BOOK REVIEW: The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray

The Diviners (The Diviners #1)
by Libba Bray
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: 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-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.

Review:

There is no greater power on this earth than story.

The fact that it has taken me six years to read this is a complete travesty. I have read, re-read, and loved the Gemma Doyle trilogy so I KNEW that I would love these too whenever I got my lazy ass around to reading them. I swear I picked this up a few different times over the years and I don’t even know what happened..maybe the size daunted me at those points in my life (which seems inconceivable since I actively look for huge ass YA books)??? Either way, surprise, surprise. Here we finally are, with me having finished the first, almost halfway through the second, and loving every page. THANK YOU CHELSEA FOR TALKING THESE UP SO I FINALLY TOOK THE PLUNGE!

But what was the point of living so quietly you made no noise at all?
“Oh Evie, you’re too much,” people said, and it wasn’t complimentary. Yes, she was too much. She felt like too much inside all the time. So why wasn’t she ever enough? 

I honestly don’t even know where to begin so I suppose I’ll start by impressing upon you how good of a writer that Libba Bray is. Phenomenal. That one word is all you really need to know. She thinks, or for the sake of this series ~dreams~, up these incredibly rich and three-dimensional characters that you can’t imagine ever not knowing. You NEED to know they are going to be okay, you fall in love when they fall in love, you bleed when they bleed (well, your heart does as least)…..you get it. Dahhling Evie, sensible Mabel, serious Jericho, *SAM*, snarky Theta, sweet Henry, dreamer Memphis ALL OF THEM, love them. Great writing makes you forget that book characters aren’t actually real and that you aren’t in your house, lying in bed, in 2018. In one of my darling GR friend’s reviews (Em-Check it out here) they said something along the lines of feeling nostalgia for the 20’s after reading this book, which is crazy because obviously she (and I) have never lived during that time. And I LOVED that thought. When you find an author that immerses you so deeply into an entirely new or foreign place or even a time period, that you begin to feel a sense of nostalgia for it….you know you’ve found a winner. I can only hope and pray that the fourth book doesn’t take too long out.

Mabel shrugged. “Suit yourself. Here have a nightgown.”
Evie held up the chaste, high-necked gown, examining it with a scowl. 
“If I should die in the night, please remove this.” 

The next thing I need to mention is how fking scary this book is. I went into it prepared, because of what I had heard from Chels, BUT STILL. I am one of the biggest scaredy cats I know—I mean HORRIFYED of the dark—there were many times where I had to stop reading at night time, which sucks because with a baby that’s really the only time you can read. Like thank God she had read it before me because talking through some of those scenes as I was reading about them was the only way I made it through, honestly. Still, whenever I think of those last couple of scenes with Naughty John I feel this bone-crippling fear start to creep up my body. Just thinking about it now makes me want to look over my shoulder to make sure no one is there, aaahhhahahah. *cue nervous laughter* So yeah, just know, this book is not for the faint of heart. EVEN MORE SO BECAUSE IT’S WRITTEN SO WELL. So, be warned.

Evie sputtered for a second, then took off after Sam, chasing him around the long table, knocking over stacks of books as she did. 
“I’m going to kill him. Who wants to watch?” 

Overall I love this book and I could go on and on for even longer but honestly, I think it’s better if you go into it knowing as little as possible. Just know that I loved all of the characters (except for the ones that I hated, lol), I loved the plot, I loved the writing. Win win win (except for being scared but if I managed to live through it, you will too).

“Life don’t come to you, Memphis. You gotta take it. We have to take it. Because ain’t nobody handing it to us. You understand?”

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