel no guilt if I do anything embarrassing as no will ever know. I like hiding behind my laptop. I do not like sitting at my horrible desk for two hours as I physically hurt after sitting there that long. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to working and learning from home. I miss having the two separate. I liked how university and home were two different things. I could keep them as two different parts of my life. However, you have to think of the positives. It is nice to finish a lecture and then be able to go about my day. I have more time to play with. I can make my life fit nicely around it. It's nice to have that option. At the moment, I am on three weeks of general training and getting used to being back at university. It's good to test it and see if it works. I've made a little schedule so I can make the most of my time. Make my days count. I had missed the structure that university brought to my life and now I have it back. 

Advice?

To anyone who felt like me, unsure and let down, I will say it's not as bad as we thought. Yes, it is not ideal to be paying this much just to sit at home. But at least we are lucky enough to have access to our education. They are trying their best to make this work for us. I will be happy to walk away from this with my degree next summer. Try and find the positive in this situation. I know it's difficult, but when the world is on shut down, you have to keep moving. 

Carenza :) x    

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Taken from Goodreads

Title- Before the Devil Breaks You
Author- Libba Bray
Series- The Diviners
Published- 2017
Page Count- 546 pages 
Publishing House- Little Brown Books
Rating- 4/5 stars

About the Author

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series. She is originally from Texas but makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and two sociopathic cats.  You can find her at…oh, wait. You already did. Nevermind—you are a genius!

Taken from Libba's Website.

Plot

New York City.

1927.

Lights are bright.

Jazz is king.

Parties are wild.

And the dead are coming...

After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror. Out on Ward's Island, far from the city's bustle, sits a mental hospital haunted by the lost souls of people long forgotten--ghosts who have unusual and dangerous ties to the man in the stovepipe hat, also known as the King of Crows.

With terrible accounts of murder and possession flooding in from all over and New York City on the verge of panic, the Diviners must band together and brave the sinister ghosts invading the asylum, a fight that will bring them face-to-face with the King of Crows. But as the explosive secrets of the past come to light, loyalties and friendships will be tested, love will hang in the balance, and the Diviners will question all that they've ever known. All the while, malevolent forces gather from every corner in a battle for the very soul of a nation--a fight that could claim the Diviners themselves.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

To read my reviews of The Diviners and Lair of Dreams, click on the following links- The Diviners and  Lair of Dreams.

I told you I would have to review the third book in the Diviners series as this has become a favourite of mine. It goes without saying, but I have a lot of feelings about this book. Without further ado, let's dive into my opinions on Before the Devil Breaks You.

We know that I had adored The Diviners and that I enjoyed Lair of Dreams, but I found my enjoyment ebbing a bit in Before the Devil Breaks You. It's been quite sad with each instalment, I've spotted that my love for this series diminishes. The first book was phenomenal but I didn't care for the mystery as much in this one. I found it a bit confusing. I know they were using their powers to destroy ghosts and to figure out who the King of Crows was. It felt, to me, that there were too many side mysteries to deal with, which I will unpack later. 

My main reason for not liking this book was what happened to Jericho's character. Jericho was a character I really enjoyed, I found him quite compelling. However, the scene with Marlowe's serum, ruined him for me. I feel that it was a poorly executed way of having Evie have to choose between Jericho and Sam, which was something I did not like in general. It felt like an necessary scene and left a sour taste in my mouth. 

Something I did really enjoy in this book was the LGBT elements. We already knew that Henry was gay and now he's developing a new relationship with David. It's about time something good happened to him as he's such a precious bean. We then found out that Ling was asexual after starting a relationship with Alma. I did not see that happening, but I loved it. I can't speak for how accurate the representation was, but it was nice to see these different sexualities being included, especially during a historical period when they weren't that acceptable. Henry remains one of my favourite characters in the series. 

