Friday 18 May 2018

Before the Devil Breaks You - by Libba Bray

Title: Before the Devil Breaks You
Author: Libba Bray
Published: 3 Oct 2017
Series: The Diviners #3
Rating: 5 stars
Synopsis:
New York City.
1927.
Lights are bright.
Jazz is king.
Parties are wild.
And the dead are coming...

After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that early claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough of lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror. Out on Ward's Island, far from the city's bustle, sits a mental hospital haunted by the lost souls of people long forgotten--ghosts who have unusual and dangerous ties to the man in the stovepipe hat, also known as the King of Crows.
With terrible accounts of murder and possession flooding in from all over, and New York City on the verge of panic, the Diviners must band together and brave the sinister ghosts invading the asylum, a fight that will bring them fact-to-face with the King of Crows. But as the explosive secrets of the past come to light, loyalties and friendships will be tested, love will hang in the balance, and the Diviners will question all that they've ever known. All the while, malevolent forces gather from every corner in a battle for the very soul of a nation--a fight that could claim the Diviners themselves.


We are a country built by immigrants, dreams, daring, and opportunity.
We are a country built by the horrors of slavery and genocide, the injustice of racism and exclusion. These realities exists side by side. It is out past and our present. The future is unwritten.
This is a book about ghosts.
For we live in a haunted house.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

Theta and Memphis are my adorable mixed couple, Sam and Evie are my sweethearts, David and Henry are my passionate pair, and Ling and Alma are my cuties. I also loved Conor and Mabel and Isaiah. However, Roy can go die in a hole please and thank you.

I still absolutely adore January's voice in the narration of this series too, plus all of the voices she can do for them. In this one, she was even able to do a young Sister Walker voice and a robot voice. Her singing voice is pos-i-tutely divine and when the argument in the library happens, there's no "said so-and-so" but you can still tell exactly who's who because of how well January does their voices. I'd also like to think that the character Alma LaVoy, has the same surname as January as a sort of thank you. 

The sex scenes seemed pretty meh to me, possibly because they all happened at the same place in the book. It was good that Ling wasn't thrust into those scenes though as that is definitely not the way her character would behave.

Henry looked from Ling to Alma and back again. His mouth slid into a sly smile. "Oh my."

I do have a theory though. Maybe Theta and Sam are related in some way? I could be completely wrong though, but I'm probably going to think that until the next book comes out and I can find out.


Henry's fake songs are also quite nice to listen to, even though they're made up on the spot at random times. Also, at one stage we'd barely hear from or about Jericho which I noticed, but it didn't phase me too much as I was more invested in the other characters at the time.

I seem to see new sayings in each book in this series that I have yet to hear too but sticks with the 1920s feel. "She's a real tomato", "then you're all wet", "something left-handed about him".

Libba Bray read the author's note at the end which was a nice touch.

He put a hand to the cool, painted stones bearing witness to so many names, so many histories. In the mural, there were painted lines for the Underground, like scars stretched across the skin of the infected nation. There were wounds and then there were wounds. Some were so great Memphis had no idea how they could ever be healed.

Spoilers!

Yes, I did indeed cry when Mabel and Conor died.



I also guessed that Blind Bill was Geome Johnson.

The part about making more Diviners was an interesting twist though. I also noticed the foreshadowing we'd seen, after we'd found out that the Fitter Families tents were the ones finding the Diviners.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Diviners
    2 | Lair of Dreams
    3 | Before the Devil Breaks You
    4 | The King of Crows

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