Libba Bray has done it again. She has delivered a beautiful blend of history and fantasy in this finale of her wonderful series of The Diviners. This was everything that I needed it to be and more. This entire series has been a pleasure to read. This isn't just a ghost story, but its a story about people. Bray is a masterful storyteller and she takes care to give each character a voice.

This book like its predecessors are beautifully told and reveals the harsh reality of history cruelty. I love this series and I can't wait for the book to be released so I can reread it.

Just... woah.
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I'm so grateful for an early copy!

I'll try not to include spoilers because this is the fourth and final book in a series.
First and foremost this book made me feel so much. I was wooping and crying and gasping my way through hooked entirely. I could not put this down. The way Libba Bray writes is incredible.
The characters are so well developed and I really felt transported to 1920's America. As a Brit, I'm not massively up on American history I'll be honest but the Authors note at the end helped clear up the liberties taken which really helped.
This book for me started a bit slow to be honest, I was waiting to dive right in and see how the gang were going to tackle the King of Crows. There were some twists I wasn't personally a huge fan of and one that seemed more like it was there to please the readers. I personally love a tragic story and this one for me wrapped up too nicely, with how gruesome and dark some of the previous books had felt this one didn't have exactly the same atmosphere for me which was a shame.
This one isn't a fast read but boy is it tense.

If you're looking for a series that has great atmosphere and historical references with what I think is a great magical element, this might be for you!
While the series itself is great I recommend the audiobooks, January LaVoy is spectacular

God, I have enjoyed The Diviners series and this epic finale is no exception.

This will be a short and sweet review, as I don't want to reveal any spoilers.

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.

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...

Every book has been utterly soaked in this unnerving atmosphere that seeps under your skin and into your bones. Bray's writing is genuinely chilling, creating villains that will stalk your dreams. I love how she combines contemporary American monsters of the period with the fantastical horrors of the supernatural.

Over the course of the series, you will meet some unforgettable characters and watch them grow, break and mend over the course of the four books. It's such a character-driven series that allows each one a moment to shine, even if that shine is then destroyed.

The twists and turns over this series have been genuinely breath-taking, often upending the entire story and your expectations of it. Once more, Bray has a few tricks up her sleeve with emotional moments and a couple of shocks.

There's so much I want to say about this entrancing series, but like the world of The Diviners, for now it is shrouded in mystery. You'll simply have to pick this book up when it releases to find out more.

Review will be published on my blog tomorrow (21st January)

KING OF CROWS BY @libbabray ⁣
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𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: 5/5 STARS⁣
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𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦: Sam, Evie, Theta, Memphis, Isaiah, Jericho, Bill, Ling, Willl, Woody and Henry. ⁣
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𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦: Jake, The Shadow Men and the racist 1920s Americans. ⁣
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𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦: I have binged the entire Diviners series in less than a week, two days per book and all I can say that it is has completely captured my heart. The books are an intense journey, the plot is so thoroughly intricate that I doubt any one is able to truly know what’s going to happen before it happens. The descriptions are extremely vivid and if anything, the writing of this book needs to be celebrated. There were times when I was dead scared, the imagery was that phenomenally done. ⁣
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The wonderful thing about this series is that it also has absolutely amazing characters. The Diviners are 100% the found family trope personified; the characters are representative, not only of cultural differences, of human nature. They’re not always pleasant, they’re not always likeable but most of all they’re real. The women are strong and vulnerable, and the men are equally so. This book has carved a part in my heart and it’s going to stay there forever. ⁣
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𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣𝗦: A resolution to the love triangle does happen in this book. I’m not going to say anything about what happens but I will always want Sam and Evie to end up together. I also love Theta and Memphis together, their struggle is harsh and difficult but their love is intensely strong. It’s difficult not to root for them. ⁣
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𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥: readers looking for a series to steal your heart and mind.

A stunning end to what has been one of my favourite series of the past ten years. It's been exciting and emotional in equal parts, Libba's prose are to die for and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

The Diviners series is one of the most enjoyable and creepy of recent years, and this final instalment definitely ends things with a bang. We follow Evie, Theta, Sam and the rest of the Diviners as they try to put a stop to the King of Crows once and for all.

