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obsidian_blue's review against another edition
1.0
A young adult novel written by Libba Bray in 2012 I found out that Ms. Bray is an author of some note who has successful trilogies under her belt.
I think that this book had a very interesting villain and I thought setting it in New York in the 1920s made for a more engrossing read when Bray started discussing the streets and sections of New York back in the 20s. However, a great villain and period of time in New York just wasn't enough to elevate this book for me. A lot of things were kind of hand waved away. And the ending just kept coming before it finally ended.
When the book begins we start at a party where the the crowd uses a Ouija board and unknowingly releases something dark and evil.
We them segue into the main plot which follows seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill who has a talent for holding an object and being able to tell things about the owner of the object. Doing this at a party has caused an embarrassing secret to leak out and she is sent from her family's home to stay with her mother's uncle in New York. Evie has dreams of being a Ziegfeld girl and becoming someone while living in New York.
The problem for me is that the center of this book is Evie. Evie has the sense God gave a gnat and is selfish, lies, and pretty much is epitome of the anti-Mary Sue. Believe me I don't care for Mary Sue characters in my books. It makes for a boring read and is why I gave up reading a lot of books out there that I initially loved because I couldn't with the main character with Mary Sueish characteristics. So though I applaud Ms. Bray for not making her main character a Mary Sue she went the whole other way to completely unlikable. If Evie had been written as an anti-hero then I think that you could get behind everything she was about. However, she sadly is written as a character that the author wants you to root for throughout out the book and every scene with this character stopped me cold. Also Ms. Bray decided to keep having Evie talk like a really bad actress appearing in a sub-par black and white film. If the other characters did this I could maybe deal with it, however, everyone else seems to speak modern so to have Evie trying to sound cool was just jarring.
Evie goes to New York and starts helping out her Uncle Will (or Unc as she calls him) who is the curator of the fictional Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. Will is also at times called in by the police to help them with unsolved crimes. One of these crimes he is called in for is a series of murders that seems linked to the occult. Along with Will's assistant Jericho, Evie assists (laughingly) her Unc with his investigation of the crimes.
If book one had just been the above I think I would have liked it more than I did. Even though I couldn't stand Evie at least the plot was pretty straight forward. However, Ms. Bray than introduces several other characters and their backstories in this book and it just made for a really difficult book to get through. I stopped at around 23 percent and had to take a break since I felt like I was getting sensory overload.
The other characters are Theta, Memphis, Sam, and Mabel. There are also some other characters such as Octavia, Isaiah, Blind Bill Johnson, Malloy and a bunch of other characters I am forgetting.
I really enjoyed the characters of Theta and Memphis but that was about it for me. Theta is a Ziegfeld girl on the run from her past and Memphis is an African American who works at one of the clubs trying to forget about his talent. Sam was a male version of Evie, Jericho had the most confusing and weird backstory ever that made no sense, and Mabel though interesting at times faded into the background except when needed.
So even with the main plot and all of the characters I listed above, we still, still get a love triangle in this book. I don't know why I was surprised. Heck I should be more surprised when a love triangle is not pointlessly inserted into a book these days. There was an except for the next book in the series in my Kindle version and I just sighed and shook my head since it appears the love triangle is alive and well. I swear for once I want one of these boys/girls in this books to just be like you know what? Go pound sand. I am freaking awesome. I am not going to wait for you to decide if you want me or the other guy/girl. Choose the other guy/girl.
So even with the pointless love triangle what really annoyed me is that the so called "Diviners" don't do anything really in this book. We do find out pretty early on who they are. We don't get them realizing what or who they are really and they don't get together to try to fight the big bad in the book. Instead the book ends and we have the promise of an even bigger bad to fight in the next book. I didn't need the characters coming together like "The Justice League" or anything but it would have been nice to have them all interact with one another.
I think that this book had a very interesting villain and I thought setting it in New York in the 1920s made for a more engrossing read when Bray started discussing the streets and sections of New York back in the 20s. However, a great villain and period of time in New York just wasn't enough to elevate this book for me. A lot of things were kind of hand waved away. And the ending just kept coming before it finally ended.
When the book begins we start at a party where the the crowd uses a Ouija board and unknowingly releases something dark and evil.
We them segue into the main plot which follows seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill who has a talent for holding an object and being able to tell things about the owner of the object. Doing this at a party has caused an embarrassing secret to leak out and she is sent from her family's home to stay with her mother's uncle in New York. Evie has dreams of being a Ziegfeld girl and becoming someone while living in New York.
The problem for me is that the center of this book is Evie. Evie has the sense God gave a gnat and is selfish, lies, and pretty much is epitome of the anti-Mary Sue. Believe me I don't care for Mary Sue characters in my books. It makes for a boring read and is why I gave up reading a lot of books out there that I initially loved because I couldn't with the main character with Mary Sueish characteristics. So though I applaud Ms. Bray for not making her main character a Mary Sue she went the whole other way to completely unlikable. If Evie had been written as an anti-hero then I think that you could get behind everything she was about. However, she sadly is written as a character that the author wants you to root for throughout out the book and every scene with this character stopped me cold. Also Ms. Bray decided to keep having Evie talk like a really bad actress appearing in a sub-par black and white film. If the other characters did this I could maybe deal with it, however, everyone else seems to speak modern so to have Evie trying to sound cool was just jarring.
Evie goes to New York and starts helping out her Uncle Will (or Unc as she calls him) who is the curator of the fictional Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. Will is also at times called in by the police to help them with unsolved crimes. One of these crimes he is called in for is a series of murders that seems linked to the occult. Along with Will's assistant Jericho, Evie assists (laughingly) her Unc with his investigation of the crimes.
