Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners Book 3) Kindle Edition

The best way to describe this book is as an entire season of a TV show.There are 8 main POV characters (and numerous secondary and tertiary characters) and their storylines don't always overlap. They have their own arcs with rises and falls that often complement each other, but don't always match. But then you get to the season finale...and it's huge in scope and impact and emotions.The first 1/4 of the book is a little slow, a lot of dominoes were set up. and characters were (re)introduced. But any slowness in the set up pays off x100. And it pays off in this emotional catharsis. The characters get soaring victories, moments of happiness and joy. And for every victory, there’s a tragedy, a moment that’s written to calibrate exactly the maximal pain. After 3 books with these characters, I really care about what happens to them and am very attached. (And okay, yes, I also ship so many of these characters, but especially Sam and Evie).On top of all this wonderful character development is a thread, of underlying musings on America and its place in history. It's very well developed and well researched and feel so relevant today, even though this book is set in the 1920s.Bray has created characters that I care about deeply, and I can't wait to see how all these complex story lines resolve in the final book. (Final note - listen to the audiobooks of this series. The narrator, January LaVoy, is truly phenomenal.)

The Diviners series is one of my favorite ongoing series! Set in 1920s New York, this series follows several young Diviners, or people with supernatural powers, as they discover their abilities and battle ghosts from beyond the veil (or tear...?). The young group that we follow is an incredibly diverse mix of characters:-Evie O'Neill-Sam Lloyd (Russian and Jewish)-Theta Knight (Creole)-Henry DuBois (gay)-Ling Chan (Irish/Chinese, asexual who likes ladies, disabled)-Memphis and Isiah Campbell (African American)We follow each character at different points throughout the series and they each have such distinct voices. From the brash, selfish, and flashy Evie to the incredibly smart and no nonsense Ling to the poetic and protective Memphis.Aside from the characters, the author does an incredible job of building the atmosphere. Not only is it spooky and sometimes downright terrifying but it also discusses the identities of each of the characters against the political backdrop of the times. Libba Bray discusses issues of immigration, eugenics, disability, and race and ethnicity.It's a bit of spoiler to discuss the plot of this novel as it is the third in the series, but the plot does really slow down here, without the contained story line of the other novels, as we ramp up to the final installment of the series. There's a lot of exploration of the Diviners powers as well as trying to put some of the pieces from previous novels together. The tone does get quite dark as the community starts to turn against the Diviners.TW: sexual assault, somewhat graphic murder scenes, death, violence.

This book is near perfection. It blows my mind what Libba has done with this story—from a writing perspective and a topical one. She somehow manages to balance a beautifully diverse, uniquely voiced ensemble cast of characters with a chilling storyline full of thrills, socio-political commentary on America in the 1920s, our treatment of mental health, political leanings, and how a person can be coaxed into extremism or passivity. She's not afraid to point out the gaping wounds of America's history and the subsequent ghosts we must not forget. It is a book—a series—SO necessary under today's leadership, and one I truly hope makes waves when it comes to an end.On a story level, Libba is a master weaver. She highlights the colors of each character, creating their unique struggles, hopes, dreams, ambitions and then spins a whole tapestry in which they are worked seamlessly together without losing that which makes them unique. She shows their personalities vividly through their dialogue and responses to a situation, the way they cope with tragedy and victory, the way they interact with the world around them. She makes me die laughing in places (usually at Sam and Evie's tomfoolery), swoon and blush (again usually at Sam and Evie), weep profusely, and grit our teeth in anger. Her world is incredibly immersive, the 1920s grit of New York painted in a few simple words.My first time reading this book, I was holed up in a London hostel holding tight to my phone with each passing page on my kindle. This second time, I listened to the audiobook—something I cannot recommend enough—which added brand new depth and made me pause in places I hadn't before. I look forward to years of rereads with this series and this book in particular, and am not even a little prepared for The King of Crows to drop.

Normally I love the Diviners series, but this installment just fell flat for me. I loved the representation in this novel (I especially appreciate Ling being asexual) and the characters are still really interesting, relatable, and fun to read about but the plot just wasn't as engaging as in parts one and two."Before the Devil Breaks You" seemed to set up a lot of plot threads for the next installment which, in this case, lead to the actual plot of the novel suffering from having to do all the set-up. This was really unfortunate because the book didn't really have climax, some plots were set up and resolved way too quickly, and a lot of the relationships felt rushed to me.For example, Mabel's storyline seemed to be set in a completely different novel and its development and resolution felt like it was missing about 100 pages to really make an impact. Jericho's storyline just kind of stopped, and the resolution of the ghost hunting storyline was really unsatisfactory as well because it seemed really rushed and undeserved.On the plus side, the writing is still really good and the characters are really diverse and fun to read about. Unfortunately, this is the worst installment in the series so far - plot-wise and in terms of character development - and I hope that the next part of the Diviners goes back to the much better story-telling of the first two books in the series.

Dos 3 que eu li até agora, esse é o meu favorito. São varios personagens, todos importantes, muitas revelações, muitas partes bem sinistras. A escritora aborda questões sociais relevantes para a época em que a história é ambientada. Só elogios para esta série. RECOMENDADISSIMO

I fell in love with the first book in this series, quite disappointed by the second and LOVED THE THIRD.THIS IS A MUST READ ! I haven't felt so obsessed about a book in a long time and this one broke me out of my rut.