The Diviners by Libba Bray

Diviners #1
Published September 2012 by Little Brown
593 pages
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Genre: Young Adult Historical Paranormal
Series: 1. The Diviners* 2. TBD
Source: Purchased
Rating: Loved It

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-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult–also known as “The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies.”
When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer–if he doesn’t catch her first. (Source: Goodreads)

OMG! There is so much to talk about and so much you just need to experience. I was big time hesitant to pick this book up. One, it is freaking huge. Two, there are some mixed reviews. I am so glad that I did.

Libba’s Roaring Twenties landscape is a history teacher’s dream. It’s all there. Flappers. Jazz. Segregation. Prohibition. Speakeasies. Organized Crime. Speculation. Sacco and Vanzetti. Transcendentalism. Communist. Nativism. I really could go on and on. It is obvious that Libba did her research and loved the era.

Evie is our main character. Other reviewers have cast her has unlikable. She does fit the self-involved party girl persona. Evie didn’t have me turning the pages, Bray’s world and the mystery did. But I also disagree, Evie does show growth (isn’t that what we want our characters to do). She becomes the driving force in unlocking the mystery and maybe a little selfless in putting herself into dangerous situations. There is a varied and interesting cast of characters with a few sharing a voice in the narrative. Some will play a major role in this book and others you can see developing and positioning themselves for something BIGGER, something coming in the next book.

The story is CREEPTASTIC. It isn’t really a mystery. You know who is committing the murders. Murders that are obviously rooted in the occult. The mystery is the HOW and how are they going to STOP him. If I could have read with my hands over my eyes, I would have. Yep, I was in full page flipping mode. What has me amazed and a little spooked is that there is something BIGGER building and COMING. OMG! I might have to sleep with the lights on.

Libba Bray builds a fantastical world within our own and makes you believe in things just beyond your grasp.