a long review; it's more than the ghosts | The King of Crows by Libba Bray
This series is just. Everything. I think you should read it. The themes + the characters.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: The King of Crows
Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Little Readers
Published: February 4th, 2020
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Find it on: Amazon, Goodreads, Book Depository, B&N
Summary:
The breath-taking finale to the epic New York Times bestseller, The Diviners, from Printz winner and beloved author, Libba Bray.
After the horrifying explosion that claimed one of their own, the Diviners find themselves wanted by the US government, and on the brink of war with the King of Crows.
While Memphis and Isaiah run for their lives from the mysterious Shadow Men, Isaiah receives a startling vision of a girl, Sarah Beth Olson, who could shift the balance in their struggle for peace. Sarah Beth says she knows how to stop the King of Crows-but, she will need the Diviners' help to do it.
Elsewhere, Jericho has returned after his escape from Jake Marlowe's estate, where he has learned the shocking truth behind the King of Crow's plans. Now, the Diviners must travel to Bountiful, Nebraska, in hopes of joining forces with Sarah Beth and to stop the King of Crows and his army of the dead forever.
But as rumors of towns becoming ghost towns and the dead developing unprecedented powers begin to surface, all hope seems to be lost.
In this sweeping finale, The Diviners will be forced to confront their greatest fears and learn to rely on one another if they hope to save the nation, and world from catastrophe...
THE REVIEW— overall thoughts: 4.75 —
tw// homomisia, racism, death of a loved one
You gotta love the books that make you fall back in love with reading so deeply. I want to create a time machine and experience this series for the first time all over again.
The #1 historical fantasy ghost story in Best Atmosphere, Best Character Dynamics (specialized in Found Family), and Best Themes
"The way narrative, especially the stories of those who have lived these injustices first hand, can be used to bring truth into the open. Story is powerful. I believe we can write a better one together, going forward. But if only we are willing to truly see and reckon with, our ghosts... and we are surrounded by them." "They are with us always. They are talking to us. It's up to us to listen."
I will forever praise this series for taking serious themes and weaving it into a supernatural ghost/dream plot with high levels of humor and charm. While of course incorporating actual pieces of history (KKK, american eugenics movement, xenophobia, racial injustive and government sactioned abuse, abuses of power, white supremacy, +++) seamlessly.
Trust me, this book has a lot more to it than kids running after ghosts.
It has also been proven that until the end… I hated Jericho 😂
⇢ related: fantasy recs friday episode 2 ⇠The music, the life, the research, magic system, the narrative, everything that is put into the writing was gorgeous. These books have been my comfort reads for the whole 2020 that I’m a bit devastated that it’s over. On the bright side: I am excited to read every other book on my TBR because that’s how happy it makes me feel… ironic for a “horror” book.
There is so much essence in Libba Bray's writing, especially with how she weaved so many different elements into a story that makes me want to dive right in to 20+ hours audiobooks with no backward glances.
I just love how immersive the books in this series are that I don’t mind how long they are. I never feel like I was getting dragged along despite the slow pacing since that's something that everyone always comments on.
Full of iconic characters (fine, I’ll count Jericho as the typical white male) that all have their own respective character developments. It’s filled with so much pure moments in the midst of very serious themes and plots, which makes it easy to fall in love with.
Despite being a story of friends that bond together and save the day, it diverges from the typical YA formula where the whole cast gets paired up with each other romantically. They do get paired up but for the most part, platonically. The platonic relationships are just as (if not more) well written than the romantic ones. And their overall dynamic as a group builds off of each other that you cannot love one of the characters without loving the rest (Jericho is an exception).
I found this book to be the “creepiest” out of the whole series but just as intense if not more. Though, the plot may be not as magical and dreamy (albeit debatable) as the rest of the series, I didn’t mind it because it held adventure.
The whole series explores how different people can be, sometimes far from who we think that they are. But at the end of the day, it’s about understanding and loving them for who they are.
Despite being classified as “horror” I was laughing my ass off. Perhaps there are horror books that also have humor but what really sold me with each joke was just how true to the character’s personality they were. That goes for pretty much all of their dialogues (except Jericho because he’s one of the blandest characters in this entire series, at least Blind Bill kept me guessing).
You’re going to get sick of me saying how much I hate Jericho by the end of this review.
Outside of the supernatural conflicts, it’s heavy on the discussion of more societal issues that are still very present in our modern world.
“That’s all we are in the end… stories.”
Coming clean: I cared next to nothing about the actual King of Crows just because I didn’t feel the high stakes/intensity that he was supposed to be placing. He was just like this typical dark lord/presence and that was that. It felt like such a distant conflict to me that I didn’t feel the dread of him as an antagonist. I don’t even understand what his motivations were with all of this except because he wants to make their lives a living hell. I would have been more sold on it if Libba Bray stuck to the “dream” aspects and didn’t try to give everything a pseudoscience meaning. This includes if Marlowe played a smaller part and if the King of Crows was given an actual background as to why he is what he is.
The crazy things that happened as a result of his presence and what that posed to the cast was much more interesting to me than the actual being of him, if that makes sense. But you know, I really didn’t care because I wasn’t reading this series for him :) A “it’s the journey, not the destination” kind of analogy.
