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mariekejosupeit's review
4.0
a lil slow sometimes but these characters are so well crafted and real and important to me that I didn‘t really mind just hangin out with them
graciejames's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
trgrze20's review
3.0
2.5
This was the weakest out of the whole series and I really didn’t care for it.
Most of the book followed the characters being separated and doing “side quests”. Even when reunited I thought being at the farm was way drawn out and didn’t add much to the plot of stopping the king of crows. Some of the character growth felt lacking or almost went partial backwards. Such as evie continuing to cause problems that she should know better by this point.
Almost seemed like this was a long 3.5 and the first 50 pages and last 100 pages combined would have been book 4.
This was the weakest out of the whole series and I really didn’t care for it.
Most of the book followed the characters being separated and doing “side quests”. Even when reunited I thought being at the farm was way drawn out and didn’t add much to the plot of stopping the king of crows. Some of the character growth felt lacking or almost went partial backwards. Such as evie continuing to cause problems that she should know better by this point.
Almost seemed like this was a long 3.5 and the first 50 pages and last 100 pages combined would have been book 4.
distant_ships's review
5.0
The audio for this series has been absolutely fantastic.
I did not think I could love this ragtag group of misfits more...I was wrong. When they reconfigured the group and new friendships emerged...plus, THE CIRCUS! I could read an entire novel focused on their time with the circus. No lie.
This one broke my heart a bit as I knew it would.
Sigh.
End of the series.
I did not think I could love this ragtag group of misfits more...I was wrong. When they reconfigured the group and new friendships emerged...plus, THE CIRCUS! I could read an entire novel focused on their time with the circus. No lie.
This one broke my heart a bit as I knew it would.
Sigh.
End of the series.
callunavulgari's review
4.0
I'm going to be completely honest - the only reason this book is getting a 4 star rating is my continuing love for the series as a whole and how January LaVoy could literally make paint drying sound interesting if she narrated it. Remember reading the seventh Harry Potter book? And how you were just flabbergasted by how many pages it took for nothing to happen? Do you remember the camping? That's how this book felt. The feel of this book was so unlike the others that it was straight up disorienting at times. I didn't feel like I was reading the same series I fell in love with. Maybe if the tone of the series had shifted with the series, it would have been different, but like this it was just kind of offputting.
Things that I did like:
-For all that the "camping" was annoying, I liked the fact that when she split the Diviners up for a bit, they were in dynamics we haven't really seen interact. Bill and Memphis and Henry. Theta and Evie and Isaiah and Sam. Jericho and Ling. JERICHO AND LING.
-I liked the circus. Basically everything about it.
-I liked Alma and Ling having some difficulty fitting things together, but how they did anyway.
-I liked that Theta got to blaze up like a phoenix and make some Klan members shit their sheets.
-Proposal
Things that I really didn't like:
-Nebraska. Everything about Nebraska. From kittens to Isaiah to Bill.
-What Mabel was made into. Though the final scene with her and Evie made me cry.
-Again, everything was just kind of okay. This book didn't blow me away. They spent half the book roadtripping and then another dozen chapters having bad things happen in Nebraska and then when the end came it was basically blink and you'll miss it. Also, I'd called that tragedy since the beginning of the book.
-I didn't like that they ended the book with a radio broadcast of Hitler? Like I get that all that shit is happening but please just let them have a brief moment of happiness?
Over all, was it a bad book? Mmm, kind of. Did I like the ending? It was a pretty solid meh. If I reread these books again (which I just had, in preparation for this, so the change in basically everything is pretty stark) I probably wouldn't reread this one. Or hell, maybe I would and I'd like it more with distance and time. However, I do want to say in defense of Libba Bray that final books are really hard to live up to. We build up a lot of expectations as we read, and sometimes our ideas don't match up with the authors. Libba Bray is a wonderful author who created a fantastic world with a wonderful cast.
And as always, January LaVoy was a joy to listen to.