If book one had just been the above I think I would have liked it more than I did. Even though I couldn't stand Evie at least the plot was pretty straight forward. However, Ms. Bray than introduces several other characters and their backstories in this book and it just made for a really difficult book to get through. I stopped at around 23 percent and had to take a break since I felt like I was getting sensory overload.
The other characters are Theta, Memphis, Sam, and Mabel. There are also some other characters such as Octavia, Isaiah, Blind Bill Johnson, Malloy and a bunch of other characters I am forgetting.
I really enjoyed the characters of Theta and Memphis but that was about it for me. Theta is a Ziegfeld girl on the run from her past and Memphis is an African American who works at one of the clubs trying to forget about his talent. Sam was a male version of Evie, Jericho had the most confusing and weird backstory ever that made no sense, and Mabel though interesting at times faded into the background except when needed.
So even with the main plot and all of the characters I listed above, we still, still get a love triangle in this book. I don't know why I was surprised. Heck I should be more surprised when a love triangle is not pointlessly inserted into a book these days. There was an except for the next book in the series in my Kindle version and I just sighed and shook my head since it appears the love triangle is alive and well. I swear for once I want one of these boys/girls in this books to just be like you know what? Go pound sand. I am freaking awesome. I am not going to wait for you to decide if you want me or the other guy/girl. Choose the other guy/girl.
So even with the pointless love triangle what really annoyed me is that the so called "Diviners" don't do anything really in this book. We do find out pretty early on who they are. We don't get them realizing what or who they are really and they don't get together to try to fight the big bad in the book. Instead the book ends and we have the promise of an even bigger bad to fight in the next book. I didn't need the characters coming together like "The Justice League" or anything but it would have been nice to have them all interact with one another.
janaw71's review against another edition
3.0
3 spicy and soft snickerdoodles.
Cover Love:
Yes. I think it's eye catching, and I love the color combination.
Why I Wanted to Read This:
Every review I read about this said it was so scary and creepy. I was in the mood for that so I gave it a try.
Read the rest of my review here.
Cover Love:
Yes. I think it's eye catching, and I love the color combination.
Why I Wanted to Read This:
Every review I read about this said it was so scary and creepy. I was in the mood for that so I gave it a try.
Read the rest of my review here.
sabs3501's review against another edition
4.0
I wanted to hate it because it’s YA and I’m 20, but I had so much fun! I love the occult and it was really fun to read for entertainment again. I wish I had this book when I was 13. Also I audiobooked it which was definitely the move
afgerstenberger's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
whats_elizabeth_reading's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jthunter24's review against another edition
3.0
The Diviners is another book labeled as a "must-read" for young adults. Though the story has it's great points the Diviners as a whole is a let down.
Bray, though not a terrific writer, weaves a tale centered around a beautiful New York City in the height of the twenties. The era becomes a true character in the book that lives and breathes and touches the reader, unlike the rest of the characters who seem under developed and fail to grasp the readers heartstrings or hatred.
Though the characters are blase The diviners pulls you in with an expectation that at some point you will fall in love with them, cheer for them and vanquish the ultimate evil with them. Unfortunately this hope is crushed by the last page. At no point in the novel did I feel any different about the characters and when the book reached the point the reader has been waiting to see (I'm trying hard not to give away spoilers in case you still decide to die into this novel) it lets us down heavily. So much buildup for something that was entirely glossed over.
It's apparent that Bray had big plans for The Diviners. The ending spelled out that there will be at least one more book, if not an entire series. But the problem lies in the fact that Bray did not sell me enough on the characters, plot or motives to make me want to read another book. In fact after reading nearly 600 pages I'm still unclear what a Diviner is. She held too many cards to her chest to warrant me delving into another 600 page book.
I was looking forward to this book in hopes that it can offer up what it promised to deliver but in the end Bray loses a great story idea and beautiful backdrop to poor planning and writing.
Bray, though not a terrific writer, weaves a tale centered around a beautiful New York City in the height of the twenties. The era becomes a true character in the book that lives and breathes and touches the reader, unlike the rest of the characters who seem under developed and fail to grasp the readers heartstrings or hatred.
Though the characters are blase The diviners pulls you in with an expectation that at some point you will fall in love with them, cheer for them and vanquish the ultimate evil with them. Unfortunately this hope is crushed by the last page. At no point in the novel did I feel any different about the characters and when the book reached the point the reader has been waiting to see (I'm trying hard not to give away spoilers in case you still decide to die into this novel) it lets us down heavily. So much buildup for something that was entirely glossed over.
It's apparent that Bray had big plans for The Diviners. The ending spelled out that there will be at least one more book, if not an entire series. But the problem lies in the fact that Bray did not sell me enough on the characters, plot or motives to make me want to read another book. In fact after reading nearly 600 pages I'm still unclear what a Diviner is. She held too many cards to her chest to warrant me delving into another 600 page book.
I was looking forward to this book in hopes that it can offer up what it promised to deliver but in the end Bray loses a great story idea and beautiful backdrop to poor planning and writing.
iamamyfaith's review against another edition
5.0
I had heard that this was set in the roaring 20s and contained magic which was enough for me to want to read it (fantastical historical fiction is my flex) but nothing prepared me for how much I would love this book. I loved it even more being an audiobook, the narrator did such a good job with the voices and accents, something I have cringed at in other audiobooks. Cant wait to listen to the next in the series!!
pengwendolen's review against another edition
5.0
Too spooky for me to read at night, but masterfully written