readingoverbreathing 's review for:

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

4.0

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"For dreams, too, are ghosts, desires chased in sleep, gone by morning."

It was pos-i-tute-ly a delight to jump back into the world of the Diviners! This series' setting just makes it so much fun, and Libba Bray does a great job of capitalizing upon that, as well as bringing in relevant issues from the time, to make her New York of the Roaring 20s totally captivating.

I think the best part of this series is by far the dialogue — it's quippy and fun and takes advantage of all the slang of its day without sounding cheesy or overdone, fitting right into the setting and giving it that much more of an authentic feel.

To be honest, I did find parts of the main plot rather vague and confusing — I had trouble latching onto the dream world as a setting, much in the same way I did with the otherworldly realm in Bray's [b:Gemma Doyle trilogy|3682|A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)|Libba Bray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1284558475l/3682._SY75_.jpg|2113193]. I still feel like there's a lot to the series' overall plot still missing, and while I'm sure it'll get revealed eventually, I'm having trouble following where Bray's going with all this.

Another aspect that I didn't like as much with this book was how disjointed all the characters were until the very end. I could have used a lot more of the whole gang together, rather than them breaking off into pairs the way they did for much of this book. Now that they've all formally met, though, hopefully there will be a lot more of that togetherness as the series goes on.

I wouldn't consider this series a favorite by any means, but it's a great little escape and just oh so much fun, and I'm very intrigued to see where Bray takes it.