After reading Lair of Dreams I couldn’t wait to pick up Before the Devil Breaks You. This series has drawn me in, the books are incredibly hard to put down. So before starting the final book in the series I want to share my thoughts on book 3 in the Diviners series by Libba Bray. Let’s dive in!
This is a pretty hard book to write a review for, it’s the third in the series so I don’t want to give spoilers for people who haven’t read the rest but I’m also expecting mostly people who have read them to look for a review haha. I’m going to try anyway!
We still follow the same characters but the relationships have slowly changed from the first book. They have gone through some traumatising things together and the bonds are getting stronger and stronger. I really like these characters and couldn’t tell you my favorite because they’re are great. And also all flawed, something that I love a lot in fictional characters. They don’t always make the best decisions and aren’t always ‘good’ but overall they are really great.
“The colonizer writes the history, winning twice: A theft of land. A theft of witness.”
There are a lot of important topics mentioned in this book (and in the series overall). We see a lot of racism, even more than in the first two books. It feels like it’s so seeped into certain institutions, it’s no wonder it’s still rampant in 2022. We also see a sexual assault happening, so I would definitely say trigger warning for that. It didn’t go all the way but it was still pretty shocking. There is also a lot of talk about mental health and some realisations about what it is and how it presents. That was so important! Last shocking thing was something that happened almost at the end of the book, I never expected the author to go there and now I’m so scared for the last book.
“Because I’m not enough, she thought. That was the terrible echo shouting up at her: Fraud, fraud, fraud. She got drunk and talked too much and danced on tables. She had a temper and a sharp tongue, and she often blurted out things she instantly regretted. Worst of all, she suspected that was who she truly was—not so much a bright young thing as a messy young thing.”
The plot was super interesting, we see more and more pieces of the puzzle and while there is still a lot to uncover it shows that we’re close to the end. Like I said, I will be reading the final book soon and I can’t wait to find out how it all ends and how it is all connected. Some things seemed ‘obvious’ from the start but have been turned on their head. I have no idea how it’s going to end, who’s alive at this moment and who will be alive at the end of the right. Hopefully my main two ships will sail forever <3.
“Depressive,” Evie said, testing the word on her tongue. “I didn’t know there was a name for that feeling. Like there’s a rain cloud in your soul.” She knew that feeling well. Sometimes she was the life of the party. But other times she was lonely, bleak, and sick with disgust at herself, and certain that the people who said they loved her were only pretending. She called these times the “too muches”: too much feeling, like opening a door and seeing, really seeing, into some deep, existential loneliness underlying everything. When the “too muches” arrived, Evie feared that whatever hope lived inside her would drown from the storm of her own aching sadness.”
This book has a very diverse cast of characters and I love it a lot. We get a great plot, interesting characters and an amazing setting. I enjoy the writing style and the important topics that are discussed. Hopefully the last book will be even better and I already know I want to read more Libba Bray books. Have you read this series? And any of her other books? Let me know in the comments down below!
