Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Diviners (The Diviners, #1)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Diviners

(The Diviners #1)

Libba Bray (Goodreads Author)

3.93 · Rating details · 89,621 ratings · 12,442 reviews

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, Ziegfield girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her Uncle Will and his ...more

Get A Copy

Kindle Edition, 592 pages

Published September 18th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Diviners, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Your Top 5 Reads in 2013

1,326 books — 1,146 voters

Divinity and The Python by Bonnie Randall

The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino

Stories Where Tarot Reading Plays A Role

89 books — 104 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.93 ·

Rating details

· 89,621 ratings · 12,442 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Diviners (The Diviners, #1)

Aug 04, 2018 chai ♡ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, trope-rivals-or-enemies-to-lovers, ya-sff, trope-slow-burn, lgbtq-rep-side, young-adult, read-in-2018

This book makes me feel so nostalgic for life in 1920s New York which is weird because I wasn’t even alive for that decade, so why do I miss it? Seriously. Is it just me or do other people get homesick from books? You miss the comforting feeling of the characters and the world created by the author and wish to stay long after you turn the last page?

The impossible wonder of an era I was never a part of still snags at me and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

So, what's this book? ...more

flag 711 likes · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2018 Zoë rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Original Review 2018: This was pos-i-tute-ly the perfect spooky Halloween read! Supernatural powers! Murder! 1920s New York! A creepy song that will haunt me for the rest of my life! I can keep going.
There were times when I was genuinely scared (usually when I was reading right before bed). Let's just say I'll never be able to use the word "naughty" ever again without giving myself nightmares.
This book also had a huge cast of characters that we are just getting to know - and I love each and ever ...more

flag 719 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2015 Emma Giordano rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Update 12/2/2019 - Raising my rating to 5 stars! The Diviner's is absolutely one of my favorite series of all time. I am so excited to continue rereading the series in anticipation for the finale with the #DivinersClub readalong!

4.5 stars ...more

flag 508 likes · Like · see review

Apr 15, 2019 Melanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Melanie by: Madalyn (Novel Ink)

Shelves: audible, mystery, fantasy, romance, read-in-2019, paranormal, buddy-reads, magic, young-adult, historical

“The Diviners must stand, or all shall fall.”

The Diviners is a historical, paranormal fantasy set in 1920s New York City! And in this alternative history, there are people called Diviners who have magical abilities that are hidden from the world. And these powers will come in handy as a demon like being who was summoned from a Ouija board starts ritualistically killing people, while also bringing upon the apocalypse.

➽ Evie O’Neill - Sent to NY to stay with her uncle after causing too ...more

flag 462 likes · Like · see review

Sep 09, 2012 Emily May rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: coverly-love, historical, paranormal-uf, 2012, young-adult

There is love. Oh, there is so much love that I am having for this book and Ms Bray right now. Even taking the length into account, this novel took me longer than usual to read because I had to read everything more than once and swoon for a little bit before I could move on. I am thrilled to hear that there will be a sequel.

If I were to write a novel, I wouldn't want to hear claims like "this is the next Hunger Games (or Twilight or Harry Potter)" but I think one of the greatest compliments must There is love. Oh, there is so much love that I am having for this book and Ms Bray right now. Even taking the length into account, this novel took me longer than usual to read because I had to read everything more than once and swoon for a little bit before I could move on. I am thrilled to hear that there will be a sequel.

If I were to write a novel, I wouldn't want to hear claims like "this is the next Hunger Games (or Twilight or Harry Potter)" but I think one of the greatest compliments must be "this is like nothing I've ever read before... and it's awesome". Yeah, if I was to write a book, I would want to create something as beautiful, clever, magical and unique as this. I cannot guess how current Libba Bray fans will respond to this story which is a million miles away from
A Great and Terrible Beauty and Beauty Queens and - though I haven't read it - I'd bet money that it's nothing like Going Bovine either.

There are so many different elements brought into this story, but they are all well-balanced and manage to complement each other, rather than being scrambled together in a random mish mash. It's such a hard novel to categorise-- part historical fiction, part supernatural, part murder mystery, with just the slightest touch of romance.

