Review: The Diviners (The Diviners #1), by Libba Bray

The Diviners (The Diviners #1)
By: Libba Bray
Publication Date: September 18th, 2012 (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Hardcover, 592 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction; Fantasy; Supernatural; Parnormal; YA
Source: Library

DESCRIPTION:

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 sotries unfold in the city that never seleeps. 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 pens a brand-new historical series with The Diviners, where the glittering surface of the Roaring Twenties hides a mystical horror creeping across the country.

--from the book's dust jacket

REVIEW:

Whew! After a month of reading The Diviners, meaning after a month of living in the 1920s and picking up on the slang (more to come on the slang), I've finally finished! Five-hundred-and-ninety-two pages of evil.

And by evil, I mean a man by the name of John Hobbes. Good ol' Naughty John. He really does give me the heebie-jeebies (1920s slang!). The whistling, the click of his cane, his icy blue eyes. Twice I had to leave my hall light on as a nightlight because I was terrified of John Hobbes manifesting himself and coming to get me.

Characters. There were a bunch, and the story switches veiw points to each of the major ones. Evie O'Neill, of course. She was not very likable as I found her too shallow and selfish. But she was caring a times, which I did like. Jericho Jones, typical tall, dark, and...mysterious. He was okay. I didn't feel like I really knew him. Memphis Cambelle, Harlem's next Langson Hughes. Meh.

Mabel Rose, Evie's best friend, was relatable to me because she reminded me of myself. She was living in both the shadow of her famous politcal activist parents, and also in shadow of her glamorous best friend. It wasn't in her to exchange her frilly, long dresses for short flapper-style dresses, or bob her long curly hair. She just felt like she was second best, washed out by the New York City lights. She didn't really have many parts in the book, but she was relateable anyway.

But she wasn't my favorite.

Theta (rhymes with "beta") Knight, named after the math symbol (which is pretty sweet), was my favorite. She was so multidemensinal and her backstory was by far the best.

Oh. I almost forgot. The infectious slang of the 1920s in this book has caught me. I find myself saying "And how!" a lot, and "That music is the berries," but not as much as "And how!" Anyway, if you fancy some good old-fashion slang, here's a link to more 1920s slang.

The plot had a snail-slow build-up, but it's worth it if you power through. I mean it took me a month, but I powered through and it was ALL WORTH IT.

RATING: