Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

13 reviews

maddiereadswords's review against another edition

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4.5

Great news!! Even after reading this book three times and fully knowing what's coming, the ending of this book can still make me cry. It's fine, I'm totally fine.

This doesn't have the same creepy, haunting vibes as the first two books, and the two parts feel a little more disconnected to the point where I almost wish it had been two separate books (mostly because the back half in particular is so fast-paced and plot heavy that it really loses that spooky edge, and also partly because I selfishly can never get enough of these characters.) This is easily the darkest and most "adult" installment so far, and while it doesn't hit quite as hard as the first two for me, it's still an absolute powerhouse of a book that drags me through the full spectrum of human emotion every time I read it. <3
Spoiler Also shout out to Ling Chan for being so autistic that she accidentally bypassed internalized homophobia, and to Miriam Lubovitch and Viola Campbell for being such milfs that they keep adopting fucked up children like Pokemon despite being held captive. I love women.

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charlie1995's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5


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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-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

5.0

Loved this book. Love Libba Bray. Love all these characters but Sam Lloyd is my absolute favorite at the moment. This carried the series so well and upped the stakes and the focus on eugenics and having that angry conversation as well as radical protestors and just. It’s so good. History driven fantasy is wonderful. The ghost story aspects are wonderful. Just loved it. Loved it.

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pagesandtales's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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


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heather_freshparchment's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5


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overbooked207's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense
  • 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

📖 Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray Book Review 📖

2nd book of September 2022 and 28th of the year:

This was another great addition to the Diviners series with truly creepy moments, great mysteries, an amazing, lovable, and diverse cast of characters, important commentary and messages, the always beautiful found family trope, queer representation, disability representation, fantastic writing, and more! I think that Lair of Dreams is still my favorite of the three books I've read so far, but I still recommend the whole series as a whole and can’t wait to finish it hopefully soon! TW for death, violence, murder, mention of lobotomies and memory loss, discrimination, racism, antisemitism, eugenics, domestic abuse, blackmail, ableism, homophobia, alcohol, institutionalization, bomb/explosion, vomit, rape, sexual assault, gun violence, medical content/trauma, and grief📖🔮☠️🏳️‍🌈

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k_galloway's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0


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readwithsuzanna's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0


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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

 I enjoyed this more than the first two books, and holy crap the last 1/4 of the book! So much action, and some things I really didn't like, especially how one character is kind of just forgotten by the author. But I did find some of the more annoying/less-likable characters more tolerable and even likable in this book. 

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nienke's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


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