1⭐️

DNF: 29%

Wow. What is there to say about When Devils Sing?!?! This book had all the making of a 5⭐️ read:

(1) Diverse Characters.
(2) An Atmospheric Gothic/Horror Background.
(3) Delicious Small Town Drama.
(4) Mysterious Folklore Creatures.
(5) A Podcast Format.
(6) A Murder Mystery/Missing Children.

Where this book messes up is that Part 1 is 27 chapters and just TOO slow. I started this book on a Tuesday and here I am on a Thursday with only 11 chapters read and no interest to continue reading. And yes. I am very disappointed. Anyone who reads the synopsis to this book will get their hopes up for an amazing read. Where the disappointed lies is during the execution. By chapter 12, the character, who has gone missing, is mentioned 7 times with no plans to find him yet. All you get is back stories of the Four Main Characters (Samantha Calhoun; Neera Singh; Reid Langley; Isiah Johnson). We go around and around and around about their struggles as teens; racism; how eager they are to leave Carrion; and how they plan to participate in the town’s Ciacada Worshiping Festival. Nothing exciting, in my opinion. It is here that I must DNF this ARC and move on to something more attention grabbing.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company (BYR) for granting my request for an Advance Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for my honest and personal opinion!!!

Welcome to Carrion, Georgia—where the cicadas scream, the rich are cursed, and the blood never dries.

This book is a haunting, slow-burn descent into rot and reckoning, where Southern Gothic meets supernatural horror and teen rage simmers just below the surface. It's True Detective meets She Is a Haunting, with all the creeping dread, ancient evil, and small-town secrets your anxious little heart can handle.

When Dawson Sumter disappears—leaving only a splatter of blood in a motel room—Neera Singh is done looking the other way. Alongside a perfectly messy, unlikely crew (a closeted podcaster, a trust fund golden boy, and the hitman’s daughter), she plunges into the sickly heart of Carrion. And what they find? It’s not just old money and generational sins. It's something older, something hungrier.

The prose is razor-sharp and atmospheric as hell, soaked in red clay and whispered curses. Every character is carrying ghosts, and the monsters—both human and not—crawl out of the woodwork with a slow, awful grace that makes your skin crawl.

This book doesn't just give you chills—it roots into your bones. If you like your horror rich with lore, laced with social commentary, and delivered by angry kids with everything to lose, this is the one. Come for the mystery, stay for the monsters, and maybe—maybe—make it out alive.

"When Devils Sing" by Xan Kaur is a YA Southern horror that follows 4 teenagers living in an area of rural Georgia that's split by the affluent residents around the lake and the folks that live outside the gated community.

I saw this book being promoted on TikTok by the author (so Xan, if you're reading this, you're killing it online!) and was immediately intrigued by the premise, especially because I'm 1. an avid horror fan, and 2. a girlie pop that lives in the south! I think that Kaur is a strong writer and there were parts of the book that were truly so beautifully written and I loved how she included such different teenage perspectives. The reader gets a robust view of the town, the culture, and the curse through the lens of the 4 teens who have markedly differenrt experiences because of their identities (race, class, proximity to whiteness, sexual orientation, etc). My favorite character to read was Neera and I loved how Kaur explores the relationships between Neera and her mother/ grandparents. This was some of the best writing in the book. When Neera gets into that explosive fight with her grandfather? Chills!

Even though there were many parts of the book that I enjoyed, there were aspects that made me pause. I do think that ultimtely, there was a lot going on here and some of the elements were not very seamlessly woven together. Between having 4 different POVs where the kids had such fleshed out backstories (truly a double-edged knife here because there were aspects of this I appreciated) and the true crime investigation/ supernatual aspects of the book, I think that there were too many plates spinning on the narative for them all to have been executed effectively.

Even though this one was ultimately not for me, I do think that Kaur has the writing chops to really blow me away in the future so I'm 100% keeping an eye out for her next book!

