The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) in 2013 Hub Reading Challenge

Dec 27, 2012 Kristen rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-and-or-sci-fi, mystery-thriller-crime, young-adult, reviewed, historical-fiction, fiction, 2013

Whenever I read an interview with Libba Bray, I just love her and think we should be best friends. When I read the synopses of her books, I'm so excited and think I am just going to love them. But for some reason, I've never really, really loved a Libba Bray novel. I've never really hated one, either, but I've just never been as captivated by her books as I've wanted to be and as other people I know have been.

I'm very hopeful that this series is going to change all of that. I really enjoyed this ...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Frances rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, historical-fiction, read-in-2012, horror-or-something-close-to-it

Oh my gosh, this book tries to tackle way too much and is way too long, and I found myself thinking, "Hmm, maybe it should have been broken up into a series." Turns out it WILL be a series, and if every book is going to be this weighty, I can't see devoting more time to it. The good: Bray fully embraces her historical setting, from slang to fashion to political issues. The book sets a nicely creepy tone and the beginning bit made me shiver. I didn't feel like the writing or the characters were a ...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Susan rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

Bray creates an eerie,richly atmospheric world. The twenties come to life as a powerful, supernatural danger is lurking. She draws upon the actual fascination with the occult during this period to create her world. Some reviewers have felt that Evie, the main character, is too shallow, vain and a stereotypical flapper. That is true but she does begin to grow and evolve as the novel progresses. A lot of recent novels have given us strong Katniss heroines. I find it a good departure to see a flawe ...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Samantha Tai rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, historical-fiction, yalsa-2013-hub-reading-challenge, 2013

I listened to the audiobook of The Diviners by Libba Bray. Libba Bray has a tendency to write very long, wordy books and The Diviners was no different. The narrator January LaVoy does a wonderful job of bringing the book alive. I've listened to many audiobooks and one of my favorite narrators is Jim Dale (particularly narrating the Harry Potter books). January LaVoy ranks up there with Jim Dale: she gives each character their own voice and is able to keep each of these voices separate. I can def I listened to the audiobook of The Diviners by Libba Bray. Libba Bray has a tendency to write very long, wordy books and The Diviners was no different. The narrator January LaVoy does a wonderful job of bringing the book alive. I've listened to many audiobooks and one of my favorite narrators is Jim Dale (particularly narrating the Harry Potter books). January LaVoy ranks up there with Jim Dale: she gives each character their own voice and is able to keep each of these voices separate. I can definitely understand why The Diviners was chosen as one of this years most Amazing Audiobooks by YALSA. It took me nearly one month to get through the audiobook (15 discs totaling 18 hours of driving my 7-10 minute drive each day back and forth to work-lunch included, driving to my boyfriend's in MD, driving to my parents who live 45 minutes away, really driving anywhere). There were times I just wanted to drive so I could listen to this book.

The Diviners is one of those books that I will (hopefully)read again. I liked it so much I purchased a copy for my Kindle. So much happens in this book that its hard to describe it, but I will try.

Evie O'Neill is sent to live with her uncle in NYC after she embarasses the son of a high society family in her hometown in Ohio. Evie is excited. She can't wait for the excitement of life in bustling, metropolitan NYC. Really, I don't know what her parents were thinking. You'd think they'd know that sending her to NYC is more of a reward than a punishment and they'd send her away to boarding school. Don't they realize the trouble she can get in there? But no, she goes to NYC.

Evie's uncle is the curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult or as regular folks call it "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies" and Evie soon realizes that living with her Uncle Will might not be as exciting as she first thought. But, Evie is a positive soul, and determined to make the most out of living in New York: she goes to parties and becomes goood friends with Theta, a Ziegfeld Girl, who shows her all the best places in town.

It isn't all fun however, when a series of murders start to occur. The murders have a magical element to them and the police ask Uncle Will to help out with the investigation. Evie soon finds herself involved in helping to solve these murders. Will she come to harm as she becomes more entangled in the murder investigation? ...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Nina Levine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: supernatural, young-adult, thriller, horror

Read this during daylight hours, with the lights on! Evie (17) harbors a secret that she takes with her when her parents ship the wayward flapper to stay with her bachelor Uncle Will in New York. Evie embraces her exile, excited to the max by the energy, the freedom, and the fun of NYC. When a series of murders appear to have touches of the occult, Uncle Will joins the police investigation. Guess who tags along?

Libba Bray's writing is engrossing and elegant. Her characters are rich, her tale mag ...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Marta Boksenbaum rated it really liked it

Shelves: teen-lit, z2013yalsa-challenge

Libba Bray creates a very complete and interesting world blending 1920's New York and a magical place of occult and mystery. Although sometimes the level of detail got to be a bit much, I really appreciated that the world was multi-faceted and contained many subplots and various characters. At points the scary parts got almost too scary for me, and since I was listening to the audio book in the car I only listened during daylight hours. However, it didn't go past where I could handle. Some chara ...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Candice M (tinylibrarian) rated it really liked it

Shelves: award-winners, socal-yar, paranormal, horror, steampunk, thriller

Reviewing for Young Adult Reviewers of Southern California ...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, 2013, 2013hubchallenge, bfya-2013, amazing-audiobooks-2013, 2016

Libba Bray has done it again! Fabulous world-build and historical details with a creepy atmosphere and so much fun! This book has me pondering how to do a speakeasy party for the teens at the library this summer.

2016 Reread:
In print this time, enjoyed this although maybe not the best idea to take my giant hardback with me on a trip when I was traveling with just a backpack, oops. Still a fun read, picked up some things that I missed the first time around. Mad props to Libba Bray for this and he ...more

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