The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Hardcover, 578 pages Published December 3rd, 2013 by Turtleback Books Audiobook: 18 hours Narrator: January LaVoy Amazon🔗Goodreads🔗

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Diviners was well written and I appreciated the aesthetic of the roaring '20s. On the other hand, damn anyone for taking bible verses out of context!! UGH! It makes me want to gag! I mean the world is full of crazies just like the Brethren in the Pillar of Fire Church.

A sinister entity was let loose by a group of unsuspecting and drunk partygoers playing with an ouija board. I was blown away with the semblance that something dark and terrible now resides in a cellar of a dilapidated house!! Admittedly I was terrified mmk? I don’t like Ouija boards because I BELIEVE what the Catholic Church says about it. Nuff said.

We follow the protagonist Evie O’Neill - a 17-year-old who is sent away to New York City to live with her Uncle who is a professor in the Museum of Creepy Crawlies BECAUSE she gets in trouble for indiscriminately using her gifts. Evie could tell things about a person simply by touching an object belonging to them. She is a diviner. Many call themselves diviners who have different abilities. Her powers can get her into trouble because it is equivalent to stealing; stealing people's secrets.

The 1920s were a time of dance marathons and the charleston and Ziegfeld girls, flapper dresses and ‘bobbed’ hairstyles. When Evie arrives in New York Penn station she meets Sam Lloyd, a pickpocket, thief and diviner who can slip away without being seen whenever he wishes. He ends up stealing 20 dollars from her and she swears vengeance if she ever saw him again. Their relationship is heavily flirtatious. She is excited to see her friend Mabel who is very smart and lives with her parents in the same fancy hotel as her Uncle. It is here they meet Theta Knight a Ziegfeld girl, also a diviner.

When Evie has earned her uncle's trust, she subsequently becomes more of an asset to the museum of creepy crawlies and in the murder investigations that are occurring around the city. She is finally allowed to use her ability to catch a serial killer, and she reminds me a bit of Buffy the vampire slayer. Naughty John Hobbes is the killer who happens to be an old dead person who is vying for the position of antichrist! The police require the expertise of Will Fitzgerald because of the nature of the crimes. The victims are seen having weird symbols carved into their flesh and uncle Will is an expert in weird occult symbols and objects. I didn’t realize it was going to be so scary and I can't wait to find out more in Lair of Dreams.

Author

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels, both of which have appeared on ALA's Best Books for Young Adults list.

Publishers Summary

SOMETHING DARK AND EVIL HAS AWAKENED. . . .

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 her uncle will 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 stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho is hiding a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened. . . .