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| Taken from Goodreads |
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
