The King of Crows is the fourth and final book in the Diviners series.
The series is about a group of superpowered teenagers in 1920s New York City. Evie can read objects to learn about the owners; Memphis can heal diseases and injuries; Theta has fire that shoots out from her body; Henry can walk in people’s dreams and influence their dreams; Ling can walk in dreams to talk to the dead; Isaiah sees the future; Sam can become invisible; Jericho has superhuman strength and speed. Helping them is Bill, an older Diviner who can kill with a touch. These powers have brought them fame, money, heartbreak, torment, and a lot of enemies, the worst of which is a supernatural being known as the King of Crows. The King of Crows lives in the land of the dead and is trying to break through to the land of the living so he can rule it. He’s tricked genius inventor Jake Marlowe into building a device that will maintain a stable portal between the worlds.
The King of Crows starts with our heroes trying to prevent Jake Marlowe from completing his device. Marlowe has convinced the US government that they can enter and conquer the land of the dead once a stable portal is established. Marlowe wants to use the Diviners as batteries to power the device, causing government agents to start hunting the heroes. The teens get separated but agree to meet another Diviner, Sarah Beth, in Bountiful, Nebraska, where she’ll tell them how to stop the King of Crows.
Evie, Theta, Sam, and Isaiah end up touring with the circus. Jericho and Ling catch a ride with Ling’s girlfriend’s band. Memphis, Henry, and Bill are given a free ride on the train by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
This wasn’t my favorite Diviners book. I was actually really disappointed in it. While I enjoyed some of the separate adventures, particularly learning about the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the Mississippi River floods, separating the characters created so many problems. First, the series already has a ton of characters, and the disparate journeys added about a dozen more. Second, it really slowed down the story. The other books were fast paced, but this one dragged. Finally, there were already a lot of moving parts to keep track of, from each character’s personal arc, to Marlowe’s machine, the evil government agents, the ghosts, the King of Crows, the extra adventures were just a little too much. And if I’m being completely honest, I just didn’t care for the King of Crows as a villain. I didn’t really understand his motivation.
I highly recommend the series, but if you want, you could just skip this one and imagine your own ending.