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lubleu's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
ameserole's review against another edition
4.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not going to lie to you guys. I most definitely got some conjuring vibes while listening to this beautiful audiobook and I absolutely ate it all up. The Devil Makes Three was so freaking good that I never put it on hold. Heck, I didn't even want to put my phone down because I was just loving everything within this.
In it, you will meet Tess and Eliot. Sort of enemies in the beginning but they definitely became closer throughout their devilish adventures. Each hidden dark corner will give you a ton of creepy vibes and questions will start to develop. Especially when it comes to certain people who are close to these two.
After meeting everyone, I will say that I didn't really like Tess's aunt or Eliot's dad. I can see why Tess wrote all those hilarious/horrible sticky notes towards Eliot's dad. He just seemed like a douche canoe. As for her aunt? Oh man.. the way she pronounced her name incorrectly felt like nails on a chalkboard. It's a name. She's family. IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD PEOPLE!!
Then there's the sacrifices and consequences to everything as well. Nothing shies away from sadness or mysterious. It's an emotionally dark roller coaster of a ride that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
All I'm going to say is.. don't open and then read something from a dark mysterious book that you found in a secret passageway. The mummy taught me this and I think everyone should go by that rule.
I'm not going to lie to you guys. I most definitely got some conjuring vibes while listening to this beautiful audiobook and I absolutely ate it all up. The Devil Makes Three was so freaking good that I never put it on hold. Heck, I didn't even want to put my phone down because I was just loving everything within this.
In it, you will meet Tess and Eliot. Sort of enemies in the beginning but they definitely became closer throughout their devilish adventures. Each hidden dark corner will give you a ton of creepy vibes and questions will start to develop. Especially when it comes to certain people who are close to these two.
After meeting everyone, I will say that I didn't really like Tess's aunt or Eliot's dad. I can see why Tess wrote all those hilarious/horrible sticky notes towards Eliot's dad. He just seemed like a douche canoe. As for her aunt? Oh man.. the way she pronounced her name incorrectly felt like nails on a chalkboard. It's a name. She's family. IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD PEOPLE!!
Then there's the sacrifices and consequences to everything as well. Nothing shies away from sadness or mysterious. It's an emotionally dark roller coaster of a ride that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
All I'm going to say is.. don't open and then read something from a dark mysterious book that you found in a secret passageway. The mummy taught me this and I think everyone should go by that rule.
hpereira11's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mermaird's review against another edition
5.0
First book finished in 2023 and I'm so happy it's extremely good
cierrachey33's review against another edition
3.0
Tori Bovalino's The Devil Makes Three is a young adult dark academia thriller that plunges readers into a world of ancient secrets, forbidden rituals, and the chilling presence of evil. While the atmospheric setting and suspenseful plot are strong points, the book ultimately falters in its character development and narrative pacing.
What I Liked:
Enthralling Atmosphere: Bovalino masterfully creates a dark and eerie atmosphere that evokes a sense of dread and anticipation. The setting of the ancient university, steeped in history and shrouded in secrets, perfectly complements the supernatural elements of the story.
Intriguing Premise: The concept of accidentally summoning a demon through a forbidden ritual is captivating and sets the stage for an exciting adventure. The book effectively explores themes of good versus evil, the dangers of curiosity, and the consequences of playing with forces beyond our understanding.
Suspenseful Plot: The story unfolds at a brisk pace, keeping readers guessing with unexpected twists and turns. The mystery surrounding the demon and its motives adds to the suspense and leaves you eager to discover the truth.
What Could Have Been Better:
Flat Character Development: While the characters are intriguing at first, their development throughout the story feels lackluster. Their motivations and personalities remain somewhat ambiguous, making it difficult to connect with them on a deeper level.
Uneven Pacing: The narrative pacing is inconsistent, with some sections dragging and others feeling rushed. This can disrupt the flow of the story and make it difficult to maintain focus at times.
Predictable Ending: Despite the suspenseful plot, the ending feels somewhat predictable and fails to deliver a truly satisfying conclusion. The resolution of the conflict leaves some questions unanswered and lacks the emotional impact of the preceding events.
Overall:
The Devil Makes Three is a promising debut with a chilling atmosphere and an intriguing premise. However, the shortcomings in character development and narrative pacing prevent the book from reaching its full potential. While it may still be enjoyable for fans of dark academia and supernatural thrillers, readers seeking a deeper emotional connection and a more surprising plot twist might be left wanting.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Additional Thoughts:
This book is suitable for young adult readers who enjoy dark and suspenseful stories.
Fans of authors like Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo might enjoy the atmospheric setting and supernatural elements.