Things that I did like:
-For all that the "camping" was annoying, I liked the fact that when she split the Diviners up for a bit, they were in dynamics we haven't really seen interact. Bill and Memphis and Henry. Theta and Evie and Isaiah and Sam. Jericho and Ling. JERICHO AND LING.
-I liked the circus. Basically everything about it.
-I liked Alma and Ling having some difficulty fitting things together, but how they did anyway.
-I liked that Theta got to blaze up like a phoenix and make some Klan members shit their sheets.
-Proposal
Things that I really didn't like:
-Nebraska. Everything about Nebraska. From kittens to Isaiah to Bill.
-What Mabel was made into. Though the final scene with her and Evie made me cry.
-Again, everything was just kind of okay. This book didn't blow me away. They spent half the book roadtripping and then another dozen chapters having bad things happen in Nebraska and then when the end came it was basically blink and you'll miss it. Also, I'd called that tragedy since the beginning of the book.
-I didn't like that they ended the book with a radio broadcast of Hitler? Like I get that all that shit is happening but please just let them have a brief moment of happiness?
Over all, was it a bad book? Mmm, kind of. Did I like the ending? It was a pretty solid meh. If I reread these books again (which I just had, in preparation for this, so the change in basically everything is pretty stark) I probably wouldn't reread this one. Or hell, maybe I would and I'd like it more with distance and time. However, I do want to say in defense of Libba Bray that final books are really hard to live up to. We build up a lot of expectations as we read, and sometimes our ideas don't match up with the authors. Libba Bray is a wonderful author who created a fantastic world with a wonderful cast.
And as always, January LaVoy was a joy to listen to.
steph01924's review
3.0
Holy crap, I've finally finished this series. I thought I was going to pick up this book right after the third because I was DETERMINED to finish it last year but the stakes had gotten so high and I felt a little deflated when I saw all the 3 star reviews. It was also right in the middle of the 2020 election cycle and, honestly, if the fourth book was going to be dark, I was not in the headspace to deal with it. But I felt the itch a few weeks back and I see I read the third book almost a year to the day, so apparently August is the time I long for jazzy historical fiction. But I digress!
This book was...fine. I now completely agree and understand those 3 star reviews. I need Libba Bray to find a writing partner or editor who exclusively works with her on her story conclusions, because I was not super happy with the Gemma Doyle finale either (ALTHOUGH--don't think I didn't see that small shout-out to Gemma pulling Kartik from the tree!!). And we know the woman knows how to WRITE. Her stories are gorgeous and multi-faceted and her settings are so completely immersive. She can evoke emotion with just a few pen strokes. I love her characters. ...But while she can start 'em, she can't finish 'em.
My biggest issues:
The pay-off after four books was too tiny.
It got repetitive.
Which brings me to my other and final point: the characters' random IQ drops.
All in all, I am going to look on the series, as a whole, fondly, because I cannot discount the amazingness of the first three books just because the ending didn't completely satisfy. These were excellent ghost stories, amazing atmospheric writing, and an interesting critique on the parallels between America's blood-soaked beginning and its political values from the 1920s to now.
Now, reading about herself and her friends, she realized how much it mattered who got to tell the stories that ended up in the newspapers and the history books.
“There is no greater power on this earth than story.…”
This book was...fine. I now completely agree and understand those 3 star reviews. I need Libba Bray to find a writing partner or editor who exclusively works with her on her story conclusions, because I was not super happy with the Gemma Doyle finale either (ALTHOUGH--don't think I didn't see that small shout-out to Gemma pulling Kartik from the tree!!). And we know the woman knows how to WRITE. Her stories are gorgeous and multi-faceted and her settings are so completely immersive. She can evoke emotion with just a few pen strokes. I love her characters. ...But while she can start 'em, she can't finish 'em.
My biggest issues:
The pay-off after four books was too tiny.