Another thing that changed in this book was how I felt about Mabel. She wasn't a character I particularly cared for, in fact I found her quite annoying. However, she really came into her own in this book. I think moving away from Evie and the Diviners was the best thing for her. It did bug me that there was a need to constantly compare Evie and Mabel when it couldn't have been clearer that they were very different characters. I did actually feel quite sad when Mabel died as she was young and had just started a relationship with Arthur. She was finally happy in her life and then it was ripped away from her. It was also quite sad that her last conversation with Evie was a bad one and they will never get to have a happy conversation again. 

As I mentioned, I felt that this book was filled with too many side plots which ended up detracting from the main plot. Firstly, there was Evie and Sam exploring Project Buffalo. This was interesting and it added to their dynamic. I think they're now a couple and they finally slept together, but the next day Sam was kidnapped by the Shadow Men. There was then the reveal that Roy, Theta's abusive ex-husband, was still alive. This caused some conflict between Theta and Memphis through everyone's least favourite trope, lack of communication. Mabel was off having her own adventures with the Secret Six. Jericho also had his own subplot of being at Marlowe's mansion. It just ended up being too much for me and I struggled to stay engaged with the central plot in the end. 

The ending did end up being quite explosive, literally. Mabel, Arthur and Sarah died. Roy is hunting Memphis, Isaiah  and Bill. Will was murdered by the Shadow People. Sam was also kidnapped by the Shadow People. I have finished this series at the time of writing this review, so expect a review for the final book, The King of Crows. I will explain my opinions on him in my review for the final book.

Carenza :) x

What I've Been Reading Recently- Summer Edition| Carenza Bramwell

 As we gradually shift from the bright blues of summer to the softer hues of autumn, it is time for me to share the books I read this summer. I managed to read a total of sixteen books over July and August. My reading has been staying pretty consistent, with my average amount of books read per month staying at eight.  

July 

As I mentioned, I've been reading roughly eight books a month and July was no exception. I read a lot of new releases as well as continuing to tackle my TBR pile.

The first book I read in July was The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant. I had heard good things about this book and it was supposed to be a fantastical retelling of Les Miserables. I have a weakness for stories set in France, specifically Paris. I saw that this was on offer on the Kindle store and bought it for a mere 99p. I'm glad I decided against buying it in physical format as I ended up not enjoying it as much as I hoped. I have a full spoiler filled review, which you can read here. I would say my main complaint is that the narrative jumped around too much for my liking and offered very little explanation as to why. I ended up being underwhelmed by this book and have no intentions of continuing the series. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Next I read Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge. I picked this up three years ago as a World Book Day book as I knew Frances had won a Costa award for her other works. I enjoyed the first chapter and that was about it. I think this was aimed at someone a lot younger than me and I could see the appeal in why a younger audience would enjoy this. I struggled with staying engaged with it and was very glad when my time with it came to an end. I gave it 2/5 stars.  

Then I read a book I was really excited for, it was probably in my top three books for the year, and that was Loveless by Alice Oseman. Alice has become a favourite author of mine in the past year and I will order anything she writes. This is another one I have a full review of, which you can read here. It had amazing ace/aro rep and was another classic YA Contemporary from Alice. I did find it a bit repetitive at times, but apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I gave it 4/5 stars.  

An unexpected love of mine was the Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. I had bought this years ago and had decided to finally pick it up. It's about a Japanese man who adopts a cat from the streets and their lives together. It is told mostly from the perspective of the cat, which added a lot of humour to the book. It was a very easy, yet highly entertaining read. I believe there are plans for it to become a film at some point in the future. I gave it 4/5 stars.

A hyped up book that I decided to purchase was You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson. I knew that this was a Black Girl LGBT+ Rom Com going in and if that doesn't get you to want to read it, then I don't know what would. I found it very funny and sweet. It was the perfect summer contemporary. My only complaint is a personal one and that it was written in first person. I generally struggle with first person, I just don't vibe well with it for some reason. Apart from that, it was a solid cute contemporary. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The next book I read has become a new favourite of mine. That is The Diviners by Libba Bray. Evie O'Neil is my new favourite female fictional character. I loved the setting and the mystery. I will say that it does take a while to get to the central plot but once you're there, then it gets really good. I also have a review for this one, which you can read here. I had the audiobook from before I cancelled my subscription and the audiobook was superb. I gave it 4.5/5 stars.

