REVIEW {37} The Diviners by Libba Bray

THE DIVINERS

SERIES: The Diviners #1 | OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES: Lair of Dreams #2 (Releases August 5th 2014)

AUTHOR: Libba Bray

PUBLICATION INFORMATION: September 18th 2012 by Little Brown Books for Young Readers

EDITION: Hardcover, 578 pages

ACQUISITION: Own

CATEGORIES: Young adult, Review, 4 Stars, Libba Bray, The Diviners, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Mystery, Horror, Supernatural, Ghosts

RATING: 4.00/5.00 | GOODREADS RATING: 3.98/5.00

ADD TO GOODREADS

WHAT THE COVER SAYS: Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

MY THOUGHTS: Horror is not a genre that I typically read, and when this book came out, it was the setting - 1920's New York City - that drew me in. Whatever I expected this book to be, it wasn't. Immediately I was absorbed in Evie's story from her small town life in Zenith, Ohio to her adventures in New York City and new friends Mabel, Theta, and Henry, while appeasing her guardian, uncle Will, and his assistant Jericho.

What I didn't expect, were the multiple story lines. We followed Evie as well as Memphis Campbell, and even got other little side stories of the murders. There were tons of characters, but it was pretty easy to keep everyone and everything straight.

I am not the type to really read books that delve into the horror of murders. This book doesn't spare too many gory details. 

I enjoyed the writing style, but felt the book was overly long. While it didn't feel like it dragged too bad, I did find myself rushing through pages at some points.

The romance of the book doesn't even occur until the end, and I didn't feel it was very believable. Throughout the whole book Evie didn't have any feelings whatsoever about Jericho, and even wondered what Mabel saw in him. But then suddenly she's daydreaming about his sweaty muscles and kisses on her lips.

Overall, I will definitely be picking up the sequel because I am curious and interested enough and invested in the characters to see where the future takes them.

SIMILAR READS: The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron | The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater | Ask the Passengers by A.S. King | Fathomless by Jackson Pearce | Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride | Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama | Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys | The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan | Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Happy Reading!

Laura