Spoiler
I was okay with Isaiah dying and I liked that he was the one to vanquish the King of Crows, but it wasn't very epic or meaningful. After Marlowe found out where they were and took them to the Eye in Death Valley, the level of drama and pomp just wasn't there. Healing the breach, something discussed for hundreds of pages, just...happened. After hundreds of pages of being unable to work together (even before they met Sarah Beth in person), the Diviners just "got it". Theta finally mastered her power and faced down her abusive POS ex while he was surrounded by literal KKK members, and all she did was singe their eyebrows and let them leave. Sorry, no, I wanted that fucker to burn. (Yes, I have a vindictive streak. I am know this about me.) What happened to Miriam!? This lady single-handedly supported, freed, cajoled all these other Diviners while being imprisoned for years, and she didn't even get name-dropped at the end with nary a "she's good." Also, yeah, Marlowe is dead and maybe didn't need an epic showdown but DAMMIT I wanted comeuppance for his horrible behavior. I wanted at least a line about the look in his eyes when he realized all of his work was for naught and that he was about to be dead as a doornail (see: vindictive). I needed all of that, Ms. Bray, before you give me a brief moment of them happy, sitting around a diner, with Hitler then looming in the background.It got repetitive.
Spoiler
I appreciated Bray's author note and I feel like she did get across her message about America's complicated history. And I can absolutely see that over the course of a decade her priorities changed and she wanted to write more meaning into the story. But I feel like she also couldn't see the forest for the trees and got lost in her story. There was no driving action to keep the plot moving for as many pages as were put down. No urgency to the characters or the writing beyond constantly telling us "the ghosts are coming" -- like, okay, after the fifth one, I know. They're coming. They're here. We got it. I loved the idea of the Diviners being split up and creating these pairings that wouldn't happen naturally in the wild. I'm really curious about how long they were all on the road, because, my dudes, Evie said get to Bountiful. SO GET GOING. Like yeah, hop in with the circus and get enough money together to then ditch them to get a train to Nebraska. It felt like they were on the road for at least a month, unable to get any closer. But then they all have one dream and suddenly it's NOT impossible to get themselves to Kansas in literally a day, so...why were you dragging your feet?? This book either needed more plot or like 200 less pages, and I don't like saying "less" because Bray's writing still enthralled me even while Theta swept dead daisies from her train compartment YET AGAIN.Which brings me to my other and final point: the characters' random IQ drops.
Spoiler
I still loved them all, but sometimes...sometimes they are none too bright. Sister Walker sees Will's dead ghost (from when he was, ya know, MURDERED) telling her not to go into her house, so she goes right in anyway and gets arrested. Theta does a magic spell to bind a ghost and then gets haunted and doesn't put two and two together. They keep killing ghosts and feeling bad after and the ghosts just lap up the energy and seem to grow and get stronger, and yet it takes more than half the novel for the smartest character to finally ask themselves WHY. Memphis constantly gets warned by the King of Crows, A NOTORIOUS LIAR, not to "use up" his magic healing others, and then he gets worried the KoC might be right without considering the KoC is scared of his power and that's why he's fucking with him. And then--yes, I know he's grief-stricken, but duuuude--Memphis bargains away his power with a known trickster for his dead brother. It just...sigh. I don't need all the characters to be extremely clever, but, like, pretend your lives are at stake here, please.All in all, I am going to look on the series, as a whole, fondly, because I cannot discount the amazingness of the first three books just because the ending didn't completely satisfy. These were excellent ghost stories, amazing atmospheric writing, and an interesting critique on the parallels between America's blood-soaked beginning and its political values from the 1920s to now.
Now, reading about herself and her friends, she realized how much it mattered who got to tell the stories that ended up in the newspapers and the history books.
“There is no greater power on this earth than story.…”
livinlavidalo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
cooki3_monst3r's review
2.0
I had a really hard time with this one. The whole middle section was grueling to get through and the conclusion was bizarre … BUT my #1 ship survives and that’s all I can ask for!