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A review by overhillunderhill
The Diviners by Libba Bray
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
My only major gripe with this book was the "Naugthy John" rhyme/song. I found it really uninspired. There is a history of nursery rhymes based on dark stuff and it would have been better for the book as a whole to come up with something better and a bit more eerie to set the tone.
My only other complaint is a small one. I prefer 1st books in a series to feel a little more tied up and a little less like you're required to read the sequels. This is a minor complaint because I liked all the characters, even the smaller parts, well enough to dive in to the rest of the series, but there are so many questions left unanswered that it feels almost like required reading.
I was surprised as I was informed this book was a cozy read and while not actually scary, I do feel like it stepped over the line from cozy to creepy. Not to dissuade anyone from reading, as again, it's far from horror, but we are dealing with ghosts and serial killers and getting fairly detailed descriptions.
In the high praise zone, I really liked that they didn't sugar coat the era, which is a common complaint I have with cozy literature. I get that we all sometimes like reading stuff that doesn't show the darker side of the world, but if you're going to go dark with murder, you need to show the whole nasty world. This shows the disparity of race and poverty in the 20's. I also appreciated that they talked about the silent generation the way they did. Pointing out the loss of faith in the world after WWI and how many of those matters are still things we're fighting over now.
My only other complaint is a small one. I prefer 1st books in a series to feel a little more tied up and a little less like you're required to read the sequels. This is a minor complaint because I liked all the characters, even the smaller parts, well enough to dive in to the rest of the series, but there are so many questions left unanswered that it feels almost like required reading.
I was surprised as I was informed this book was a cozy read and while not actually scary, I do feel like it stepped over the line from cozy to creepy. Not to dissuade anyone from reading, as again, it's far from horror, but we are dealing with ghosts and serial killers and getting fairly detailed descriptions.
In the high praise zone, I really liked that they didn't sugar coat the era, which is a common complaint I have with cozy literature. I get that we all sometimes like reading stuff that doesn't show the darker side of the world, but if you're going to go dark with murder, you need to show the whole nasty world. This shows the disparity of race and poverty in the 20's. I also appreciated that they talked about the silent generation the way they did. Pointing out the loss of faith in the world after WWI and how many of those matters are still things we're fighting over now.