Book Review | The Diviners | Libba Bray
So…I’ve never read THE DIVINERS. Whoops! But I’m glad I get to share Rachel’s review with you today! Thanks Rachel!
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 he’ll 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 hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.
Whew, finishing this feels like an accomplishment. I’ve been promising to read this one for three years and I finally did it. I have reached a goal in my blogging life and was it worth it? Ehh, not really. Don’t get me wrong, I can see where the hype comes from and why people love it so much. I just didn’t. Unfortunately, The Diviners was only okay for me.
THE DIVINERS is set in 1920’s New York and tells the story of Evie O’Neill. She’s sent to her Uncle in New York, who has an unhealthy obsession for the occult. What he doesn’t know is that Evie is hiding a supernatural ability that has only brought her trouble so far. When her uncle is asked to help investigate a murder, Evie’s ability might help them find the killer and so Evie jumps head first into this dangerous adventure in the city that never sleeps.
Where to start with this monster of a book? Yes, it’s a monster. Have you seen the hardback? I can knock someone unconscious with the thing! Reading this book is exhausting in more ways than one. My arms, wrists and fingers are sore from holding it up. I’m not big on historical fiction, at all, so this one was very challenging to me because of that. And that’s just the thing here. The fairly slow pacing made it feel so very loooooong. And while I can see how they connect to the story, I felt that some extra POV’s, like Memphis’s chapters, weren’t necessary. They could’ve been left out in my opinion. There was so much build up for hundreds of pages and they dragged on and on and then the big finale… it was over so fast! It felt really rushed all of a sudden.
It didn’t help that I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. There’s not one character that I genuinely loved. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not bad characters. I just didn’t care about them. I didn’t like Evie at all, really. At times she was very annoying and just a very bad friend in general. That combined with the snail’s pace… it was a chore to get through this. Oh yes, I get the hype. The story is interesting, the writing is good and the worldbuilding was fantastic, don’t get me wrong. It’s just really not my thing.
Overall, THE DIVINERS is the perfect read for fans of historical fiction mixed with a paranormal murder mystery. And of course for people looking for a great work out for their arms. If you’re not either of these, I’d say: you can skip it, but you shouldn’t. Am I going to read the sequel? I don’t think so. It’s just simply not my cup of tea.