The Positives: The characters are so well drawn and are now so familiar, that falling back into their lives was like putting on a well worn pair of jeans. I love the nuances of the relationships between these characters and Libba Bray has done a fantastic job of developing each character, while retaining the key aspects of each personality. Our Diviners are growing up and becoming more adult here, but they are still pos-i-tutely, the characters we know and love. Bray is also a master of creating atmosphere. This is a creepy series and this final book is particularly so. There are many more interactions with the otherworldly here and the book as a whole feels the most fantastical and less historical fiction with a speculative twist. I also think that this book focuses on the evils people do to each other, which has been a theme throughout the series, and drives home the racial prejudice and generalised class inequality prevalent in America, both then and now.

The Negatives: I felt that the plot meandered at times and there were points that I felt were a bit repetitive. There were also a couple of things that I found a bit predictable and a couple of things that seemed as if Bray wasn't exactly sure how to explain something, so did a bit of narrative hand waving.

Overall, I think this is an excellent series and a truly wonderful concluding book that I will be thinking about for a long time and thrusting at people for them to read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

★★★✰✰ 3 stars

I hate to say it, or write it, but The King of Crows wasn't a very satisfying conclusion to The Diviners series. While it isn't as drawn-out as the finale to the Gemma Doyle series (which was around 800 pages) it struck me as being similarly anticlimactic. The pacing of the story was all over the place and the characters had very rushed and unsatisfying arcs.

Nearly three years have gone by since the release of [book:Before the Devil Breaks You|25985241]. Given that this series started back in 2012, it isn't all that surprising that I'd forgotten a quite a few major plot-points. Still, I remembered the diviners, their personalities and powers, as well as their group dynamics. Libba Bray doesn't spend too much time recapitulating old events, and the first few chapters of this novel were promising enough. Once the diviners are scattered across America however the story's upbeat pace comes to a halt. What follows over the course of the next three-hundred pages is a tedious repetition of similar scenarios. The diviners encounter good folk, who are willing to help them or understand what it means to be different (such as the members of a circus), as well as horrible individuals and groups of people (the most noticeable being the KKK). They all come to terms with their simultaneously beautiful and terrible country/world. All the while we get random chapters showing us that ghosts are coming (the message 'ghosts are coming' and 'this country is full of ghosts' are repeated so many times as to loose their initial sense of danger and urgency).
In short: the story is just padding.

Characters behave as flimsy versions of their former selves (Evie and Ling, both of whom I previously really liked, were simply irritating) and had very rushed storylines that seemed to add very little to their overall arc. Take Henry. Most of his scenes revolve around the way in which his sexuality is deemed abnormal by his society. That's pretty much it. Ling's sections are also often emphasise her sexuality. Whereas those scenes that focus on characters such as Memphis and Theta seem to focus on other aspects of their selves (their general desires and fears, etc). Jericho has the most eye-roll worthy storyline which is sees him !!!!SPOILERS!!!! becoming a martyr....the only way in which the narrative could 'forgive' him after his assault on Evie. He also has a very superficial romantic relationship with a character that is so memorable that I have forgotten her name...what was the point in that?!!!! END SPOILERS!!!!. Even the banter between the various diviners felt unimaginative. At times their conversations and discussions seem to rely on their catchphrases (Evie says something 'scandalous', Sam says something flirty, Jericho doesn't get whatever is going on, Ling is disapproving...).
None of the romances were interesting. They mostly revolved around cute nicknames (such as baby vamp) and on scenes featuring some very uninspired flirting.

The King of Crows is a Disney type of villain. I remember that the first instalments of this series presented us with creepy or fascinating antagonists...but this guy is just dull. He has a few cameos here and there, scares our protagonists, does some mayhem, and is very much the novel's boogeyman.

The setting too seemed to lack its usual spark and vibrancy. Previously I loved the way in which Bray brought 1920s New York to life. In this volume however most of the 'action' is outside of New York, and we read of a series of small and forgettable towns...which do not make very intriguing backdrops.

