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hardbackhoarder's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Gore, Body horror, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Ableism, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Abortion, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Deportation, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Rape, Cannibalism, and Homophobia
charleyyyyy's review
3.0
💫It's clear that, had I read this book for the first time now, I really wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. But because of the nostalgia and my already existing love for the charicters, I had fun.
💜My favourite aspects of this book are the charicters and the setting.
The cast are all so vibrant and full of life, they also have great banter with each other that I very much enjoyed.
💫Evie is a very unlikeable protagonist, she is spoilt, annoying and selfish, but I've always loved her. I sympathise with her feeling like she's never enough, and that she just wants to be something special and have people like her. She is meant to be unlikeable, and thats part of her charm, i think. I enjoyed her development throughout the book.
💫I also remembered how much I love ✨️Henry!✨️ Henry is the best charicter in this whole series.
💜I appreciate that this cast of charicters is quite diverse, with queer charicters and BIPOC charicters and charicters with different religious beliefs.
💜The setting is very well writen, you really feel like you're in ✨️1920s New York✨️ because of the slang, the references, and the descriptions. It creates a great atmosphere.
💜This book was too long, it could have been cut down a lot, especially in the beginning.
💫The mystery developed very slowly, it felt like everytime we got a new piece of information about the murders, we then went dillydallying with the charicters doing nothing for the next 30 pages.
✨️Once the mystery realy got going though, it was fun.
💫This whole book did feel like a long prologue for the rest of the series, to introduce the charicters, their backstorys and the magic, before the story properly starts.
💜But I realy enjoyed being back with these charicters in this world.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Racism
Moderate: Abortion and Grief
justagrlandherdog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Classism, War, Toxic relationship, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
davidrb's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War
This book is much more graphic than I was expecting, especially when it comes to the child death, sexual and domestic abuse, and animal death. Watch out!samarajade's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Abortion, Murder, Racism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal death, Grief, and Toxic relationship
ollieshark's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It feels almost as if this was intended for more adult audiences but was aged down at the last minute. Regardless, the maturity with which the diviners treats its characters, setting, politics, and audience is extremely refreshing to see in ya.
The setting is one of my favorites--1920s era america with a pinch of occult salt on top. While not overbearing, the inclusion (and bray's minimal commentary) of real life politics during the decade was refreshing to read in ya.
The only improvement i would make (not that it matters since this book has been out for about 8 years) is that bray has a habit of taking up whole chapters explaining a very minor antagonist's backstory and motivations and then recounting a much shorter version of that story later on when evie and co are investigating. I would cut out those chapters and just let the present characters teach us about the antagonists from newspaper clippings, since that's how *they* learn about them.
All in all, a very very solid first installment. I preemptively boufht lair of dreams and am starting it the second i post this review.
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Toxic relationship and Vomit