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A review by lauracatereads
When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.
Wow, wow, wow. Xan Kaur’s debut Southern gothic horror is a fast-paced novel I couldn’t put down. From the first page, Sam, Neera, Reid, and Isaiah’s stories gripped me. Each character lives a very different, complicated life with a complete mess of a family. The concept of this novel—three devils in total control of a small, corrupt Southern town starkly divided by income inequality—was entirely new and brilliant. The play in with the 13-year cicada cycle was gruesome, fantastical, perfect.
Reading When Devils Sing, I felt like I was back in the Deep South on a stifling summer night, listening to the scream of cicadas as a thunderstorm lights up the thick night sky. Kaur really grips you in & brings you right into the setting. The not so subtle comparison of Lake Clearwater to the real life Lake Lanier was a touch that I thought added some value to the story, although I sometimes felt like the racism of Carrion and Lake Clearwater was only lightly touched on. Those of us from the South know that it runs much deeper than that usually.
The interplay and exchange of POVs from the main characters was great. It wasn’t too many POVs where you lose track of who characters are and why you care, and it wasn’t limited either. This book wouldn’t have worked from just one person’s perspective, or third person. I enjoyed how the four were entangled in their own way, too. Coworkers, friends, lost friends, newfound friends, frienemies—the four of them had to work together to come together and build trust with one another. With each person having such a different background, it wasn’t easy, and really only the mystery and the final act is what really brought them together.
I had to bring my rating down a star because unfortunately the ending left me with some loose ends that I didn’t particular enjoy in that they felt a big plot hole-ish. First and foremost, who was the Third Devil & why did we never meet him? The story tells you there’s one to trick you, one to help you, and one to eat you alive. Is the third Devil the cicadas themselves??? But if the cicadas are the third Devil, but the third Devil appeared as a man to William Langley, why would they be this metaphysical presence instead of a human form like he was in the folk story? And in the end, Jack says he’s released from his burden because his brother is dead. What killed the main Devil, and if he was so powerful, why did we never meet him? I had sort of assumed that the third devil was the Langley family themselves, perhaps passed on generation to generation, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense. The Crow had a huge part of Neera’s story, and Jack Sam’s, but who is the third? That really bothered me, as I felt the entire final 10% that surely the devil himself would be revealed and he just… never was. My next “bothersome” gripe stems from a similar issue with Neera’s plot line. If Jack tells Sam that he’s released from doing his brother’s whims and no longer has any desire to make deals, why is Neera still bound to the deal she made with the Crow? And why was the black goo oozing from the crowd’s eyes during the 4th of July culmination just never explained? What on earth was that? I felt as if Neera really did not get her happy ending. She’s still bound to a man who genuinely enslaved her family, murdered her uncle, and impregnated & ditched her mother. The final line that she was all her own person on the stage felt like a cop out, especially since we know from her deal with Crow that she would accomplish her dreams but her voice will disappear one day. That ending for her when Sam got her happy ending just really bothered me.
If not for those unresolved issues and frustrating lack of justice/resolution for Neera’s story (you mean to tell me all the villains basically perished but Grant Langley is still walking around?), this could’ve been an easy 4.75 or higher. But those aren’t dealbreakers, and the atmospheric quality of the story and its setting, the horror that glues you to the page in the final act, and the characters’ individual stories are still wonderful. This is a solid 4/5.
Wow, wow, wow. Xan Kaur’s debut Southern gothic horror is a fast-paced novel I couldn’t put down. From the first page, Sam, Neera, Reid, and Isaiah’s stories gripped me. Each character lives a very different, complicated life with a complete mess of a family. The concept of this novel—three devils in total control of a small, corrupt Southern town starkly divided by income inequality—was entirely new and brilliant. The play in with the 13-year cicada cycle was gruesome, fantastical, perfect.
Reading When Devils Sing, I felt like I was back in the Deep South on a stifling summer night, listening to the scream of cicadas as a thunderstorm lights up the thick night sky. Kaur really grips you in & brings you right into the setting. The not so subtle comparison of Lake Clearwater to the real life Lake Lanier was a touch that I thought added some value to the story, although I sometimes felt like the racism of Carrion and Lake Clearwater was only lightly touched on. Those of us from the South know that it runs much deeper than that usually.
The interplay and exchange of POVs from the main characters was great. It wasn’t too many POVs where you lose track of who characters are and why you care, and it wasn’t limited either. This book wouldn’t have worked from just one person’s perspective, or third person. I enjoyed how the four were entangled in their own way, too. Coworkers, friends, lost friends, newfound friends, frienemies—the four of them had to work together to come together and build trust with one another. With each person having such a different background, it wasn’t easy, and really only the mystery and the final act is what really brought them together.
I had to bring my rating down a star because unfortunately the ending left me with some loose ends that I didn’t particular enjoy in that they felt a big plot hole-ish. First and foremost, who was the Third Devil & why did we never meet him? The story tells you there’s one to trick you, one to help you, and one to eat you alive. Is the third Devil the cicadas themselves??? But if the cicadas are the third Devil, but the third Devil appeared as a man to William Langley, why would they be this metaphysical presence instead of a human form like he was in the folk story? And in the end, Jack says he’s released from his burden because his brother is dead. What killed the main Devil, and if he was so powerful, why did we never meet him? I had sort of assumed that the third devil was the Langley family themselves, perhaps passed on generation to generation, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense. The Crow had a huge part of Neera’s story, and Jack Sam’s, but who is the third? That really bothered me, as I felt the entire final 10% that surely the devil himself would be revealed and he just… never was. My next “bothersome” gripe stems from a similar issue with Neera’s plot line. If Jack tells Sam that he’s released from doing his brother’s whims and no longer has any desire to make deals, why is Neera still bound to the deal she made with the Crow? And why was the black goo oozing from the crowd’s eyes during the 4th of July culmination just never explained? What on earth was that? I felt as if Neera really did not get her happy ending. She’s still bound to a man who genuinely enslaved her family, murdered her uncle, and impregnated & ditched her mother. The final line that she was all her own person on the stage felt like a cop out, especially since we know from her deal with Crow that she would accomplish her dreams but her voice will disappear one day. That ending for her when Sam got her happy ending just really bothered me.
If not for those unresolved issues and frustrating lack of justice/resolution for Neera’s story (you mean to tell me all the villains basically perished but Grant Langley is still walking around?), this could’ve been an easy 4.75 or higher. But those aren’t dealbreakers, and the atmospheric quality of the story and its setting, the horror that glues you to the page in the final act, and the characters’ individual stories are still wonderful. This is a solid 4/5.