The plot was full of convenient coincidences. What frustrated me the most was a 'revelation' towards the end, which came as no surprise whatsoever !!!!SPOILERS!!!!...the creepy child was actually working for the King of Crows? I say! !!!!END SPOILERS!!!!

Bray draws an unsubtle parallel between the rampant racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Semitism, othering, and other forms of bigotry of the 1920s and today's political climate (there are phrases such as 'get out of our country'). Her approaches to some of these topics came across as rather on the nose. For example when Theta learns that someone she likes was raised by slave-owners she has such an unbelievably naive 'how could she?' reaction.

The epilogue struck me as predictable....!!!!END SPOILERS!!!!they loose their powers. Jericho dies. And yes, Hitler. Of course....!!!!SPOILERS!!!!

All in all...this was an incredibly disappointing followup to Before the Devil Breaks You. Where has the magic and life of the previous volumes gone?

5 Stars

Wow.

I don't believe there's such a thing as a perfect book, but this comes pretty damn close. The first book in the series was a fun 4* for me, the second an easy 5*, but the last two books are something else entirely. Just wow.

Before the Devil Breaks You was my favourite book of 2018, and perhaps the best book I've ever read - and I've read a lot of fantastic books! Funny, scary, emotional, beautifully written and, most importantly, relevant, what started as a fun paranormal fantasy series had grown into a beautiful and terrifying reflection not just on our past but on our anxieties today, and was truly shiver-inducing for it. I worried King of Crows wouldn't be quite so good - finales have a habit of being disappointing - but my God, the fourth Diviners book was just as good, if not better, than its predecessor.

Alternatively heart-warming and horrifying (of all the books, this was the scariest for me), The King of Crows keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last. It proves that a book doesn't need to be bleak and deadly serious to be intensely political - if anything, the light of the characters working together while on the run and the banter and the beautiful relationships (platonic, familial, and all kinds of romantic!) makes the shade of the darker aspects of the book all the more impactful. Just as scary, if not more so, than the ghastly world of the dead is the dangerous world of the living, This is the US of the 1920s, after all, and unlike the previous books which focused on New York, much of this book takes place in the South. There's a real eeriness to the character's travels that goes beyond the ghost towns and the frequent appearances of the dead. It's haunted in more ways than one.

I loved how each of the characters got to shine in this book - especially the adorable Isaiah, who is such a well-written child, I could feel my own ten-year-old self in him. Everyone has their own battles to face and a purpose regarding the greater narrative and conclusion, quite some feat considering how many Diviners there are at this point. There wasn't a single character whose sections I wanted to skip - I even finally warmed to Jericho! My favourite is still Ling, but only by a smidgeon. I love all of the Diviners.

Can we talk about the writing in this book too? There's something so gorgeously poetic about it. The part about the river gave me chills, and I found myself highlighting practically half my ebook - there's just so many sentences that gave me chills. I found myself snorting with laughter a lot too, because of the aforementioned banter. My favourite kinds of books are the ones that make me laugh and cry. I never laugh so hard at the ones that are just funny, or cry so hard at the ones that are just sad. The balance of despair and humour in The King of Crows is spot on.

It pains me that this series isn't hugely popular, not just because there are few people for me to scream at about it, but also because it's so timely. The uneasy ending is perfect. In a post-truth world, we can find fact in fiction, and this book is telling us something devastatingly true - the horror won't end in 1927, and it hasn't ended now, either. It's our job to make a better history.

To conclude, a brilliant end to a brilliant series.

My love for the Diviners is pretty absolute at this point, so I came into <i>King of Crows</i> a mixed bag of wild anticipation, looking forward to taking one last ride with these beloved characters, and utter trepidation, fearing the fate Bray had in store for them. And <i>King of Crows</i> delivers. Oh, man does it deliver! The highs had me beaming and lows had me sobbing. This book is so, so good. And it made me so, so happy. And so, so sad. And I don’t think I would have had it any other way.

