The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Sep 11, 2013 Wealhtheow rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: pocmaincharacters, queer-characters, urban-fantasy, historical, fantasy

Evie is a would-be flapper with too much spunk and too little common sense. After exposing a boy's shameful secret at a party, Evie is exiled to New York City to stay with her uncle. The city has all the booze and parties that she'd hoped for, but it also contains a terrible mystery: a serial killer is stalking the streets, and only Evie and her uncle can find and stop him.

I do really like Evie, who never thinks ahead but whose intemperate actions are often more effective than any plan. That sa ...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Emma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, bea

Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is forced to leave her small hometown in disgrace. Sure, her parents are disappointed and her friends don't know what to make of her strange party tricks. But that doesn't matter because Evie is headed to New York City where she is pos-i-toot-ly going to have the best time.

But before Evie can start exploring all of the shops (and speakeasies!) that the city has to offer a flapper looking for a good time, she has to deal with her bachelor uncle. As curator of the Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is forced to leave her small hometown in disgrace. Sure, her parents are disappointed and her friends don't know what to make of her strange party tricks. But that doesn't matter because Evie is headed to New York City where she is pos-i-toot-ly going to have the best time.

But before Evie can start exploring all of the shops (and speakeasies!) that the city has to offer a flapper looking for a good time, she has to deal with her bachelor uncle. As curator of the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult ("The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies" to locals) Uncle Will has his own ideas about how Evie should conduct herself while in his care. Between Will's taciturn assistant, Jericho, and his work at the museum, living with her Uncle is not what Evie expected.

New friends, dashing pickpockets, and giggle water aren't enough to distract Evie from the strange things happening throughout New York. Grisly murders with ties to the occult leave the police stumped. When Will is asked to serve as a consultant, Evie thinks she might have a way to help catch the killer--if he doesn't find her first.

Strange times are coming. A time where the natural order of things is threatened by very unnatural forces and people with special talents, like Evie, might be able to help. Evie is ready to help investigate a killer. But what if murder is just the beginning in The Diviners (2012) by Libba Bray?

The Diviners is the first book in Bray's new four-book series set in 1926 New York.

With a keen eye for detail and authenticity, Bray brings Evie's roaring world to vivid life. With spooky villains and a spunky heroine, this book is filled with everything fans of the flapper era will love. Bray makes her writing seem effortless as she easily evokes both the mood and landscape of the 1920s with her own unique touches.

The Diviners is a sprawling thriller sure to give you chills. At 578 pages (hardcover) there is no way to get around the fact that this is a long book filled with Bray's signature rich writing. This isn't a quick read but it is one that pays off in the end. Filled with multiple perspectives and a large cast of characters, The Diviners weaves together several story lines and unlikely companions as the plot moves forward revealing tantalizing details about each character as well as future installments in the series.

Being the first book in a series some questions remain unanswered with new ones raised for later in the series. That said, the story here easily stands on its own once you're ready to commit to such a hefty tome. Haunting and thrilling The Diviners is sure to please.

Possible Pairings: Strings Attached by Judy Blundell, The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison, Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Vixen by Jillian Larkin, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, Sabriel by Garth Nix, The Stand (mini-series)

*This book was acquired for review from the publisher at BEA 2012*

You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print ...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012, paranormal, age-ya, historical-fiction

It's the 1920s, and Evie has just been sent to New York to live with her uncle, the proprietor of the "Museum of Creepy Crawlies" - at least that's what everyone calls it. The real reason she's been sent away is because her party trick, reading objects, led to accusations of slander. Evie is thrilled to be in New York, full of speakeasies and parties. Her friend Mabel might be a bit of a drag, but when she meets Theta, a dancer, she is really living it up.

Unfortunately, there's a serial killer o It's the 1920s, and Evie has just been sent to New York to live with her uncle, the proprietor of the "Museum of Creepy Crawlies" - at least that's what everyone calls it. The real reason she's been sent away is because her party trick, reading objects, led to accusations of slander. Evie is thrilled to be in New York, full of speakeasies and parties. Her friend Mabel might be a bit of a drag, but when she meets Theta, a dancer, she is really living it up.

Unfortunately, there's a serial killer on the loose, and Evie's uncle is brought in to help on the case, which involves some occult symbols. When Evie touches an item belonging to the first victim, she knows she can help out with the case. The Pentacle Killer has big plans, and it seems that there are many others in the city with powers like Evie's who might be needed to stop all hell from breaking loose.

Evie is a real firecracker, and she talks the talk of a quintessential flapper. The other characters were all interesting in their own right, and unique enough that I didn't confuse them. This was a thick book, and a set up for a series, so you get everyone's history even though most of them don't play a large part in the major plot of the killings. I liked Evie and Sam Lloyd's give and take and fully expected a romance between them, but the romance that evolved for Evie felt right. The murder scenes were fairly gory, and the killer's song is haunting... "Naughty John" ranks up there with the "Tommyknockers" rhyme and "One, two, Freddy's coming for you..."

My minor complaint is that there is so much background in this novel. I fully expected the group of psychic teens to come together like X-Men or something - "The Diviners unite"! But while there was many mentions of the Diviners, only Evie had read about it and proclaims herself as a Diviner.

Parental advisory: This being historical fiction, there wasn't much language, but some of the characters do become involved with each other, and there's the whole occult serial killer thing... ...more

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Nov 23, 2013 Janet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: yanovels, fantasy

Libba Bray did a good job keeping me engaged in this spooky story, which is not a genre I usually enjoy. The 1920s Manhattan setting was one of the stars of the book - she clearly did a lot of research for it. The main character Evie's extensive use of slang was seriously annoying in the first third of the novel, although after that it gets toned down. It was jarring to listen to - especially because the reader gave Evie a high pitched chirpy voice. The reader was also overly assiduous in giving ...more

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Jun 06, 2014 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, horror, nyc, paranormal

This was long, and it started slowly, and I couldn't really like the main heroine, Evie. But slowly she grew on me, and the action picked up, and I became more and more interested. Thorn the big climax came, and it was somehow anticlimactic. Such build up, and then such a small moment. It felt unbalanced.

This was a big book, and I did enjoy it, so,I feel like it deserves a big review... But I'm not really sure what to say. I guess it would be fair to,say that I am nonplussed.

There are a lot of c ...more

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Sep 24, 2014 Heidi rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, historical-fiction, fantasy, ya, modern-hist-fiction, north-america, coming-of-age, thrillers-and-spies

This book began with some trite, shallow dialogue, but quickly progresses to a spooky supernatural thriller in which the main character grows up a bit from the shallow girl in the beginning. While the storyline is wrapped up by the end of the book, there are peripheral character's whose stories are not and I expect continue in the next book in the series, which made for a less tidy singular story.

Recommend for a fun, fast thriller; looking forward to reading the next in the series. ...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Melinda Worfolk rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-suspense-thriller, fiction, speculative-fiction, women-authors, young-adult, 2010-2014, magic-realism

I burned through this really quickly even though it's long. It's a page turner all right. I must say the creepy parts were a lot creepier than I thought they'd be for a YA novel--probably not the best idea to be the only one awake in the house when I was reading it. I really liked the setting (Jazz Age Manhattan). I will say I would be bummed by all the loose ends if I didn't know it was planned as part of a trilogy. ...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Nora rated it liked it

Scary! Seriously scary. Beautifully researched, as always with Libba Bray. Lots of cliffhangers, plenty of mystery, great cast of characters. There's a lot going on in this book, and I am very curious to find out how it will all meld in the rest of the series. ...more

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