Evie O'Neill is a fabulous character who experiences a lot of development throughout. When the story starts she is silly and naive, but as time progresses we see her face bigger challenges and begin to change and develop massively. Also, I understand why some people would find the 1920s slang irritating, but I was so charmed by the characters and story that I really didn't mind. One of my favourite elements of the novel is the way in which Bray portrays and develops Evie's relationships with the other characters. I loved the relationship between her and her Uncle Will. Evie and Sam's relationship was perhaps the funniest; their dialogue is superb and at times they reminded me of a Bonnie and Clyde-style criminal duo. Similarly, Evie and Mabel's friendship gave me quite a few giggles.

And one word that kept popping into my head throughout the entire reading experience is: atmospheric. I was right there in 1920s New York, after the War and before the depression, in a whirlwind of jazz and flappers and speakeasies. Libba Bray breathes magic into this city at the height of its glory whilst also showing the darker side of America at this time with the KKK and xenophobia. The amount of research that must have gone into this book is astounding. There is so much history and mythology and even a touch of politics. I was wowed. In fact, I am still wowed.

I must also talk about our murderer. I really want to applaud Ms Bray for doing so many different things and getting them all right. Because this book is magical and it is funny and it is clever and it is... really freakin' scary. Books and movies do not scare me often. I avoid horror because I'm mostly immune to it. But this... Naughty John with his creepy whistling and reciting of his freaky little rhyme as he stalks his victims... I slept with the light on. Seriously. Don't laugh.

I think, though, what I most want to say is that Libba Bray brings all of these things together into one. Her novel uses history and mythology and humour to create one hell of a story. The characters are vivid and detailed; you can almost feel the city air as you read. Maybe there are faults to be found but they certainly didn't bother me, and even the length was completely worth it. I am just blabbing and gushing now so I'm going to stop before I start drooling, but this book is one I highly recommend.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube ...more

flag 464 likes · Like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Caz (littlebookowl) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, audiobook

THIS WAS SO DAMN GOOD!
Listening on audiobook was such a great experience. I loved the writing and the story, oh so chilling! GIMME MORE :)

flag 373 likes · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2020 Cindy rated it liked it · review of another edition

From a personal enjoyment level it's 2.5 stars, unfortunately. I was bored throughout the 600 pages of this story and kept waiting for it to be over. The pacing suffered with a lot of the characters ambling around and could have been shortened to at least 300. This read more like an overly drawn-out setup rather than a concise narrative. The characters felt very surface-level; I could clearly tell the archetypes that each person was, but they didn't have much depth. Villains were also pretty non ...more

flag 346 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2012 Mitch rated it liked it · review of another edition

I don’t know how else to describe The Diviners except to say it’s pretty clear when reading this that Libba Bray set out to write a quintessentially American novel, and - good and bad - she’s succeeded. She may insist no historians were harmed in the writing of her book, but I just don’t see how she’s mastered such command of American history, not just through the facts, but through the way she captures the American experience, that she didn’t torture it out of someone. But just like America, th I don’t know how else to describe The Diviners except to say it’s pretty clear when reading this that Libba Bray set out to write a quintessentially American novel, and - good and bad - she’s succeeded. She may insist no historians were harmed in the writing of her book, but I just don’t see how she’s mastered such command of American history, not just through the facts, but through the way she captures the American experience, that she didn’t torture it out of someone. But just like America, this is a book full of contradictions, it has some of the most complex, evocative writing I’ve ever seen for historical fiction, yet at the same time relies on some oversimplistic, almost stereotypical characters - I’m seriously conflicted.

