Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Series: The Diviners #1

Pages: 578

Source: Received from Hatchette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: September 18, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

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-toot-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:

I was so excited when I heard about this book!! I read a few Libba Bray books back when I was in high school and I remember loving her work (not that I can remember the story now, but it was interesting lol). I was hooked in by the synopsis of THE DIVINERS right away, an occult based serial killer on the loose, and the main character having a secret mysterious power, add in that this all takes place in the 1920's--I was "pos-i-toot-ly" in love. Though this book is massive, coming in at almost 600 pages, I found myself flying through the story because I just needed to know what would happen next and how the murders would come together. If I had read an ebook version I don't think I would have realized the page count.

There was a huge cast of characters in this book, it was a little nerve-racking at first, not sure where Bray was taking the story. She was switching between all the characters quite often, but as the story continued I could tell where they would all meet up and I can take a few guesses as to where the story will go in future books. It became more interesting to see how each of the characters had their own secrets and watching as they slowly unravel for the reader. The only little issue I had with the book was that I felt like I wanted to know more about some of the characters. There were certain characters I just wanted more of, especially Theta, it took awhile to get to her story and even then I can tell there is still a lot of information missing.

Bray definitely brought the 1920's to life in this story, with great descriptions of the speakeasies and the Ziegfield acts. The dialogue was also awesome, it really made me feel like I was back in the 1920's, there were a few instances where I found myself wondering what they were saying but as I kept going I could get behind the dialogue and found myself having fun with the characters.

Bray did a great job with the level of creepiness to this story. I haven't seen many good murder stories in YA that really detail the disturbing parts of it (which is understandable, TEN by Gretchen McNeil was one of the first). But Bray really brings out the scariness and I really love how she draws out the murder scenes so that even though you know what is coming she really wants the reader to be scared as well.

I absolutely loved the ending of this book, it was really surprising and I really didn't expect it to happen. And I'm really interested to see what is to come in the next book. THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray is definitely a huge read but readers will fly through it anxiously wanting to know what will happen next. This is one book I suggest picking up ASAP.