Again, perhaps Libba Bray was going for a realistic approach but it turned a soft magic system that worked with the plot perfectly into a “trying-to-be hard magic system”.
I also have this pet peeve because I don’t like it when a series introduces a character in the last book but they’re actually essential to the plot that has been brewing since book 1. Especially when we don’t get hints about them, it makes the character feel like an afterthought. So I’m just putting it out there.
With all of that said, I was still incredibly satisfied with the ending. Some people aren’t a fan but the way Libba Bray wrote it, was my style. And I found the ending to be quite unique.
“She realized how much it mattered who got to tell the stories that ended up in the newspapers and the history books. There is no greater power on this Earth than a story.”
I will never get over how real the characters feel, January LaVoy contributed to a lot of my enjoyment with how much she gave them life. I always appreciate how distinct each members of the cast is both in writing and voice. One line of dialogue and you’ll know who it is.
Their imperfections are definitely there from the start and it was so satisfying to see all of it come together.
I like to think that each character’s powers reflect their own personalities and a specific theme that the book is trying to deliver.
I’m gonna be honest, all the deaths that happen throughout this series felt so out of place and unnecessary for me? Or maybe I was just too shocked to process any of them. Make of it what you will.
Though, I see what Libba Bray tried to with it when I read the acknowledgments and I actually think it was genius.
“Evie was still crying and so didn't know what Sam whispered to Theta over the top of her head. She only knew that now there were two sets of arms around her, holding her close, holding her up. She only knew that she had family after all.”
I had a longer version of this section but there is a point when a review is too long and you are just going to have to trust me and read this book.
Evie ⤳ object reader
at the beginning: materialistic and cared about superficial things more
how the end translated to me: how it’s not the objects that matter the most but the memories that people associate with material things that makes them matter. (view spoiler)
“There’s a story to everything, you just have to listen.”
Sam ⤳ “don’t see me” <3
I find it very ironic that Sam’s powers revolve around making people “not see” him when Evie used to always be craving for the limelight. I really appreciated the dichotomy between those two aspects, especially since they are romantically involved and him vying for her attention since the beginning.
For the most part, Sam provides a lot of comedic relief (he's not the only one) but he’s actually core to the plot. He ended up growing on me (a lot) and his terms of endearment for Evie were the cutest.
Sam and Evie are it for me. They kind of annoyed me in the beginning but their respective character developments were so satisfying and enjoyable to follow. I was shipping them the whole time you cannot fight me on this. Just seeing them find each other while being so open about it… makes me soft.
Theta ⤳ pyrokinetic
started off hiding her powers from everyone when it’s the showiest out of all of them. Do you see the irony once again?
Henry & Ling ⤳ the dream walkers
Polar opposites in personality but both have experienced first hand some of the systemic issues in this historical fantasy and in our own society.
I think it was Ling or maybe Henry that once said that being able to see a person’s dreams reveals a lot about them. They both suffer from some kind of impostor syndrome but found refuge in each other even platonically.
how it translated to me: dreaming of a different world where they could be free to be who they were (i.e. Henry where he can simply play music and be with Louis; Ling where she can walk and be with Alma)
Which in itself is extra points for me because I always appreciate authors who can write endearing platonic relationships just as well as the romantic ones.
“You, haunted by the ghosts of dreams.”
I just am just absolutely enthralled by these two.
Memphis ⤳ healer
The fact that Memphis and Isaiah are historically one of the most oppressed people in this group at this time period means a lot that he's actually meant to be the one curing others. Once again, there is a lot to be taken apart and deduced. I really appreciate the masterpieces that Libba Bray has written.
Jericho ⤳ super strength/robot guy
For a diverse cast he’s surprisingly the least interesting and flatest out of all of them. It’s not that he’s a badly written characters, I just do not agree with most of his decisions. The only times I could handle him was in the presence of the rest of the crew but every time we were following just him, I couldn’t care less.
Not to mention his power reflects his character… plain and boring 😂
I’m sorry he just rubbed me the wrong way ever since he first got with Evie and it has stuck. I hated his relationship with Evie and just how he played around with Mabel, not to mention that woman he met and decided he was in love with just because she was the tiniest bit interested in him. Including the fact that he played a big part in the pseduscience that I wasn’t the biggest fan of.
HOWEVER, his ending was a little too convenient. I was not the biggest fan.
Isaiah ⤳ prophet
The fact that the power to “see the future” has been given to the youngest one that has more of his life ahead of him was a nice touch.
Blind Bill ⤳ (view spoiler)
Probably the most complex character out of all of them. I had no idea what to think of him until (view spoiler), which then, for some reason, allowed me to appreciate his character.
I can only ever love slow-paced books if the characters intrigued me and these books always do it for me. I don’t know how Libba Bray writes as she does but she wrote these.
↣ If you like historical fantasy with atmosphere, charm, a wide range of character developments and a dash of creepy, I think that you would enjoy this a lot. ↢
This may have sort of turned into a rant review but I wholeheartedly enjoyed the reading experience. This series left such a huge mark for me and I hope that it does for you too.
“We’ve got to be the heroes of our own stories. The story never ends... and we are all storytellers telling a story.”
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