The book effectively builds suspense but could benefit from a more satisfying resolution and deeper character development.
With some refinements, this series has the potential to become a truly captivating and chilling dark academia thriller.
What I Liked:
Enthralling Atmosphere: Bovalino masterfully creates a dark and eerie atmosphere that evokes a sense of dread and anticipation. The setting of the ancient university, steeped in history and shrouded in secrets, perfectly complements the supernatural elements of the story.
Intriguing Premise: The concept of accidentally summoning a demon through a forbidden ritual is captivating and sets the stage for an exciting adventure. The book effectively explores themes of good versus evil, the dangers of curiosity, and the consequences of playing with forces beyond our understanding.
Suspenseful Plot: The story unfolds at a brisk pace, keeping readers guessing with unexpected twists and turns. The mystery surrounding the demon and its motives adds to the suspense and leaves you eager to discover the truth.
What Could Have Been Better:
Flat Character Development: While the characters are intriguing at first, their development throughout the story feels lackluster. Their motivations and personalities remain somewhat ambiguous, making it difficult to connect with them on a deeper level.
Uneven Pacing: The narrative pacing is inconsistent, with some sections dragging and others feeling rushed. This can disrupt the flow of the story and make it difficult to maintain focus at times.
Predictable Ending: Despite the suspenseful plot, the ending feels somewhat predictable and fails to deliver a truly satisfying conclusion. The resolution of the conflict leaves some questions unanswered and lacks the emotional impact of the preceding events.
Overall:
The Devil Makes Three is a promising debut with a chilling atmosphere and an intriguing premise. However, the shortcomings in character development and narrative pacing prevent the book from reaching its full potential. While it may still be enjoyable for fans of dark academia and supernatural thrillers, readers seeking a deeper emotional connection and a more surprising plot twist might be left wanting.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Additional Thoughts:
This book is suitable for young adult readers who enjoy dark and suspenseful stories.
Fans of authors like Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo might enjoy the atmospheric setting and supernatural elements.
The book effectively builds suspense but could benefit from a more satisfying resolution and deeper character development.
With some refinements, this series has the potential to become a truly captivating and chilling dark academia thriller.
gggina13's review against another edition
3.0
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy!
This is more like 3.5 stars in actuality.
The Devil Makes Three is a sorta dark academia style novel in which Tess, who works in a boarding school library, and Eliot, who heavily utilizes that library, accidentally awaken the devil by reading an old book. It’s not super easy to grasp the tone of the story from the synopsis. There’s a little comic relief here and there, but it’s mostly serious. It’s told in a very matter-of-fact way, with a strong and stubborn female main character. The devil latches onto Tess, because she read the book, and she refuses to be swayed by his attempts to buy her soul. Of course, things escalate pretty quickly, and soon Tess and Eliot are rushing to find out how to banish him.
I don’t typically gravitate towards dark academia type stories, but something about two kids unleashing the devil in a library just struck a chord with me. I might not have absolutely loved it, but I don’t regret reading it at all. There were quite a few suspenseful moments in this story that had me a little scared reading in the dark, and Eliot and Tess had a really cute relationship. Eliot isn’t used to having people want to be friends with him and Tess isn’t used to having the time to have a friend. But they stick together, first with a little blackmail, then out of necessity, but of course their desires and motivations change along the way.
The romance wasn’t the best paced, but I absolutely loved the sentiment towards the end of the two of them being on equal ground and both of them seeing the other as strong. The epilogue was cute too, but then with a creepy last line that really changed the mood quick.
I think the characterization in this book was pretty good - besides Tess and Eliot, we also have their families and a roommate. And the devil, of course. Even the devil ended up having more of a character arc than I expected, even though I didn’t quite understand it.
Tess’s character was the most fleshed out. She worked two jobs to ensure that she and her sister could stay at their expensive school. She also had a passion for playing the cello and showed a lot of discipline in that arena as well. She was untrusting and sometimes cold but it just made it all the better when she warmed up to people like Eliot or her roommate Anna.
Eliot’s main motivation is his sick mom. He’s actually a witch, and the whole book thing started because he was looking for spells to help heal his mom of cancer. I almost forgot to mention his magic just because it was so normalized and that made it feel really cozy. By the end of the novel he grows to realize that goals can change, and he also grows as a witch and can harness his powers better.
The diversity of this book... well, non-existent. We only really have three characters who aren’t part of either Tess’s or Eliot’s families, but that’s 3 characters who could have been inclusive in some way. Now that I think of it, her roommate’s last name *could* have been Kim, but I don’t remember anything explicit saying she was any one race. As usual, though, correct me if I’m wrong!
