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-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."
When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.
Historical novels are special to me. A well written one even more special. A well written historical novel with a paranormal twist, defined characters, a great mystery, pushing the envelope moments, and the disturbing is no longer simply "special" but flat out amazing.
What Libba Bray does right is her history. Her lead character, Evie, may be a flapper in the heart of New York City but her book isn't all speakeasies and glamorous. You have the melting pot, the racial tension (this I felt present, but lacking. Still good, but I wanted more), the religious uproar, the post WWI youths, laws and government--the rise and rapid growth of America. Bray doesn't plop her story in a different era--she makes America a character. On every page history, America is there. Good America. Bad America. Twisted America. Thriving America. Shunned America--everything. Bray doesn't hold back.
And the best part, she's able to fold America into her plots and characters lives, like baking a cake. Moist, smooth and rich; this cake is mouth watering. You can taste America. It's delicious.
Of course without Bray's mature, gliding prose, none of this would have been impossible. I read that this is her first go at third person narrative, and, well, I hope you never stop with omniscient narratives Mrs. Bray, because you're brilliant at it. Never stop. Ever. I've never read such a well omniscient narrative in YA before. There's never a dull, slow moment, and that's saying something with this brick of a book. In fact, at one point I even thought, "I don't want this to end" and I've thought the opposite over books half this size. Bray knows how to hold a readers attention, making them anticipate and want more.
I won't bother gushing about the characters. They're all wonderful and well written (Please more Sam!) and waiting for the next book just to see where they're going will be Hell, but what I found most satisfying was how frightening this book truly is. If you're not sure you want to read this book, I suggest you read the epilogue. That is the perfect example of the atmosphere surrounding this book. It's all fun and games until you have some obsessive cult trying to raise the antichrist through killing people, twisting scripture. And that doesn't include the whole mysterious supernatural presence of the stovepipe hat man and his long coat. As much as American shines, there's this heavy fog weaving and wrapping it's fingers around people. Bray knows how to write creepy, disturbing and yet keep it mysterious and fresh. Nothing goes stale.
Now for a few faults.
Yes, this book is long. Yes, it could have been shortened, but am I complaining? No. Bray's prose is so great that I wanted to keep reading. I don't want to wait for the next book. I want everything now. And like I said, America is a character itself here. She doesn't half ass it, she goes all out. And it works. It all works.
I found one copy-edit error. And it seemed like a big one to me. But now that I think about it, maybe I read it wrong. I would go back and check, but sadly, I have it on my Kindle. Not the easiest to flip back and forth between pages. It involves Evie finding diary entries through the library, but then she actually finds the diary later on. But maybe it had been letters from the library. Possibly.
This really isn't a fault, but more of a warning: the plot isn't FANTASTIC. Naughty John is, but the solving of the murder? Not the greatest, freshest thing to walk the YA world. There are twists and turns in other subplots, but the Naughty John one, the big, big plot follows a safer route. It's still good, just not great.
Other than that, this book sucked me up. Even reading it at a slow pace (school takes time, you know?) I was able to be drawn in constantly from the get go. Usually I lose interest when reading slow, but not this time. Not once. The Diviners a book you can not miss and hopefully Bray will write a sequel that will knock our pants off.
What Libba Bray does right is her history. Her lead character, Evie, may be a flapper in the heart of New York City but her book isn't all speakeasies and glamorous. You have the melting pot, the racial tension (this I felt present, but lacking. Still good, but I wanted more), the religious uproar, the post WWI youths, laws and government--the rise and rapid growth of America. Bray doesn't plop her story in a different era--she makes America a character. On every page history, America is there. Good America. Bad America. Twisted America. Thriving America. Shunned America--everything. Bray doesn't hold back.
And the best part, she's able to fold America into her plots and characters lives, like baking a cake. Moist, smooth and rich; this cake is mouth watering. You can taste America. It's delicious.
Of course without Bray's mature, gliding prose, none of this would have been impossible. I read that this is her first go at third person narrative, and, well, I hope you never stop with omniscient narratives Mrs. Bray, because you're brilliant at it. Never stop. Ever. I've never read such a well omniscient narrative in YA before. There's never a dull, slow moment, and that's saying something with this brick of a book. In fact, at one point I even thought, "I don't want this to end" and I've thought the opposite over books half this size. Bray knows how to hold a readers attention, making them anticipate and want more.
I won't bother gushing about the characters. They're all wonderful and well written (Please more Sam!) and waiting for the next book just to see where they're going will be Hell, but what I found most satisfying was how frightening this book truly is. If you're not sure you want to read this book, I suggest you read the epilogue. That is the perfect example of the atmosphere surrounding this book. It's all fun and games until you have some obsessive cult trying to raise the antichrist through killing people, twisting scripture. And that doesn't include the whole mysterious supernatural presence of the stovepipe hat man and his long coat. As much as American shines, there's this heavy fog weaving and wrapping it's fingers around people. Bray knows how to write creepy, disturbing and yet keep it mysterious and fresh. Nothing goes stale.
Now for a few faults.
Yes, this book is long. Yes, it could have been shortened, but am I complaining? No. Bray's prose is so great that I wanted to keep reading. I don't want to wait for the next book. I want everything now. And like I said, America is a character itself here. She doesn't half ass it, she goes all out. And it works. It all works.
I found one copy-edit error. And it seemed like a big one to me. But now that I think about it, maybe I read it wrong. I would go back and check, but sadly, I have it on my Kindle. Not the easiest to flip back and forth between pages. It involves Evie finding diary entries through the library, but then she actually finds the diary later on. But maybe it had been letters from the library. Possibly.
This really isn't a fault, but more of a warning: the plot isn't FANTASTIC. Naughty John is, but the solving of the murder? Not the greatest, freshest thing to walk the YA world. There are twists and turns in other subplots, but the Naughty John one, the big, big plot follows a safer route. It's still good, just not great.
Other than that, this book sucked me up. Even reading it at a slow pace (school takes time, you know?) I was able to be drawn in constantly from the get go. Usually I lose interest when reading slow, but not this time. Not once. The Diviners a book you can not miss and hopefully Bray will write a sequel that will knock our pants off.
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