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annakh16's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Aahh. This one hurts a bit. I didn’t have a bad time with this, but to me it definitely falls short compared to the other books in the series.
My main critique point concerns the pacing. This book was too long. First, nothing happened - and then suddenly everything happened and it was rushed.
Regarding the first: it sure was fun to have everyone run away with the circus, the Haymakers etc. But not for the better part of the book! It just became repetitive and didn’t move the plot forward. And then once everybody is in the same spot in Bountiful , that repetitiveness only becomes worse. There were also new plot points that were over-explained considering how easy they were to understand. Okay, so there’s new ghosts - we get it . No need to elaborate forever. The book also effectively repeated Theta‘s storyline from book three regarding her relationship with Roy ?
Regarding the second: I felt that the final showdown was somewhat anti-climactic and underdeveloped. Jericho‘s death in particular should’ve been explored more because it was heartbreaking and I don’t quite understand the technicality of it? Why was it necessary? The whole Evie/Jericho/Sam part was also brushed over too quickly imo. And then Sam‘s proposal honestly came out of nowhere? I think for all those reasons that storyline didn’t hit as hard as it could’ve.
Additionally, the Sarah Beth plot was very predictable to me. There were also random plot holes which has never been an issue with this series? If they could get answers from ghosts, why not do it before? Are you telling me no one could recognise Evie‘s voice on the Voice of Tomorrow after she was an actual radio superstar? Ling can only find the dead - that was the point, no? So why suddenly Miss Addie? . Finally, I feel like the political message was a bit on the nose in this one, which is a shame because I always thought the series was good at integrating this naturally.
It’s not all criticisms though. The writing was good as per. And January LaVoy has been a fantastic narrator throughout. The characters remain the absolute stars of the show. Memphis still has my heart. The deaths of Woody and Bill also hit hard.
The radicalisation of T.S. Woodhouse in particular was hilarious. Man just wanted some gossip and suddenly he’s conspiring with public enemy number 1. RIP my guy, I always knew you had it in you .
I can’t believe The Diviners is over. I still love this series and would recommend. But it seems I’m unfortunately in the majority regarding this last book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia and Toxic relationship
vanesst's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism and Antisemitism
aprlshowers's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
This is easily one of my favorite books. Bray does an excellent job of bringing together the previous books and concluding eachcof the plot lines. But more than that, the overarching theme of never forgetting the sins of the past, the ghost that is ever present in US history is brought home in this book. As a practicing historian, this book means so much to me and I cry every time I read it. It helps that I love each of the characters. I wish more people knew about this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
peytonktracy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.0
Wow, this series has been a *journey.* The finale of this one wandered into a territory I definitely could not have expected from when I started this series back in May. It went from a couple of kids with some singular supernatural powers in a battered museum of the occult to a found family battling the self-proclaimed king of the land of the dead and reckoning with the legacy of the United States.
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with this last book. I liked the character growth throughout, their roles in the ongoing battle for good. I liked that they were all able to work together while individually motivated by their own aspirations and fears. While all the still large cast of characters got bigger (rather than smaller) over the course of this book, the author did a good job of not letting the narrative get too chaotic. I was able to keep track of everyone for the most part. The author also did a fairly good job of tying up most of the loose threads by the end of the book, though I felt like some of them didn't get the due attention I thought they might have gotten, or perhaps even deserved to receive. Without going into details, I felt this story went a little off the rails (did not expect to spend time with a traveling circus, let's put it that way), and I also feel like the fight against the big bad... was barely a fight against the big bad. I think I expected it to be much more difficult than it was, but it also felt fitting as was so, I guess it worked out?! It was a fairly good if occasionally perplexing finale.
As a series, I enjoyed these four books overall. The characters are diverse in so, so many ways that will never not be appreciated for me. I loved how the big bad grew and grew with every book, and the world and characters grew with the challenges. While the reckoning with the beautiful ideals and the horrific history of the United States was perhaps overdone at times, the number of angles and perspectives that were incorporated into this fixated examination was intriguing enough that it was easy to forgive for perhaps even the fixated honesty in it. And it's a creative idea overall - I certainly haven't read anything like it. And these characters are definitely going to stick with me past this series. And if that's not successful storytelling, I don't know what is!
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with this last book. I liked the character growth throughout, their roles in the ongoing battle for good. I liked that they were all able to work together while individually motivated by their own aspirations and fears. While all the still large cast of characters got bigger (rather than smaller) over the course of this book, the author did a good job of not letting the narrative get too chaotic. I was able to keep track of everyone for the most part. The author also did a fairly good job of tying up most of the loose threads by the end of the book, though I felt like some of them didn't get the due attention I thought they might have gotten, or perhaps even deserved to receive. Without going into details, I felt this story went a little off the rails (did not expect to spend time with a traveling circus, let's put it that way), and I also feel like the fight against the big bad... was barely a fight against the big bad. I think I expected it to be much more difficult than it was, but it also felt fitting as was so, I guess it worked out?! It was a fairly good if occasionally perplexing finale.
As a series, I enjoyed these four books overall. The characters are diverse in so, so many ways that will never not be appreciated for me. I loved how the big bad grew and grew with every book, and the world and characters grew with the challenges. While the reckoning with the beautiful ideals and the horrific history of the United States was perhaps overdone at times, the number of angles and perspectives that were incorporated into this fixated examination was intriguing enough that it was easy to forgive for perhaps even the fixated honesty in it. And it's a creative idea overall - I certainly haven't read anything like it. And these characters are definitely going to stick with me past this series. And if that's not successful storytelling, I don't know what is!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Racism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
The KKK is regularly mentioned in this book. Most of these tags are allusions to these topics, not a primary feature of the plot.riella_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
4.0
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, as I've seen many negative reviews on this last book. However I can say I really enjoyed this entire series, including this book. As sad as I am to be leaving these characters for good, I'm glad there's no plans for them in the future, as they have gone through a lot. If you haven't read this series yet I highly recommend you do!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
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