Moving away from 4 star books, my next read was Girl, Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. Again, I had heard good things about it, particularly the LGBT+ rep. In the end I had mixed feelings about this book. I felt it could have been shorter as it dragged out the story quite a bit. I enjoyed the first section of this book, but I struggled with the middle and ending. I had wanted to really enjoy this but it ended up falling flat for me. I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

My final read of July was The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutowski. Back in the day, I had heard amazing things about this book, especially about the political side of it. What I read, I found dull and unenjoyable. Nothing happened in this book. I didn't care for either of the main characters. I just found it disappointing. I gave it 3/5 stars.

August

August is my favourite month of the year as it is my birthday month. I also had quite a good reading month too, which made August an even better month. I managed to read eight books in August.

The first one is actually one I started in July but finished in August and that was Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. I know there is lots of controversy around Rainbow at the moment, due to some accusations of racism in her book Eleanor&Park. I have decided to donate all of the books of hers that I own as I have come to the conclusion I'm not a big fan of her work and I don't want to support someone like that. Carry On is a well loved book, but personally I had a lot of issues with it. My main one was you could tell it was written by an American author trying to make it sound authentically British. I also found the characters very annoying and didn't care for the plot. I've seen a lot of descriptions of it being a "knock off Harry Potter", which I agree with to some extent. This did start as fan-fiction from one of her other books, so I don't know why it became an actual book. It was not for me in the end, so I gave it 3/5 stars.

I then jumped back into The Diviners series, by reading Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray. This is the second book in the series. While I still enjoyed it, Lair of Dreams suffered from second book slump syndrome and was not as engaging as the first book. I did love reading more from Henry, who has become another favourite character of mine. I didn't like the introduction of a love square. The romance felt kinda unnecessary. The mystery was not as engaging as the first book as well. I have a full review of this book, which you can read here. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

A quick read for me was the script for In Bruges by Martin McDonagh. Martin is one of my favourite screenwriters and In Bruges is a family favourite film. I've watched about six times in the last year, so I finally decided to read the script for it. There were some bits that were different from the film, but apart from that it was an easy and fun read. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Next I read Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. Laini is one of my favourite authors, I adore the Strange the Dreamer duology. I had actually read the first book in this series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, over two years ago. I decided to finally continue with this series. I think leaving such a big gap between books was a mistake. I struggled to understand the world and the plot, but Laini's writing is so beautiful it makes up for that. I was glad to be back in that world, but the two year gap between instalments was a bit confusing. I should have probably reread the first book, but I really wanted to finish this series. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Once again, I jumped back to the Diviners with Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray, the third book in this series. For a series I loved so much, I found with each book I enjoyed it less and less. I had major issues with a certain element of this book, which I will be writing about in my review of this book. Again, I didn't care for the mystery as much. But I adore these characters and the setting so much. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Another Alice Oseman book I read was the newly released paperback for Nick and Charlie, a Solitaire novella. While I found this a cute and easy read, it was filled with far too much drama for my liking. It was also fairly predictable. I did read this in one sitting, which was nice. I love Alice, so I gave this 4/5 stars.

I finally finished the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, by reading the final book, Dreams of Gods and Monsters. Now that I was back in this world, I had a grasp on what was happening. I really enjoyed the first part, but ended up struggling quite a bit with the second half. Laini is a great writer and I really admire her writing style. I'm glad that I've finally finished this series, even if it did take me over two years. I gave it 4/5 stars.

My final read for August was a slightly unsual one and that was The Promise: An Avatar the Last Airbender Comic bind-up. I recently rewatched ATLA for the first time in many years and fell head over heels in love with it again. I had been meaning to pick the comics up for a while, so I treated myself to one. I found it enjoyable. It takes place after the series has ended, so I won't go into details about the plot as to avoid spoilers. I will say that it felt a bit filler-esque and was setting it up for the next comic book. I gave it 4/5 stars.

That concludes my wrap up for July and August. I'm really happy with all the books I've been reading lately.

Carenza :) x