The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Published by little,brown books

Pages 578

Genre YA Horror

 

 

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-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.
Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.
As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

 

 

 

 

 

What I thought

 

"Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells 'em off for a coupla stones."

 

Since I have been so busy with school lately, I'm really glad to have finally finished this book.  Because this book was absolutely amazing, therefor I gave it a five out of five stars. Obviously it wasn't perfect, but I didn't think the little things that weren't really right, were a reason to take of points.

This book is set in the roaring twenties in New York. Speakeasies, theathers and lively clubs with flapper girls. I absolutely loved to read about the history and the culture of the times.  and also, the spiritual elements. One thing that I did notice was the over excessiveness of the book. A lot of little fragments - meaning certain chapters- were really unuseful and weren't really interesting to read. However, the parts that were important to the story were incredibly fast paced and captivating. The excitement and thrill in certain chapters kept me on the edge of my seat. The writing was wonderful and the characters were really intruguing.

 

One of the main characters was Evie O'Neill. A lovely seventeen-year old girl who loves to enjoy life to the fullest. However much I liked her, there were times were she really annoyed me. Sometimes her extravagent personality was to much for me. I thought she was a little to hectic and utterly girl like.  Don't get me wrong here, but I did really love the characters, even Evie.

 

Now this book is mainly about the Diviners that are awakened and obviously about the murders and the ghostmurderer. But between these stories about the humans with impacable powers and trying to unravel the mysteries of the murders, there was an amazingly sweet love story between Evie and a certain fella. Now I'm not going to spoil anything in this review, I'd say give this lovely book a try to find it out ^-^

 

If you are easily scared, this book will give you goosebumps and keep you up at night. If you aren't really scared of ghost and murderes, this book will be even creepy for you. I did really enjoy the "horror" in this book, but I didn't think it was extremely scary. So even for the lovers of horror, I'd still recommand this book, because it was just really captivating and amazingly written.

 

As I read through my review, I think I will have to change my ratings. Thinking more about the book, and the things that really bugged me.  I believe a rating of four and halve stars will suit this book better. I really recommand this one, and I am really looking forward for the next books to come. Even if you don't like "horror" that much, this book was really really good and I still recommand it to you guys.

 

Have you read this book,

what were your thoughts?

xxx Zoë

 

P.s.: Can we talk about Jericho, I mean what the fudge happened there? I still can't get over it, it was an amazing twist and I definitely didn't see that coming. I still love Jericho though, his character is so interesting.

And also, the cover! If you have bought this book in the hardcover edition you will know what I am talking about. The cover, the dustjacket and the inside make this book really stunning. And I'm definitely putting it on my selves for display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The fall book tag

Hi guys. During this week the weather has started to cool down, rain is pouring and the wind is blowing like crazy. It is definitely autumn in the Netherlands. Which means chai teas and cozy sweaters. And...Halloween! October is going to be an amazing month, and eventhough the month has already started and we're already 9 days into this month, I still wanted to kick of with a book tag. I haven't been tagged by anyone in particular, but I still wanted to do it because I thought it was a lot of fun. I hope you'll enjoy (:

The questions

1. Crunching leaves: Choose a book you have read that has a red/orange/yellow cover. 






For this question I have chosen Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. Now it has been a while since I have read this book, but for what I can remember I really enjoyed it. It is de sequel to Delirium. The story follows Lena, who lives in a world where people believe love to be the deadliest disease. Love is a curse and needs to be cured. Luckily for Lena she will be cured relatively soon. But during that time, she falls in love. I absolutely loved the first book and I thought the second one was good too, but the first one was definitely better in my opinion.










2. Sweater weather: What book keeps you warm? 








A book that I have totally devoured was The fifth wave by Rick Yancey. I have read this book in one sitting. The story, the characters, I found this book to be really clever and captivating. I absolutely loved this and it kept me thinking about it for a long time. I couldn't put it down before I had finished the entire book. This book is definitely up there, and I'm actually kind of scared to read the sequel since I'm afraid it won't be as good as the first book. 











3. Fall storm: Choose your favorite book or genre that you like to read during the colder months. 
You probably already see this coming, but my favorite genre is horror or thriller/suspense. No matter if it is the classig Dracula or Frankenstein, or a more recent YA horror or thriller book. I'm always up for a little scare. The colder months are the best for reading steampunk/horror/thriller and puts me in a great mood. Now a bit of vampires and blood is also appriciated. So definitely the more angsty books. 




4. Cool crisp air: Who is the coolest character you'd want to trade places with? 
A bad-ass character I always wanted to be is actually really difficult for me to choose, since there are quite many. Katniss Everdeen or Alice Bell for instance are characters I loved. They kicked some ass and where strong and indipendant. I didn't find them really annoying. So I'd like to one of them. 






5. Hot apple cider: What under hyped book do you want to see become the next biggest, hottest book? 





All the truth that's in me by Julie Berry. I haven't heard anything about this book and that's sad. This book is absolutely beautifully written and the plot was really interesting. I really enjoyed this book, it was really good and kept me thinking. Sometimes I didn't follow the story that well, I was pretty thrown offguared but it was a great book. Also the main character was amazing and strong. Definitely recommend this book! 












6. Warm,cozy bonfire: What book did you think you didn't like but fell in love with? 






Yet again a hard question. My friend told me about the Vampire acedamy series by Michelle Read. I was really sceptical at first, because not having finished the Twilights series because of the annoying main character, I wasn't really looking forward to read yet another vampire story. At this point the only good book I had ever read about vampires was Dracula by  Bram Stoker. But it was actually a pretty good series. I have only read the first two books, but already the series is really good. But I have to say the Dutch covers are way more beautiful. 










7. Frigthnening evenings: What book is your favorite scary book/ what scary book would you like to read next? 

I can't wait to finally read either The Merciless by Danielle Vega or Between the devil and the deep blue sea by April Genevieve Tucholke. Both are super promising and supposed to be scary/thrilling. But first I need to finish a book for my upcoming English test. (: 

People I tag. 

Izzy: the reading izzy

Jiha: Jiha's file

Morrighan: Ufbooks

Everyone who would like to do this tag, please feel free to do so. 

Are you excited for fall? 

xx Zoë