Started strong, which was enough to mostly take me through to the end! It pulled all of its punches at the last minute - I could have done with some serious consequences for selling one’s soul, but they all seemed sort of metaphorical. Still, a fun format!

I really liked this!

I’ve never seen a book set in SW Georgia before, and there is something so special about reading a book that perfectly captures the place i’m from. the feeling of living here is felt in different ways through all the characters. The details, like trips to dollar general, the hurricanes, and of course the cicadas. The setting and the clear love for the south and the nuances of it make this so beautiful.

The very beginning of the book felt a bit messy, just with all the characters and the pacing of it. Most of the book was perfectly paced and written. The only reason this isn’t 5 stars is because the ending felt rushed. I would’ve liked if it had been longer, lingered more of the emotional character moments instead of rushing past them for the sake of the plot.

I wish I had liked this more because the concept was great but it’s a book that I started and ended up forgetting about for some time before picking it back up. It had a lot of potential

I'm glad I checked the warnings first so I knew what I was getting into, but that didn't at all take away from the wonderfully gothic atmosphere of WHEN DEVILS SING. The slow building tension, lurking darkness of horror mixed so well with the Southern Gothic setting, and I absolutely loved it.

I somehow didn't realize that this is YA novel, and didn't really feel like I connected with the characters. That being said, it was well-written and interesting. We will purchase for the branches!

This book was right up my alley and I absolutely loved it.
Give me a mysterious disappearance, around the same time of every reoccurence and I am there!
I'm also a huge fan of multiple POVs, so add another star to the tally! This kept me on the edge of my seat, unable to put the book down. Everytime I said one more chapter, it ended up being multiple later before I realized that I had things to do!
I highly recommend this book, if you like a good thriller/murder mystery/who done it vibe!

making horror ya is often hit or miss. this was just okay. loved the plot and the suspense was def there. but give me more!!

This was really fantastic. I honestly didn't realize it was a debut at first---sometimes you can tell from the plotting or the prose itself, but this was really polished--kudos to the author and their editors. The characters were compelling and really well-realized, they all felt individually real and they came alive throughout the story. I flew through this book, I just wanted more---to know what happened next and how our characters were going to react to it and interact with one another. This is definitely going down as a favorite for the year, and I can't wait to get our physical copies in at my branch!

I can’t believe this book was a debut novel! The storyline was amazing and held my full attention from beginning to end. I didn’t want to put this book down, even switching to the audio book when I had to (side note: the audio book is amazing). The story has strong southern folklore vibes while also combining with the present day. We get viewpoints from multiple characters that is so detailed in the best way, I feel like you know each character so well. I truly didn’t want this one to end. I would also like to note that I am 32, normally I wouldn’t note but if you see the main characters are younger I would not let this discourage you! The story is amazing as is, for any age of reader.

I really enjoyed this as a horror novel, it had that tension that I was looking for and was hooked from the start. I was invested in what was what happening and enjoyed the overall concept. I loved getting to know the characters and how everything worked together with them. Xan Kaur wrote this perfectly and was glad I read this, it uses the Southern Gothic elements in this universe and was glad it worked overall.

Southern gothics in recent years have been hit or miss for me. This was ultimately a miss. I loved aspects of it and the underlying themes, but the book never completely captured my undivided attention. I think I’ve just become very picky with YA this year. And that’s fine, I’m obviously not the target audience. I should’ve DNF’d. 3 stars because this wasn’t a bad book, just not for me.

When Devils Sing is a dark, intense fantasy filled with fierce characters and raw emotion. Xan Kaur weaves a powerful story of revenge, love, and sacrifice, with a gripping plot that def kept me hooked until the very end.

When Devils Sing is a hauntingly beautiful debut that blends Southern Gothic horror with a coming-of-age mystery steeped in grief, guilt, and generational trauma. Xan Kaur’s writing is lyrical and immersive, casting a slow, smoldering spell over a story that pulses with dread and heart.

