Monday, January 20, 2014

REVIEW: Diviners by Libba Bray

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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.
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I feel like I missed something.
I have seem nothing but 5 starred and 4 starred reviews of this book.
Then there's me...
with the measly 3 stars...

Is a 3 star review bad? No, 3 stars, in my case, means that I liked the book. But I liked the book, I didn't love it or adore it like everyone else.

What I Liked: 
First of all, I LOVED the time period!
I have never read a book that took place in the 20's and thought that this book did a great job portraying it, both positively and negatively.
It was also obvious that Bray did her research!



I also loved the story, since that was why I picked up the book in the first place! Killer ghosts, people with special abilities, the 20's! (yes, I keep coming back to that) Yes, please!

What I Didn't Like: 
I only really had one problem with the book: the story seemed to drag.
This book was a brick (almost 600 pages!) and the story drags on through all of it! 
Now, I don't mind large books, as long as something is happening within those pages, but in a majority of this book, nothing really was happening.
I might be feeling this way due to the fact that it took me around 3 days to read this (I usually read a book in a day, even one of this size) but the story did seem to drag and, with that, the book often lost my attention.
The speed does eventually pick up at the end, but by then I wasn't paying much attention.

In Conclusion: 
I seem to be the odd one out in that I don't adore this book.
I LIKE it, but I don't LOVE it.
The story was great, but the pacing was a bit slow.

Do I recommend this book? Yes.
While I don't love this book, many others do and I get the feeling that I'm just one of those rarities. 
I will also be reading the sequel (but that's awhile away...)




I hereby give this book:
3 Wheels
Meaning: I liked this book, but didn't love it




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