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

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