Now, I will confess I was also a little worried heading into this book because, though I enjoyed it, something had been off about <i>Before the Devil Breaks You</i>. The pacing never felt right, and it felt less of a cohesive whole than two books kind of forced into one. No such problems here, though I’m sure some will find it a tad slow in parts. I didn’t. For me, those portions had all the markings of a sort of claustrophobic horror. The sort where you can see the Bad Thing coming but can’t know for certain when it will strike and you find yourself unable to stop it. A “Don’t go up those stairs!” feeling pervades.

Speaking of the horror aspects, I am not too proud to admit that reading it one night (because, of course, I was staying up way too late reading this), I had to build up courage to make the trek from the bed to my bathroom. The scary parts are really pretty scary. We find them in the vignettes Bray writes so well, bringing such humanity to the poor souls we know so briefly before they succumb to their tragic fates, and the horror our core characters encounter on their trek across America. As this book is keen to remind us, we the people and our human actions are every bit as scary as the things that go bump in the night.

Bad things happen, the sins of our history are laid bare, but for all that I would not call this story dark. There’s still plenty of humor. (The banter, oh the banter!) The bonds of friendship, found family, love are all there and shining strong, and this is, I think, ultimately a hopeful story.

All of the protagonists get there due here and I love, absolutely LOVE, that each proves to have an essential role in bringing this book series to its close.

And, yes, there were some things I wanted to see happen that never did conversations that seemed to be missing, plot lines that promised more than they delivered. We’ll have to use our imaginations to decide a number of things. But the conclusion was no less satisfying for that.

Look, its killing me write all this and not just screech about this or that plot point and or this or that ship. So let me just say that, as a fan, I absolutely enjoyed this book. This series has been cemented as one I will revisit time and again throughout my life. I will continue to rec it and pray for an awesome and faithful Netflix adaptation. In the meantime, I’ll let this marinate for a bit, then re-experience through the audio book. (Which everyone should do because January LaVoy is a narrating goddess and the audiobooks for this series are absolutely amazing.)

ARC provided by NetGalley.

Libba Bray’s tour de force of blended history, urban fantasy and the gothic comes to a breath taking, gut punch close in this fourth book. I’m still reeling. And I still need to apologise to the neighbours for the pterodactyl screech I let out on discovering I had an arc. This was everything I wanted it to be and more. A longer, more fulsome and no doubt meandering review to come nearer to release date, but this entire series is phenomenal. Ghost stories are always about the people and not the ghosts – something Bray has always done well. The real ghosts of the Diviners series are the ghosts of repression, injustice and prejudice. Ghosts who will always live in then haunted house we built. Ghosts who we need to be able to see and listen to in order to avoid creating more of them. These books are fantastically diverse and inclusive, beautifully written, savagely unflinching and uncompromising in their portrayal of historical cruelty, wonderfully well researched. They’re multi layered, featuring complex characters and in places are more than a little spooky. I love this series and can’t wait to reread it.

