Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. I got halfway (which took a while as this is a LONG book) and virtually nothing had happened. I was so bored the whole time, the pacing was tedious, and I just didn't care about anything.

Libba Bray manages to combine the dazzling life of flappers and speakeasy champagne bubbles of 1920s New York with a paranormal murder mystery that delights and spooks in equal measures.

Our main protagonist is Evangeline, known as Evie. After getting into trouble one too many times in her hometown in Ohio, she's shipped off to New York to live with her Uncle William, a professor of the occult. Evie is everything that optimises the roaring twenties. She's footloose and fancy free, looking for fun and adventure and not giving a damn about the consequences. Whether it's dancing the night away at a speakeasy, or watching her new friends in the latest Ziegfeld show, she wants to experience it all. But Evie hides a deeper secret. Behind all the pearls and feathers, she's a Diviner. A girl with a gift to uncover your darkest secrets with a simple touch. A very handy gift to have when a serial killer starts prowling the streets of Manhattan. Although Evie comes off as selfish and flippant, I really fell in love with her gutsy character and her love for her friends. She genuinely learns from her mistakes, and really just wants to do what's best for her family and growing collection of friends. She's a well rounded, well developed character who grows up a lot over the course of the story.

The other characters that end up embroiled in Evie's mystery are just as complex. Theta, with her tragic backstory and incredible bond with Henry. Manhattan and his close, protective relationship with his younger brother. Sam and Jericho and their complicated feelings for Evie and the internal struggles that come with blossoming love. All have a backstory, all feel so real and relevant to the plot. I felt emotionally connected to them all.

I also really enjoyed the plot. It's quick to set the scene, creating an atmospheric New York bustling with life and laughter, but with a dark underworld of evil and death. From here the reader is taken on a rollercoaster of incidents that build to an almighty crescendo of tension and actions that never fails to surprise and keep the suspense coming. There's enough explanation of lore without spoiling the mystique, never overloading the reader with too much information. Everything feels very organic. We learn as Evie and co learn.

I will admit that some of the information the group come across feels very easy to come by, with Brother Jacob practically shouting at Evie at one point about the pentacle (how convenient). However, this is a very minor quibble. I loved this and devoured it in 2 days. I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the books and follow this wonderful cast of characters on more adventures.

Dnfed--unfortunately the book was archived before I was able to read it. However, I will be back with a review if I am able to read the book in the future!

Oh, man! «The Diviners» was such a roller coaster of emotions!
The beginning of the book wasn’t as exciting as I hoped it would be, which translated into me starting this book twice. For the second time as I passed that first chapter (prologue) about the party and spirit summoning, I met Evie and fell in love with her character. The book just kept getting better and better from there. However, by the end, I was started to feel tired of reading the same story and the last 100 pages took me a couple of days to finish.

Reading «The Diviners» and getting to know Evie and other characters, you can see how much work and research went into this book. Libba Bray had done a huge amount of work to be able to transport her readers to the roaring twenties - the age of cinema and jazz, flapper girls and social and cultural changes.

She didn’t stop on just understanding the social and religious setting of that decade, she went even further to learn about current interests, influences, and even slang. I had so much fun reading the dialogues in that particular American accent of the 20s in my head! Or maybe I just watched too many movies set during that time. :D

The characters are the strongest point of the book. And while the plot and murder mystery are interesting and make you want to read faster to find out who did it and how things will unravel. It’s the characters that won’t let you put the book down.

Evie, Mabel, Theta, Sam, Jericho, Memphis and Henry - they all bring something different to the story, besides all other secondary characters that were just as important for the story. The man character in «The Diviners» is Evie O’Neil - a flapper girl sent to New York to live with her uncle, after a rather embarrassing night out.

Not sure why Evie’s parents thought that New York would be better for her, considering the roaring twenties and the number of distractions New York had to offer. But Evie was determined to make the best of her exile!

The best word to describe her is Fun! She is one of those perky personalities that, at first glance, are always happy, don’t brood over negative things and always have a witty remark to make. I loved her dialogues. In fact, Libba Bray added a little bit of sass to all of her female characters. Even the shy and reserved Mabel made one of the best unintentional jokes:

“Could I have a Sloe Gin Fizz, without the gin?"
"What's the point of that, Miss?" the waiter said.
"Tomorrow morning," Mabel said.”


Besides the characters (I’m really looking forward to finding out more about Theta and Henry in the future books!) the dynamics between them were just as amusing and entertaining to read.
Evie and Mabel and their friendship that went through some rough time (and there are more to come in the sequels, I’m sure of it).

- Evie and Sam and their cheeky banter. Uh! I loved their interactions so much!
- Theta and Henry and their tender relationship.
- Memphis and his younger brother.
- The list can go on and on!

«The Diviners» introduced an incredible cast of characters, and I have a feeling that the sequels will (1) provide more details about characters that didn’t get much attention in the first book and (2) maybe add even more amazing complex characters to this story.