At the core of the novel is a tangled web of complicated family dynamics and a town steeped in secrets. When a tragedy shatters the uneasy stillness of their community, an unlikely team of teens bands together to uncover what really happened, and in doing so: they’re forced to confront the damage left behind by those who came before them. The choices they face are not easy, and Kaur does not shy away from the emotional and moral weight of their journey.

I really enjoyed this book! I’m always fascinated with stories of devils at crossroads. I felt this did a good job of tying that into a fresh mystery.

“In Carrion, they have a saying: The devil can be seen coming from a mile away. That is where our story begins.
There’s the devil you know,
the devil you don’t,
the devil you wish you’d never met.”

When Devils Sing is a southern gothic mystery centering on the Three Brothers folklore and small-town history, family legacies and strange disappearances. In Carrion, Georgia, every thirteen years a brood of screaming cicadas emerge from underground and are worshipped by the rich Lake Clearwater residents. However, with the emergence of the cicadas, Carrion residents seem to go missing at an alarming rate. Before Carrion teen, Dawson Sumter’s disappearance, he sent a cryptic email to the true crime podcast, Secrets of the South regarding a threat to his life and was spotted at the Singh family’s motel the night before he disappeared.

Neera Singh, who saw Dawson that night at the hotel, Isaiah, the secret mastermind behind the Secrets of the South true crime podcast and receiver of Dawson’s email, Reid, the youngest Langley kid and Dawson’s rich best friend, and Sam, the daughter of the Langley family’s hitman are intrinsically tied together to investigate Dawson’s disappearance, and by association, how it relates to the Cicada Festival, Lake Clearwater, and the Langley family. Along the way, deals with the devil will be made.

Overall, I felt that this book was enjoyable, but while there were things that worked for me, there were just as many that didn’t work for me. Each of the four main characters have POV chapters, but they were not evenly distributed. Neera and Isaiah had twice as many chapters than Reid or Sam. This almost made it seem like Reid and Sam were not as important to the story, and as a reader I didn’t feel I knew enough about either of these characters. It didn’t feel as though there was enough character development either, for any of the characters. There were too many points of view as well as too many side characters to really give depth to the main characters.

I felt that the pacing was too slow as well. The book is split up into two parts, with the first covering roughly two-thirds of the book, which was the slowest part. While the author did a good job building tension in part one, there were many pieces of the story that felt repetitive while other pieces of the story were left lacking. The story of the Three Brothers felt crucial, but wasn’t expanded upon or even brought up as the story progressed. Readers are left with more questions than answers in regard to the folklore itself, as well as the dynamic between the brothers. As the book shifts into part two, the pace picks up drastically. Too much of the story is packed into such a short section. All of the major twists are revealed one after another and are not as thorough as I would have liked.

However, I will say that I really enjoyed the character diversity. The themes of race and class disparity lies at the center of the plot and is thoroughly executed. I also really enjoyed the way the deals with the devils were made and how they relate to the story.

I would like to point out that there is a major trigger warning for animal cruelty and some of the scenes are difficult to read and do carry on longer than is comfortable. This is one of the few trigger warnings that bother me, so I was not thrilled with this aspect of the story. Some other triggers that are of note include: domestic violence, child abuse, death, violence, mentions of suicide, car accident, medical content, fire, alcoholism, torture and bigotry.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, the author Xan Kaur, and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I first heard about When Devils Sing through the authors TikTok, and after seeing that it was being pitched as a “southern gothic allegory for how the elite sacrifice the lower class to the devil for their own financial gain” I immediately requested the book.

I loved the mystery, the southern horror elements, the diverse representation, and the podcast elements. This was a great debut novel and I can’t wait to see what this author does next!

Side note: the audiobook is fantastic! I started reading it physically, but switched over to the audiobook once approved and I couldn’t stop listening to it!

4/5 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored this Southern Gothic thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishing for the ARC!