There’s no nice way to phrase this, so I’m just gonna come right out and say it - I’m sorry, but Evie O’Neill is a ditz. And that really puzzles me, why, despite the strength of her writing, Bray has to try so hard to fit everything into some 1920s stereotype. Maybe it’s just me, but after reading the superb writing that really showcases how much Bray gets the Roaring Twenties, I want to see some smart characters that does that excellent writing justice, not some shallow socialite obsessed with ‘dizzy water’ and partying at speakeasies, who thinks everything is ‘the cat’s meow’ or ‘the duck’s quack’. Who talks like that? It doesn’t even work the first time, much less the hundredth, by which time the dialogue seriously grated on my nerves. I kept expecting more from Evie’s character, kept wondering if she really is that shallow, and my unfortunate conclusion is, well, yes, she is that shallow, there really isn’t anything more to her, despite Bray’s attempts to incorporate some emotion and mystery with her dead brother and an antagonist in the villainous Naughty John. She just never behaves like a relatable character, or is anything more for me than a 20s stereotype who keeps spouting annoying catchphrases and obsessing over the New York social scene.

Evie’s by far my biggest problem with the story, but she definitely isn’t my only problem. To fill out the flat characters department, look no further than presumptive love interest Sam Lloyd, who fills the cad … er fella (another word that’s reduced to a 20s sound bite) role to a tee, his only interesting bit of character development being more of a hint of what’s to come in the sequel. Or other presumptive love interest Jericho Jones, the wooden, straight shooter with, predictably, a mysterious secret that bizarrely isn’t of the paranormal variety but somehow sends this series careening down a steampunk path? I guess it’s really a weird mix of science and mysticism. Oh, and lest I forget, Evie spends most of the book trying to set Jericho up with her best friend Mabel Rose (Evie’s own relationship with Jericho is pretty much platonic almost the entire way through) until Mabel happens to bump into someone else and, well the rest is easy to guess. The Roaring Twenties may have been one glamorous and exciting period, but these characters just didn't do it for me. Well, I like Mabel’s interesting and surprisingly emotional communist parents side plot that really captures a big issue of the day, I’ll give the book that.

But all these side plots, that really is another problem with The Diviners. So many times, I’m following what Evie is doing, or another creepy scene with Naughty John, and the book would all of a sudden cut off to something else, whatever alternative main character Memphis Campbell and his own special powers related problems are or some other background story. It’s really a symptom of a larger problem, Bray’s blatantly setting up The Diviners as the first in a series, and she’s sacrificing the flow of this book in order to spend too much time developing a character, Memphis, that I really didn’t feel was all that integral to the plot at all. The entire time, the story’s telling me that the Diviners as a group is what’s important and planting all these hints and reminders that something big, bigger even than Naughty John, is coming, and the entire group will be needed to stop it, but what that actually did was just really distracted me from enjoying the actual story of this book. Because it turns out, Memphis really has almost nothing to do with the Naughty John story at all, Sam and Evie’s other friend Theta very little, and as The Diviners is already a fairly long read, following the stories of these secondary characters when it turns out their stories have almost no bearing on the actual plot feels like a chore.

Maybe I wouldn’t feel the way I do if certain sections of the book weren’t just so darn good that I just couldn’t get enough of certain chapters. It’s hard to describe, but I really feel Bray has captured the soul of America, as Evie explores Naughty John’s mysterious past, Bray’s exploring American history from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to the Gilded Age, capturing the hopes and dreams and ideals that make America tick, whether it’s the mix of cultures and religions or the Second Great Awakening or racial attitudes towards African Americans from the Civil War up to the Roaring Twenties, it’s all here, in this book, seamlessly incorporated in the plot. And Bray excels at iconography, there’s a character named Gabriel who’s an excellent trumpet player and the way she works him into the religious motifs was just shockingly inspired. And whether it was the wind carrying its warnings or Naughty John’s haunted mansion working its evils or Evie and Mabel’s neighbors Miss Lillian and Miss Addie offering their creepy insights on the goings on, the story could get so dark and spooky and the imagery so spot on that I absolutely hate how the flat characters and sequel setting detours Bray forces on me sort of ruin that effect.

I have a hard time rating The Diviners because half the book is utterly amazing and the other half is just meh. Parts of the book are creatively on fire, but they’re sandwiched between sections that are utterly tedious stereotypes. I don’t know what my overall opinions of this book are, I really don’t. ...more

flag 237 likes · Like · see review

Jul 15, 2013 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: queer, favorites, books-ive-reread

Re-read 8/8/19: This was my first time reading this since the third book came out and Libba Bray is a foreshadowing MASTER. I love this story and these characters so damn much and I cannot wait to re-read Lair of Dreams next month! This was a buddy read for the #DivinersReadalong with Melanie, Jane, & Madalyn! The liveshow discussion will be on my channel on Friday, August 16th at 6pm PST / 9pm EST and we hope to see you there!

