Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Pages: 608
Published: September 18, 2012 (Little, Brown Books FYR)
Source: SBB ARC Tours
Rating: Swoon-worthy
Add it/Purchase: Goodreads | B&N | Amazon
Connect with the author: Website | Blog

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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 thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.







 

My Review

 

The Diviners is a stunningly original, hauntingly beautiful book, a larger-than-life glimpse into 1920's New York City, a place where, for Evie O'Neil, anything and everything is possible.  The incomparable Libba Bray has written another achingly real cast of characters - runaway dancer, Theta, piano player Henry, gifted Memphis, strange, extraordinary Jericho, scientist Uncle Will - all threaded into Evie's life.  The synopsis barely hints at the magical, macabre story inside the pages, which is part historical fiction, part paranormal, and part murder mystery.  

I'm not sure what I'm more thrilled about and deliriously into in The Diviners.  The characters are all such richly developed fixtures in this book, and the gritty, elegant 1920's New York City just comes alive on the pages.  I felt SO much while I read Bray's book: genuine fear as the occult murders continued, hope as Evie and her uncle discovered clues and raced against the clock to solve the murders, glee when the characters triumphed, sadness when they didn't.  My heart was definitely invested in The Diviners - in the mythos Libba Bray created, as well as in the hints that there was much, much more just beneath the surface.  The Diviners did a fantastic job of introducing all the pivotal characters as well as setting the stage for the sequels. 

I was truly scared as the climax of The Diviners swelled toward an ending that left me with more questions than answers; though in this case, that's okay.  I know that Bray will deliver.  There's a sense of urgency and a sweeping, overwhelming, dizzying undertone to The Diviners, a warning of dangers to come that I just wanted to drink in.  Something bigger than all these wonderful characters is coming, and I for one cannot WAIT to find out!  With just a touch of perfectly developed, unhurried romance, as well as a dusting of steampunk, The Diviners is everything I could ever want in a book.



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A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1)

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