Overall, though, this was an engaging story with writing that was really easy to visualize and characters who were interesting to follow. I’ll have no problem recommending this at work, especially during the spookier months! I think it would make a good movie because a lot of the scenes were already so vividly described.
This is more like 3.5 stars in actuality.
The Devil Makes Three is a sorta dark academia style novel in which Tess, who works in a boarding school library, and Eliot, who heavily utilizes that library, accidentally awaken the devil by reading an old book. It’s not super easy to grasp the tone of the story from the synopsis. There’s a little comic relief here and there, but it’s mostly serious. It’s told in a very matter-of-fact way, with a strong and stubborn female main character. The devil latches onto Tess, because she read the book, and she refuses to be swayed by his attempts to buy her soul. Of course, things escalate pretty quickly, and soon Tess and Eliot are rushing to find out how to banish him.
I don’t typically gravitate towards dark academia type stories, but something about two kids unleashing the devil in a library just struck a chord with me. I might not have absolutely loved it, but I don’t regret reading it at all. There were quite a few suspenseful moments in this story that had me a little scared reading in the dark, and Eliot and Tess had a really cute relationship. Eliot isn’t used to having people want to be friends with him and Tess isn’t used to having the time to have a friend. But they stick together, first with a little blackmail, then out of necessity, but of course their desires and motivations change along the way.
The romance wasn’t the best paced, but I absolutely loved the sentiment towards the end of the two of them being on equal ground and both of them seeing the other as strong. The epilogue was cute too, but then with a creepy last line that really changed the mood quick.
I think the characterization in this book was pretty good - besides Tess and Eliot, we also have their families and a roommate. And the devil, of course. Even the devil ended up having more of a character arc than I expected, even though I didn’t quite understand it.
Tess’s character was the most fleshed out. She worked two jobs to ensure that she and her sister could stay at their expensive school. She also had a passion for playing the cello and showed a lot of discipline in that arena as well. She was untrusting and sometimes cold but it just made it all the better when she warmed up to people like Eliot or her roommate Anna.
Eliot’s main motivation is his sick mom. He’s actually a witch, and the whole book thing started because he was looking for spells to help heal his mom of cancer. I almost forgot to mention his magic just because it was so normalized and that made it feel really cozy. By the end of the novel he grows to realize that goals can change, and he also grows as a witch and can harness his powers better.
The diversity of this book... well, non-existent. We only really have three characters who aren’t part of either Tess’s or Eliot’s families, but that’s 3 characters who could have been inclusive in some way. Now that I think of it, her roommate’s last name *could* have been Kim, but I don’t remember anything explicit saying she was any one race. As usual, though, correct me if I’m wrong!
Overall, though, this was an engaging story with writing that was really easy to visualize and characters who were interesting to follow. I’ll have no problem recommending this at work, especially during the spookier months! I think it would make a good movie because a lot of the scenes were already so vividly described.
nona_the_first's review against another edition
2.0
Book #6 of the horror marathon.
1. To this day I will never understand why in YA logic it makes sense to kill the devil by [spoiler] kissing it.
2. Easy to read.
3. Characters are well written.
4. Nothing groundbreaking, just an okay read.
5. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have finished it if it wasn’t an audiobook playing at x2.10 speed
1. To this day I will never understand why in YA logic it makes sense to kill the devil by [spoiler] kissing it.
2. Easy to read.
3. Characters are well written.
4. Nothing groundbreaking, just an okay read.
5. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have finished it if it wasn’t an audiobook playing at x2.10 speed
_mercury_'s review against another edition
4.0
3.5 STARS ROUNDED TO 4
This was really good. It could've been longer, for sure, but otherwise it was quite the fun read for a book about a devil. Tess and Eli didn't get a lot of time for us to see their relationship arc; it just went from them being reluctant friends to lovers in a few chapters.
That's more or less all I have to say.
This was really good. It could've been longer, for sure, but otherwise it was quite the fun read for a book about a devil. Tess and Eli didn't get a lot of time for us to see their relationship arc; it just went from them being reluctant friends to lovers in a few chapters.
That's more or less all I have to say.
persione's review against another edition
3.0
Couldn't say I cared much for the characters, which made the final pages not too interesting.
Absolutely loved the concept of the book and the parts with the devil where written well! But then there is the part where the writer tries to make it a semi-romantic book which felt very much unnecessary.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it.
Absolutely loved the concept of the book and the parts with the devil where written well! But then there is the part where the writer tries to make it a semi-romantic book which felt very much unnecessary.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it.