Re-read 10/3/17: Finished this re-read in one day because I AM OBSESS ...more

flag 231 likes · Like · see review

Apr 17, 2011 Brigid ✩ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: demons, yes-yes-yes, ghosts, crime-and-mystery, favorites, superpowers, romance, fantasy, young-adult, historical-fiction

9/25/15:

Finished re-reading this and it was even better the second time! Now I am finally reading the sequel and I'm very excited. :D

----------

Original Review (10/10/12):

OH GOD OH MAN OH GOD OH MAN.

So yeah, basically this book left me like this:

I've been a die-hard Libba Bray fan ever since the fabulous Gemma Doyle books. I also loved the insane, bizarre adventure of Going Bovine. And Beauty Queens was hilarious––although I thought it was a bit lacking in the usual strong storytelling element th ...more

flag 210 likes · Like · see review

May 13, 2014 Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, mystery-thriller-paranormal, historical-fiction

This book right here, was amazing.
It was spooky, fun, intriguing, really just everything I was hoping for.

Setting
First off, the setting was awesome. It's set in 1926 New York, a city bustling with flappers, speakeasies and the challenges of prohibition. Adding the spooky element of the occult and the mystery of murders to an already fun setting just made for set the whole thing up for success.

Characters
Set against this background, we have a plethora of characters.
First, we have the protagonist ...more

flag 206 likes · Like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 carol. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: I don't.

Recommended to carol. by: I don't hate you. Honest.

Shelves: female-lead, multi-culti, young-adult, urban-fantasy-ya, yawn

"Ms. Bray, I have an idea for your next book."
"Yes?"
"Well, the researcher who worked on The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York left some notes lying in the library, and someone I know swiped 'em."
"Perfect! What should we make it about?"
"Hmm, not sure. Let's workshop it."
"Okay. Target audience?"
"Well, you have some cred in Young Adult, and the field is on fire. If we make it about a 17 year-old and her friends, we can draw in the pre-teens and the ...more

flag 207 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2016 Nat rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magical-realism

“The time is now. They are coming,” Isaiah said, drifting back into dreams, his last word barely a whisper: “Diviners.”

This was exactly my kind of book - with talk about the occult, magical-realism, and even a little horror (that I could handle for once) - I couldn’t help but fall for The Diviners. To quote Maggie Stiefvater, good magic is a little horrific, and good horror is always a little magical. And Libba Bray brought just that to the table with this chilling and wondrous book.

This follows ...more

flag 191 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2018 Chelsea Humphrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Chelsea by: Emily May

Shelves: library

I'm obviously late to the party, but I so enjoyed this one! The audiobook took the story to an entirely other level for me; the narrator was fabulous and did so many voices in a unique way without sounding cheesy or lame. Definitely excited to continue on with the series and look forward to answering some of the questions that were left open here. ...more

flag 179 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2017 Elle (ellexamines) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: z-2017reads, y-2000sreleases, author-love, favorite-friendships, favorite-relationships, gay-genre-fiction, 4-star, nonfiction, x-series, favorite-characters

She was tired of being told how it was by this generation, who’d botched things so badly. They’d sold their children a pack of lies: God and country. Love your parents. All is fair. And then they’d sent those boys, her brother, off to fight a great monster of a war that maimed and killed and destroyed whatever was inside them. Still they lied, expecting her to mouth the words and play along. Well, she wouldn’t. She knew now that the world was a long way from fair. She knew the monsters w

...more

flag 174 likes · Like · see review

Mar 02, 2018 Whitney Atkinson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favs-of-2018, read-in-2018, audiobook, lgbtqiap

The best way I can describe this book is The Great Gatsby meets Buzzfeed Unsolved.

