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A review by jashanac
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
3.5
The pacing in this one was a bit off for me -- at several points it kind of felt like it was dragging along.
I know she's a literal teenager, but Mabel is so annoying. I suppose that her behavior and thought processes make sense, for an immature child... but it wasn't enjoyable to read her scenes/chapters. She literally only "wants to do good things" because she feels that it will get her noticed. All of her choices are driven by her need to "be special" and "be noticed" and it grates on my nerves. It's not that I think she isn't actually a good person -- she is. But the immaturity of how she makes decisions is obnoxious as hell to me.
Also, I have never once understood the Evie + Jericho pining... I get it from his side... Evie is effervescent and fun and free and lives life to the fullest. But I never understood it from her perspective. I'm realizing that I really don't like love stories that are hinged upon, "We both have a darkness in our souls and therefore: true love." Most people have some bit of 'darkness' somewhere inside of them -- some secret past actions, or secret thoughts, or secret desires... that in and of itself shouldn't equate to loving someone, like wtf. You love every person who shows you that they have a similar darkness inside of them? You'd love basically every person you had a chance to really talk to.
Also -- what "ambition" does Evie think Jericho has??? When they met he was content to just putz along, helping Will, taking his serums, reading books, being serious all the time. What ambition did he express? I don't recall that being part of his character at all.
I truly do not understand her attraction to him even a LITTLE bit -- aside from maybe an initial "Oh he's cute" but to have this deep-seeded desire and longing for him? Is it really just based on that? And on the fact that he seems to adore her? Seems really dumb.
Theta also was doing a thing that I really find obnoxious -- the whole thing of, "I have powers that are scary and instead of working to learn how to CONTROL them safely... I'm just going to cover my ears and eyes and pretend like I don't have powers and avoid using them ever and that should totally work out fine, right?" Just absolutely stupid. I can understand having powers that are scary and that when uncontrolled have caused you to harm people when you didn't mean to... completely understandable to be nervous. But logically, it makes no fucking sense to avoid learning how to control those powers. DUH you should work on learning how to do that. Idiot.
So yeah -- I still love (most of) these characters. I'm very much intrigued with the plot still, and I didn't HATE this book. But it was definitely my least favorite of the series so far.
I know she's a literal teenager, but Mabel is so annoying. I suppose that her behavior and thought processes make sense, for an immature child... but it wasn't enjoyable to read her scenes/chapters. She literally only "wants to do good things" because she feels that it will get her noticed. All of her choices are driven by her need to "be special" and "be noticed" and it grates on my nerves. It's not that I think she isn't actually a good person -- she is. But the immaturity of how she makes decisions is obnoxious as hell to me.
Also, I have never once understood the Evie + Jericho pining... I get it from his side... Evie is effervescent and fun and free and lives life to the fullest. But I never understood it from her perspective. I'm realizing that I really don't like love stories that are hinged upon, "We both have a darkness in our souls and therefore: true love." Most people have some bit of 'darkness' somewhere inside of them -- some secret past actions, or secret thoughts, or secret desires... that in and of itself shouldn't equate to loving someone, like wtf. You love every person who shows you that they have a similar darkness inside of them? You'd love basically every person you had a chance to really talk to.
Also -- what "ambition" does Evie think Jericho has??? When they met he was content to just putz along, helping Will, taking his serums, reading books, being serious all the time. What ambition did he express? I don't recall that being part of his character at all.
I truly do not understand her attraction to him even a LITTLE bit -- aside from maybe an initial "Oh he's cute" but to have this deep-seeded desire and longing for him? Is it really just based on that? And on the fact that he seems to adore her? Seems really dumb.
Theta also was doing a thing that I really find obnoxious -- the whole thing of, "I have powers that are scary and instead of working to learn how to CONTROL them safely... I'm just going to cover my ears and eyes and pretend like I don't have powers and avoid using them ever and that should totally work out fine, right?" Just absolutely stupid. I can understand having powers that are scary and that when uncontrolled have caused you to harm people when you didn't mean to... completely understandable to be nervous. But logically, it makes no fucking sense to avoid learning how to control those powers. DUH you should work on learning how to do that. Idiot.
So yeah -- I still love (most of) these characters. I'm very much intrigued with the plot still, and I didn't HATE this book. But it was definitely my least favorite of the series so far.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
There is a sexual assault attempt on page, though it is stopped before any sexual act actually happens. It is from the perspective of the perpetrator, who is "not in their right mind" at the time.