Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
Pages: 583
Format: eBook
Source: Bought
Series: The Diviners, #1
Genre(s): Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Horror
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Do you believe there are ghosts and demons and Diviners among us?
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 unfurled 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….
Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray opens a brand-new historical series with The Diviners, where the glittering surface of the Roaring Twenties hides a mystical horror creeping across the country. 

What do you get when you add a group of wild, paranormal teens and a psycho-ghost killer in the roaring 20s? That would be The Diviners! The perfect twist of history, paranormal, and horror, The Diviners delivers a thrillingly creepy story that will haunt you long after the final page is read.

I must admit that both the size and the content of the story was very intimidating to me before I started. A 500+ page horror book? Not normally something I would be jumping out of my seat to read. But, this Halloween, I decided to go for it because I have yet to read a negative review for this one, and I’m so glad I did!

Due to the length, the story isn’t extremely fast-paced. In fact, things are pretty slow moving straight up until the very end. BUT, the way that this book is written doesn’t leave us wanting anything more than what we’re given from the story at the time. Told from multiple perspectives, we get to see the story come together from all angles. Reading from Naughty John’s POV was quite disturbing, and creepy in all senses of the word, but extremely fascinating nonetheless. And all of the other characters were so unique to each other, with such detailed and developed backstories! When there are so many characters in a book some of them tend to get left out, but not in The Diviners, which I really loved.

Not only did the format of the book offset it’s length, but also the writing style. This is the first book that I’ve read of Libba Bray’s, but I absolutely loved her rich style and how well it portrayed the time period. I learned lots of new 20s slang, which I was pos-i-tutely jake with!

All in all, The Diviners was everything that I was hoping for and definitely lived up to all of the marvellous reviews that made me want to read it in the first place! The ending was satisfying, but left me eager to know what is next for these characters in book #2, Lair of Dreams!

Recommendations

If you want more… PARANORMAL & HORROR: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
If you want more… ROARING 20S: Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Trick or Treat…or Read?

Halloween has always been my least favorite holiday. I barely ever went trick-or-treating for fear that the houses would have scary decorations, which in my neighborhood, they do. I still don’t even answer the door until one of my parents tell me it’s only a group of little kids in non-scary costumes. So naturally, scary books haven’t been my thing. But every now and then a book will come around that I know will most definitely leave me with nightmares but I pick up anyway. Halloween is that time for me, so here are the books that I’m feeling brave enough to read for this year’s Halloween season!

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1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I’ve been meaning to read this book for such a long, long time because the story sounds really creepy and mysterious and I know I won’t be able to guess the murderer. I love stories that blow my mind and IT’S AGATHA CHRISTIE! It HAS to be good!

2. Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

I read Asylum last year and I really enjoyed it for a horror book, with pictures no less. It didn’t scare me, but I considered that a good thing. No nightmares = Emily’s approval of horror book. I’m really intrigued to see how the story continues and what happens next. Dun, dun, DUN.

3. The Diviners by Libba Bray

Not the stereotypical “horror” book, but I couldn’t even get through the book trailer. I love the 1920s, and I’ve heard this book is CREEPY and WILL give me nightmares, unlike with Asylum. I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and I think I’ve decided this is the time to just go for it!

4. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I’ve heard amazing things about this series, and I know it has a huge fanbase. I can’t wait to dive into this twisty story that I know I’ll love!

Do you read scary books? What are some of your favorites? What are you planning on reading this Halloween?

Dusting off the Shelf Read-A-Thon Challenges, TBR & Progress

Since I got back from my vacation, I realized just how quickly August is approaching. That also means for me, my Dusting off the Shelf Read-A-Thon will be in full swing in just about 5 days! Ah! As you can probably tell from this post title, I’m announcing (a little later than I was planning to) the challenges that some of you lovely people helped me come up with in the Goodreads Group that I’ve created for the Read-A-Thon. Feel free to join it, I’ll be adding discussions for the challenges, etc. in the near future! I’ll also be including my TBR that I hope to read during those two weeks, and I plan to make this my “master post” of sorts for my daily progress. Those of you that have joined: feel free to do something similar to track your progress and see how you do on challenges! If you don’t feel like it, it doesn’t make a difference to me, though! I want this to be a really laid back and fun read-a-thon! 😉

Those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about: here is my post in which I announced the Read-A-Thon, give the rules, sign-up info, etc.

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Challenges

With a little help from my blog friends I’ve got a few challenges that you can participate in if you want to! A little incentive to pick up something that’s been sitting around that you haven’t thought about lately.

• Read a book set in the past.
• Read a classic.
• Read a book written before 2010.
• Read at least 100 pages a day.
• And of course…the books must be neglected by you! One that’s been sitting unread for quite a while!

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My TBR

• Read a book set in the past: The Diviners by Libba Bray
• Read a classic: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen // The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (School summer reading book, but if I can make it count, I’ll do it!)
• Read a book written before 2010: The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Others:
  • Fear by Michael Grant
  • Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
  • Pandemonium & Requiem by Lauren Oliver

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Progress

Check back to this post to keep track of my progress throughout the Read-A-Thon! Link me to your progress posts in the comments so I can see how you’re doing, too!

On Twitter use the hashtag #DustingofftheShelf so we can all chat and keep each other motivated!