Even though this audiobook was 16 hours long, it flew by. I listened to the prologue and had to stop it and take a break because I was already so creeped out, and there were definitely other parts that I read in the middle of the night that made me want to turn my lights on and check under my bed. This book definitely has a creepy vibe and is such an amazing, atmospheric listen. The setting of the 20s was so much ...more

flag 173 likes · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2013 Mohammed Arabey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

..finally released from ‘Starbucks’ before midnight, I was caught in last pages of The Diviners, and heavy rain Storm hit Alexandria that evening.
But as I get off the doors, Everything was different..

I was facing Alexandria's famous Sea Corniche, cafes' lights, wet streets no more..
There's speakeasy & theater lights instead, the yellow cabs turned into old models..
But the wet streets still there..and The Storm is yet to come..
Well,
L-E-T-S--S-T-A-R-T--F-R-O-M--T-H-E--B-E-G-I-N-N-I-N'

Let's see how ...more

flag 166 likes · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2012 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The heroine was intolerably stupid, annoying, attention-seeking, and inconsiderate. She grated on my nerves so badly, I can barely bring myself to read on. I find Libba Bray's writing style for this book completely unreadable. I have a strong suspicion she read a reference guide to using slang during the Flapper era and made it her personal goal to use as much speakeasy language as possible in every single spoken sentence. ...more

flag 150 likes · Like · see review

Jun 28, 2017 ❄️BooksofRadiance❄️ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fantasy-sci-fi, historical

This was my third attempt at this book and... victory at last!

Once again it was a rather slow start that failed to grip me mind body and soul right from the get-go (that might’ve been too much to ask. Hence the third attempt) but once I passed that difficult stage, I found it enjoyable.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say extremely enjoyable but I was hooked nonetheless.

The plot was extremely well written and the history elements were amazingly researched and in-depth.
My initial reason to give this This was my third attempt at this book and... victory at last!

Once again it was a rather slow start that failed to grip me mind body and soul right from the get-go (that might’ve been too much to ask. Hence the third attempt) but once I passed that difficult stage, I found it enjoyable.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say extremely enjoyable but I was hooked nonetheless.

The plot was extremely well written and the history elements were amazingly researched and in-depth.
My initial reason to give this another try was because I needed a chilling read that’d give me goosebumps or something along that line and, again, that too was too much to ask, ‘cause although it was creepy and relatively disturbing, it didn’t end up being the bone-chilling read I suspected and was in desperate mood for.

The best part, after the history lesson, so to speak, were the refreshingly different characters that graced this novel.
It had a rich variety of individual characters who were (almost) all vividly depicted. Apart from one, that is. 🤦‍♀️

*Long Sigh*
That’s where our “lovely” heroine, Evie O’Neil comes in. The childish and “rebellious” MC with her painfully annoying slangs and over the top perkiness that I just found too too too annoying!!
She was selfish, desperate for attention, so desperate that even she was aware of it, though she wore it like a badge of honour, and so utterly exasperating to the point where I genuinely started dreading coming to her parts because I couldn’t take it anymore.
I hated the unnecessary excess charm and those slangs she used every time she spoke. Those slangs!!!
Mostly I was just like, for the love of all that is good, please do be quite and let the grownups talk! 🤦‍♀️ I found her too much to bear. I DID NOT LIKE HER. NOT ONE BIT.

All in all, it was a fun read that didn’t quite hit the mark but fun nonetheless. The 1920s Manhattan setting was great and the villain of the book, Naughty John definitely made this an overall entertaining read.

A part of me wants to get through this series and see where it goes but if I don’t, it’ll most probably be because of Evie.
I don’t think I can take anymore of her. Maybe if I take a long enough break in between, I’ll forget how infuriatingly irritating she is. Unlikely but... one hopes. ...more

flag 134 likes · Like · see review

Oct 05, 2017 Wren (fablesandwren) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 05-stars, all-time-favorites, physical-shelf

New favorite obsession! It’s dark but classy...

...beautiful but swallowed in the feel of a haunting.