King Of Crows Review:
This was always going to be an impossible review for me to write, seeing as it’s the finale to my favourite series. It’s going to be messy, but I’m going to do my best to write a coherent review. But I did sob through the last 15%, so, how coherent can it really be? Also this will be spoiler free, but only if you’ve read the first 3 books.
I’m not going to give a long summary, because if you’re on book 4, you know what it’s about. But in this book we follow the Diviner’s as they are trying to take down The King Of Crows, but become public enemy #1, due to the events of book 3, and forcing them to be on the run. With the Diviner’s on the run and split apart, trying to make their way across the country to Bountiful, Nebraska, what destruction is the King Of Crows free to reap?
What I Liked:
-This is a ghost story. But it’s not a traditional ghost story, the events of these books aren’t completely made up, but they are made up of our history. Sure, there weren’t any ghosts in 1927, but almost every other event in this book is based on the real history of America. This book tackles: the complete and utter racism that benefitted white people and left black people in the dust and even introduces the rise of the KKK, the horrifying eugenics programme that tried to breed the “perfect” American which meant the sterilisation of thousands of women with mental health issues or disabilities and trying to make sure it was only white Americans that continued to have children, the terrible Chinese Immigration Act that separated so many families, the social rules that meant every same sex couple had to hide in the dark and a black man couldn’t hold the hand of his white girlfriend. And as Libba Bray says, these ghosts will always be part of the history of America ‘They are always with us. They are talking to us. It’s up to us to listen’. And I feel like Libba Bray wrote these books so it was impossible to read them without taking a step back and checking your privilege and thinking about everyone who came before you that meant you could live the life you live now. It really hit me as a disabled, person, but it also hit me as a white person, both in different ways.
-I may not… have hated… Jericho in this book. Which, if you watch any of my videos, you’ll know is a big deal. But this is generally to just say I loved every character in this book (except for Sara Beth who we get introduced to, she’s really annoying), every character has had so much growth and development that they’re almost unrecognisable from their first appearance. I feel like I have grown alongside these characters and I feel so proud of them in a weird way. I genuinely couldn’t choose a standout character of this book because they were all treated with so much care and had so many great moments.
-I loved that we got a lot of different character interactions. The Diviner’s are forced to split up for at least half of this book and so we had three different groups: Ling and Jericho; Memphis, Henry, and Bill; and Theta, Evie, Sam, and Isaiah. I was definitely surprised by these groups initially, because a lot of these characters haven’t interacted with their other group members much. Memphis and Henry, and Ling and Jericho were definitely stand out pairings that I didn’t expect to work but really bought out the best in each other as well as giving a good setting for certain conversations. The juxtaposition between what Henry was allowed to do as a white man, versus what Memphis and Bill could do as black men was really stark and I think an excellent choice to really emphasise the differences. And Ling and Jericho being two characters that aren’t very emotional, and are more reserved and the ‘thinkers’ of the group, being paired together seemed like an odd choice but actually really worked. I think it allowed to see their traits mirrored in each other and helped them to make some changes.
-I really felt on edge the entire book, because I knew that literally anything could happen. I really had no idea what to expect going into this book, and I was unsure how far Libba Bray was willing to go with character deaths etc. I think that really worked in this books favour, and in the opening chapter she really sets the tone for the book; that we’re in the endgame now and things are getting very dark. Almost every chapter felt stressful because our characters were in such peril.
-And finally, just the whole of the last 20% was incredible. I smiled, I cried, I laughed, I was terrified and it had some of the most beautiful quotes I’ve ever read. I can’t wait to get my physical copy so I can annotate the hell out of it. I’ve never wanted to annotate a book so badly.
-The very ending was particularly poignant and I was completely happy with the “epilogue”.
What I Didn’t Like:
These things were only minor, but I obviously need to mention them.
-The setting. I think the setting of New York in the roaring 20s really helped the previous books in this series, it created such a strong and vibrant back drop and atmosphere for the story. However, we are in New York for a very small amount of time in this book, and I just don’t think the setting was as captivating as the previous books.
-It did have some slow moments. It was almost like every other 10% there would be loads of action, and then the next 10% was much slower which made the pacing feel a little jarring. I just think the pacing should have been more steady in stead of a bunch of action packed together and then a few chapters where very little happened.
Overall, this series and this book have changed my life. I’m not sure I could ever remove my emotions completely to right a totally impartial review because these books mean the world to me. I’m absolutely devastated that this series has come to an end, and that I will never get any new content of these characters. These books belong in a museum both because of the history they include and because they are complete works of art.

I will be posting this review on the 21st of January here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27097779-izzie
And I will be talking about it in a wrap up video around release date here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4zEZK7m-t-77luH938MUig?view_as=subscriber

What better way to kick off the roaring 20s than with the final installment in The Diviners series?

The Diviners is one of my favourite series, so I was absolutely thrilled to be able to read The King of Crows early. And I both loved it and felt a little underwhelmed at the same time. This was still a really good read, but I felt like it missed some direction, and it meandered for a long time.

I still think this is a phenomenal series, as it takes on so many different topics and has such an amazing cast of characters. I just missed some of the suspense of the first three books, and didn't feel as pressed to read on.

There were also some formatting issues with the eARC, such as missing spaces, doubled sentences, and lay-out problems, which may have added to my inability to completely enjoy this book.