This was fantastic! My only complaint is that I didn’t feel much of a connection to the main character and found the side characters more interesting, however I have heard that the other books in the series follow other characters. I will definitely be continuing with this series!

I really enjoyed this book. It had good characters, I loved Evie, Jericho and Memphis.
It had an interesting theme and the setting of 1920s NY was amazing. I loved all that.
I wish the book was shorter. It had a lot of dialogue, lots of dragging that made it less impactful. I enjoyed it, but I would love it if it was shorter definitely.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I am still in two minds over this. Yes, still. Several years later, I am still torn over this. On the one hand, I am onboard with this series and I am going to see it through to the bitter end. This feels like a series I can really sink my teeth in. We have a murder mystery with a supernatural twist, combined two of my fave genres together - fantasy and crime. We have interesting, complex characters (both heroes and villains - the killer, Naughty John, hooked me!) and, because am more on ball than my first listen, I see that Libba is putting seeds down for the main overarching story for the series and is putting things in place for character development.

However, I did struggle with this. I am not much of a historical reader so this feels very slow pace to me. Libba Bray has done her homework and she wants us to be immerse us in this world, both the good parts of history and the horrifying. But because of this, the pacing is slower than I am used to read. And a slower paced novel is going to be a struggle for me. Plus, certain characters make very dodgy decisions, which are very in keeping with their characters and will push the series forward, but make me go “ARGH!!!”. Plus, this is the first book in series so is setting everything up. On some counts, this was done really well and others…

I am going to complete the series (am weirdly looking forward to doing so via audiobook - the narrator, January La Voy, is fabulous!) but this is very much a mixed bag for me. I think I’ll have the face the fact that I am not much of a historical reader and this effected how I feel about this relisten and possibly the series as a whole…

This book is amazing, gripping and entertaining. I'm only half reading it but I cannot wait writing the review because I'm loving so much that I already got the entire series.
It's well written, the historical background is well researched, the world building interesting.
The cast of characters is interesting and well thought.
Can't wait to read the other books in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Paranormal murders in the 1920s? Sign me right up.
This is a new favourite for me, and I'm already devouring the sequel.
The Diviners is full of spooky fun and I am fully obsessed.

The setting of this book is truly wonderful and immersive. I really enjoyed all of the characters and the writing and found this to be a very pleasant read.

4 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review :)

This was an entertaining quick read. Any book that starts with a Ouija board gets bonus points for me.

This book follows Evie in Ohio where having special powers can start up more trouble than it’s worth...

She is sent to New York to live with her uncle that runs an occult museum and the talk of the ‘Diviner’s’ soon comes up and she comes to understand there’s more people like her than she thought.

A murder takes place and her curiosity gets the best of her and uses it to gain clues. This killer is like no other.

I really enjoyed the writing. Will definitely read something else by Libba Bray in the future. I’m not sure if it will be in this series as I felt like there was too many plot lines happening all at once and some I didn’t really care for so I don’t really feel the need to pick up the next one.

One other issue I had was the slightly obvious love triangle forming. I’m fine with love triangles but when there’s a clear choice it can get a bit repetitive to hear bad things about one over the other.

None of the issues I had stopped me from constantly wanting to turn the page! If I could I would of ignored the world and read it in one go.

If you’re into the supernatural and historical settings this is definitely for you!

I will be posting a spoiler review on my NEW BLOG very soon so keep an eye on my instagram where I'll announce when it's live.

The Diviners is an original urban fantasy set in the 1920's with a mystery at the center of the plot. The writing is engaging and the characters are compelling. Highly recommended to readers looking for an addictive read.

Urban fantasy set in New York in the Roaring Twenties? Yes please! The Diviners was pleasingly well written and plotted, and at times genuinely scary, with engaging characters. A fun, easy read that didn't feel like I was having to compromise on quality of writing.

I loved this book mainly because it was set in the 1920's. The setting, characters and plot was all thoroughly enjoyable.

This is a flapper of a book and I really enjoyed it! We follow Evie O'Neill as she is sent to New York City to stay with her Uncle following a scandal in her small town in Ohio. Evie enters the world of flappers, numbers runners and news hounds, all while Manhattan is being stalked by a sadistic killer and the city awaits Solomon's comet. Firstly, this is a really creepy book, which I loved. Naughty John is a very disturbing character and I loved the supernatural elements surrounding his backstory. Secondly, the characters in this book are incredibly well drawn and I was instantly drawn to Evie. She is feisty and independent without ever being cruel and although some of her dialogue was a little grating at times, as a protagonist, she is a great deal of fun to spend some time with. What I would say is that towards the end of the book, I did feel that some of the characters just completely disappeared from the action with no explanation, which was a little jarring, but this book has built a really solid foundation on which the remaining books in the series can be built. I for one will be picking up book 2 very quickly!
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers in return for a fair and honest review.