There are a lot of characters in this book. So, let’s do this list style:

Evie O'Neill
I positutely love Evie. She is such a unique heroine. Usually, the heroines these days are mysterious, introverted and quiet about how they are different. Evie is none of those things. She is a flapper (setting is in the 1920s), she is as extroverted and confident as they come, and she isn’t shy about what she ca ...more

flag 126 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2018 ✨ jamieson ✨ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: series, young-adult, mystery, 2018-reads, audiobook, historical-fiction, paranormal

“Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells ‘em off for a coupla stones.”

boy this shit was so good !! i die !!. Everyone kept telling me this series was the cats meow and I JUST DIDN'T LISTEN. And I should have, it's positutely swell !!

(okay enough lingo references) but the first thing I LOVED about this book was the setting. It's set in 1920s America and boy that is just such a fun setting to play around in. And Libba Bray defi ...more

flag 124 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2020 Warda marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: put-down-for-now, crushing-tbr-pile

The plan wasn’t to start this series anytime soon, but I was looking for an audiobook to read and this seemed like the most obvious choice.
And now I’m hooked!

Thank you, Karima for the audiobook recommendation! 💛 ...more

flag 123 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2020 Unknown Reviews rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My first introduction to the glamour and extravagance of 1920’s America probably came in the form of The Great Gatsby (the movie, not the book, considering I too young at the time to get it). So, when I heard about a much-raved YA novel involving cult killings, magic powers, and Great Gatsby-esque parties, I knew I had to read it. And for once, a book, has suited my imagination perfectly.

Evie O’Neill is a mildly alcoholic, outgoing seventeen year-old, who is sent to live with her Uncle Will in ...more

flag 114 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book

Eff this book. I’m tired of books killing dogs, cats etc. How would you like your animal being gutted alive!? Like I said, eff this book and books like it because I’m tired of it all. AND DON’T MAKE NO SMART ASS COMMENTS ON MY REVIEW!!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

flag 102 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2018 April (Aprilius Maximus) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

Really enjoyed this! Loved the characters and the setting, but the mystery wasn’t the best I’ve ever read!

flag 96 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2015 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror, not-my-cuppa-tea, cliffhanger-boo-hiss, your-mileage-may-vary

*cue eerie music*
description

At a birthday party in New York in the 1920's, a bunch of teenagers decide to play with a Ouija board. They promptly do several things they're REALLY not supposed to do, like failing to make the spirit controlling the board say good-bye (is this really a thing?), thereby unleashing the spirit of a serial killer on the world. I'm one chapter in and already I know this book is not going to be my cuppa tea: Horror novels are just not my thing, and evil supernatural kinds of horror are really not my thing.

In the second chapter we meet our main character, Evie, and she's an insolent 17 year old who likes to party hard and drink too much gin, and thinks she's smarter than everyone else around her, including her parents. She also uses way too much 1920's slang, which, maybe it was realistic? but it just struck me as a little too try-hard on the author's part. Evie very quickly took whatever lingering interest I still had in this novel and stomped it dead.

Luckily (not for me, but for New York City) Evie and some other people are Diviners, with their own supernatural powers that can combat the evil ones. So there are gruesome murders by the evil spirit (who becomes more tangible with each killing), and investigations and quests to stop the evil spirit - sort of like Ghostbusters, except, you know, without the cool ghost-catching technology or anyone with anything remotely approaching a sense of humor - and also a little romance, just because.

So. I think this might be a great read for some people. Unfortunately it pushed all the wrong buttons for me, sort of the opposite of A Town Like Alice. I just don't care for dislikeable protagonists or creepy occult goings-on.

Initial post: Ugh. I grabbed the sequel to this on NetGalley last week and then picked this first book up at the library. I'm about 50 pages in and I don't care for the main character - a 17 year old girl who like to drink and party and has special powerz - or the whole "evil spirit escapes from a Ouija board and is clearly going to cause massive amounts of trouble" plot.

What to do? I hate to give up on a NetGalley book unread, but I don't want to wade through 575 pages of this book to get there.

