Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jun 07, 2015 Molly rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-lit, historical-fiction, on-the-classroom-shelf, fantasy, recommended, 4-stars, i-want-to-go-to-there, horror, steampunk, read-in-2015

I've been waiting for this book for over two years. My heart broke a little every time I got an Amazon email telling me "the release date for your item has changed." In fact, until the damn thing showed up on my porch, I didn't completely believe it was real! I reread Diviners last week in preparation, and it holds up. One of the nice things about the structure of the first book (and this one) is that while there's an over-arching mystery about the nature of diviners (and the stuff about Project I've been waiting for this book for over two years. My heart broke a little every time I got an Amazon email telling me "the release date for your item has changed." In fact, until the damn thing showed up on my porch, I didn't completely believe it was real! I reread Diviners last week in preparation, and it holds up. One of the nice things about the structure of the first book (and this one) is that while there's an over-arching mystery about the nature of diviners (and the stuff about Project Buffalo and whatever the hell Will was off doing for 600 pages), the main mystery is dealt with and wrapped up in the space of the book. I had no idea where the story would go after the first book, and while I have some idea of what I'd like to see happen next, I'm not sure where we go from here either.

At the end of the first book, Evie revealed her powers and became a media darling. Now she has a radio show, calls herself the Sweetheart Seer, and spends as much time as possible partying so she can forget about that time when she almost died. Evie's kind of a terrible person -- self-centered, bad friend -- but you can sort of see why she pours all of her energy into making sure the party never stops: she doesn't want to deal with her own thoughts. There's still something up with her brother's death; I'd hoped we would hear more about it in this book, but we get only the barest hints. But it's clear the whole "killed in action" thing is only part of the story.

I said after book one that Henry felt like a redshirt to me, so I was glad that he got more of a story this time around. We learned in the first book that he can walk in dreams, but here we see more of his powers, and he meets up with Ling, a fellow dream-walker. Their powers are different: while both can walk in dreams, Henry can communicate with sleepers, while Ling only speaks with the dead. (view spoiler) The big mystery this time around is a sleeping sickness that has gripped parts of the city. But it seems to have taken hold primarily in places like Chinatown, or immigrant neighborhoods. We see a little more of the eugenics nonsense, and people claiming that it's a foreigner issue, but there's never a satisfactory explanation for WHY the sickness seems to primarily strike immigrants. I get that Bray is trying to make a point about xenophobia, and that we still tend to distrust anyone not exactly "like us," but it would have been nice to get an explanation for why certain people got sick and others didn't.

Another issue: there are too many characters. Several people had that complaint about the first book, and while it didn't bother me then, it's more of an issue here. The first book is mostly about Evie. We see a little of Theta and Memphis, and a bit about Jericho and Sam...but the story is mostly Evie's. Here, it seems like the story is everyone's. There's no obvious main protagonist, and while the stories are all connected, it felt a little disjointed at times. The other problem is that even at over 600 pages, splitting the focus so much meant that a few stories got the short shrift. Will and Margaret Walker leave the city for two weeks to...do something. We barely see them, and they return at the end, probably with news, but we don't hear it. Evie and Jericho and Mabel do some digging and find out a little more about Will's past and his connection to Jacob Marlowe (I'm guessing his spirit of America exhibition will be the focus of the next book), but I wanted to know about his present!

Also, speaking of Henry having more to do, am I the only one who thought the dream world was a bit too similar to "the realms" from Bray's own Gemma Doyle trilogy? It's a magical land! Where you can create whatever you want and you're more free than out in a real world that judges your life choices! Perhaps it's a deliberate homage, or perhaps the places are connected (after all, Gemma is apparently in New York!), but it felt too much like a story I'd already read and grown disenchanted with.

This review seems like I didn't enjoy the story as much as I did! It was entertaining and creepy and fun and well worth the wait. Like I said, the structure of the mystery (though it does feel a touch "monster of the week") makes it hard to have too many expectations going in about what *should* happen (which is the issue with A Song of Ice & Fire... Finish the damn books, George!). I am hoping the stories come together more in the next (last?) book. I feel like it's not a spoiler to say that everyone realizes they're all stronger together by the end of the book, so hopefully we find them all in the same place, instead of spread out in their own subset of the mystery. However, full disclosure, I could not give fewer shits about Isaiah and Blind Bill. That story just went in the same circle every time those characters appeared, and since (view spoiler) But seriously, great sequel! I'm excited for the next book and also dreading the wait. ...more

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May 30, 2014 Deedee marked it as to-read

Shelves: young-adult, young-adult-fantasy-and-sf, series-2nd, ghosts, series-next, year-2015, l2, published-in-08august, l3, 00-august-23-to-september-22

Lexile HL720L
IL: UG - BL: 5.0 - AR Pts: 26.0

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