The Diviners - by Libba Bray

Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray
Published: 18 Sep 2012
Series: The Diviners #1
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis: 
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.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

The introduction was read by Libba Bray which was a great personal touch to the book.

January LaVoy did a pos-i-tute-ly wonderful job of narrating this audiobook. Her voice changed for each of the characters and you get the vibe of 1926 in her tone of voice. She's even able to make Naughty John's song sound creepy enough that I had to turn on a light while listening to it at night.

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.

There were multiple points of view, but it didn't feel like it took anything away from the story. I also quite liked the backstories of the characters.

I'm somehow amazed that Evie doesn't remember the party she hosted at the start with the creepy Ouija board they played with where they let out Naughty John in the first place.

I originally liked Blind Bill, but at the end I wanted to punch him in the face a bit. I no longer like him because of what he did during the book.

Any librarian or scholar will tell you, close is not the same as accurate.

The walrus without a zoo comment made me snort. I'll have to try and remember that one.

The language made it feel like you were there in the 1920s with the characters. Saying things like 'the cat's meow', 'old girl', and even one I hadn't heard before: 'things will be jake'.

Will: Mothers love all their children equally.
Evie: No they don't. That's just what we all agree to say

I think Sam Lloyd or Memphis Campbell might be my favourite characters.

I love the sarcasm and the sass in the book. Also how the magic and realism join together well.

I salute your spunk. But I question your sanity.

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Diviners
    2 | Lair of Dreams
    3 | Before the Devil Breaks You

    4 | The King of Crows