Update: So I thought I'd breeze through a hundred pages a day, doing a little skimming here and there. But I got to the hundred page mark and thought, screw it, I'm getting through this one tonight. And I did, admittedly with an awful lot of skimming, but I read enough that I feel justified in giving it a rating. ...more

flag 94 likes · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2019 NReads marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Someone told me that this book is a bit similar to sense8 and if that's true, I'll start it in a sec. ...more

flag 94 likes · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2018 Jessi ♥️ H. Vojsk rated it liked it · review of another edition

We are the Diviners.
We have been and we will be.
It is a power that comes from the great energy of the land and its people, a realm shared for a spell, for as long as is needed.
We see the dead.
We speak to restless spirits.
We walk in dreams.
We read meaning from every held thing.
The future unfolds for us like the navigators map, showing seas we have yet to travel.”

Story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Buddy read with the wonderful Eli :*
I guess I’m a little bit disappointed.
I had way too high expectations for ...more

flag 88 likes · Like · see review

Mar 15, 2018 ELLIAS (elliasreads) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-books, i-own

“Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells 'em off for a coupla stones.”

WELL I'LL BE DAMNED.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS where do I start? Because HOLY SMOKES that was the CAT'S MEOW!! GOLLY, I was completely blown away. Some parts in this book just gave me the flying HEEBIE-JEEBIES. And other parts of the book made me laugh as if I was high on GIGGLE WATER!!

......ok modern century talk now and 1920s lingo aside, The Diviners, was ...more

flag 87 likes · Like · see review

Nov 07, 2013 Felicia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, vaginal-urban-fantasy

I am doing a big project in my house: Reading the ever-increasing stack of ACTUAL books that is piling up next to my bed! The dust on them is just monumental, since I honestly read most of my stuff on my Kindle, sigh. So project; "Chip away at stack" commence!

I've had this book on the stack for a while, and I didn't know anything about it, except the blurb on the back reminded me of one of my favorite iOS games: Elder Signs. 20's, occult, NYC etc. I thought the atmosphere was pretty interesting, ...more

flag 80 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Into the Forest: The Diviners w/spoilers	6	19	Jan 30, 2021 06:26PM
Into the Forest: The Diviners no spoilers	11	24	Jan 17, 2021 07:12AM
The Diviners	3	8	Dec 16, 2020 01:19PM
the book	1	3	Dec 12, 2020 05:19PM
*Dumbledore's Rea...:** October 2020- The Diviners	11	18	Oct 25, 2020 10:11AM
YA Buddy Readers'...: The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray - Restarting October 10th 2020	234	483	Oct 13, 2020 09:41PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Videos About This Book

4 comments

Genres

Fantasy

4,184 users

Young Adult

3,593 users

Historical > Historical Fiction

3,008 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

1,667 users

Mystery

1,462 users

Historical

1,047 users

Horror

827 users

Fiction

799 users

Audiobook

627 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

560 users

See top shelves…

About Libba Bray

Libba Bray

14,656 followers

What is it about writing an author bio that gives me that deer-in-headlights feeling? It's not exactly like I'm going to say "I was born in Alabama…" and somebody's going to jump up and snarl, "Oh yeah? Prove it!" At least I hope not.

I think what gets me feeling itchy is all that emphasis on the facts of a life, while all the juicy, relevant, human oddity stuff gets left on the cutting room floor. ...more

Other books in the series

The Diviners (4 books)

Books by Libba Bray

A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)

More…

Articles featuring this book

YA Debut Sets 'Romeo and Juliet' in 1920s Gangster Shanghai

Chloe Gong has a lot going on. In addition to releasing her debut YA novel, These Violent Delights, in the midst of a pandemic, she's also...

Trivia About The Diviners (The...

8 trivia questions
1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Diviners

“How do you invent a religion?” Evie asked.

Will looked over the top of his spectacles. “You say, ‘God told me the following,’ and then wait for people to sign up.” — 323 likes

“Some mornings, she’d wake and vow, Today, I will get it right. I won’t be such an awful mess of a girl. I won’t lose my temper or make unkind remarks. I won’t go too far with a joke and feel the room go quiet with disapproval. I’ll be good and kind and sensible and patient. The sort everyone loves. But by evening, her good intentions would have unraveled. She’d say the wrong thing or talk a little too loudly. She’d take a dare she shouldn’t, just to be noticed. Perhaps Mabel was right, and she was selfish. 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?” — 310 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Diviners by Libba Bray