The King of Crows by Libba Bray

Summary from Goodreads:

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...

Review:

As I mentioned on Goodreads, reading Libba Bray is remembering the power of words. She will always be my favorite author. The first chapter was so good, I had to read it out loud to my husband, who had no knowledge of the series...and he loved it. Nick is now reading book 1! The power of Libba Bray’s beautiful, beautiful language!

I needed time both to digest this book and then to think about it after finishing it. It’s not the typical YA book. It’s intense. There’s some deep, dark, awful stuff in here that tears your heart into a millions tiny pieces and then plays with it….There’s the KKK. There’s more death. There’s sacrifice. There’s so much hardship for these characters that you come to love like family.

However, there are also reunions. There’s a marriage proposal! There are epic super powered battles. There are surprisingly good strangers that do good things. There are love stories. There’s live music. There’s traveling cross-country on the adventure of a lifetime. There’s also lots of fun supernatural stuff like ghosts, mythology, super powers, and apocalyptic battles.

This book is just so profoundly beautiful. Of course, Bray excels at character development. She now also is a master at setting. The landscape of the America she writes is a character of it’s own. America practically has its own heartbeat. I felt like I was on that farm with Evie. I was living on that river with those refugees. I was smelling the air on the train ride west. I was touching the grass of the circus. I felt it like I was there.

And the words! I think my favorite character is still Memphis. He makes a name for himself as he’s traveling. He calls himself the Voice of Tomorrow. He tells stories, and writes poetry everywhere he goes. Some of them get published in the newspaper. Some of them he just voices out loud. After one such story, a kid asks Memphis what happens at the end of everything. Memphis explains:

            “I suppose that depends on us,” Memphis answered. “We’ve got to be the heroes of our own stories. Sometimes that means reading the past for clues. Sometimes that means peering as much as you can into the future to light the way. Sometimes you go to work where no one can see you until you’re ready to be seen. Sometimes you got to walk in dreams so you know what a dream feels like, so you know the shape of your own longings. Other times, you got to bring the fire of your anger and righteousness! And sometimes you got to heal the things that are broken or sick. Even when it scares you. Even when you feel like walking away and pretending like you never saw the sickness. Don’t need special powers to do any of that. The truth is, the story never ends. It’s always happening. But whether it trips toward evil” –and here Memphis held out a fist –“or good,” he said, “offering the other, “well, now. That’s up to all of us. We are all storytellers telling the story, adding our piece” (248).

This book is powerful. In a way, it’s about the power of words and stories and how the media and how artists and also how influential people shape the stories we all know. It’s about doing the right thing, even if it means going against the story everyone else thinks is true. It’s about getting people to understand the truth for what it is and to listen to the stories of others. There are so many ways to dissect this novel. I could compare it to what’s going on today. I could talk about racism, about fake news, corrupt power, about history, about illness, etc.

This book is extraordinarily relevant to what is happening today. It’s a joy to read because of the action, supernatural suspense, character development, and setting. The language and writing style are just unbelievable poetic and gorgeous. I wish I could write like this. I highly recommend this book and this series to anyone really. I can’t wait for Nick to read all the books, so I can talk to him more about them. I give this a 10/10.