The Diviners by Libba Bray

A Book Review by Sophia Williams

The Diviners by Libba Bray is a 1920s teen mystery novel that is way too long. I have mixed feelings.

I was excited to read a stand-alone teen novel (I'd assumed it was stand-alone because it was an 18-hour audiobook), and it took me until 16 hours in to realize that it is a quartet. Shit.

The main protagonist is Evie, who can see peoples' past by touching their personal objects. In The Diviners, Evie is sent to New York because her powers and her rambunctious personality kept getting her in trouble in her small town. She moves in with her uncle, Will O'Neill, who is the curator of the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult.

Will is brought in on a hunt for a serial killer who practices the occult, and Evie forces her way into the investigation. Evie and Will don't know that the serial killer is an evil spirit who has been reanimated and has restarted his killing spree in an effort to regain corporeal form, but the reader does because we get to read Naughty John's perspective.

The novel takes place in the 1920s. I've always had an obsession with smokey-eyed flappers and the era's prohibition party sub-culture. It just seems so cool. The thing is that when I actually read books about the era, I'm disappointed. The 1920s aesthetic is usually kind of boring, because the characters are almost all prudes. This novel follows the same pattern, everyone seems sexy and fun at first, but their attitudes don't translate to their actions. It's just their clothing or jobs that are interesting, not the actual plot of the novel.

Ok, ok. That might be a little harsh. There is an actual plot in this book and it's actually pretty engaging. The novel follows a group of young people in New York with supernatural abilities. What's not to like about that?

However, there are too many characters in this book. We read the perspectives of at least 10 characters throughout the novel. That should have been a red flag to me that there were going to be sequels because a lot of the characters seemed important but they don't actually do anything in this first book. Likely, they will be pulled into the storyline in the sequels.

Overall, this book was pretty good. I'm tempted to read more of these books because the story was pretty engaging and I like Evie, witches, and the supernatural. I'm not sure I'm willing to commit to three more 18-hour audiobooks, so we shall see whether I pick up the subsequent books in 2023.

The Don’t Call Me Ishmael Official Book Rating, Sponsored by Pod Propaganda (PP):

3.5/5 Whales - Enjoyable