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A review by bumblemee
The Diviners by Libba Bray
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
There's a lot to like about this book. Most of all, I loved the atmosphere. The writing style fits it perfectly and paints a picute of 1920s London that feels very alive. From the very first scene I was very immersed. The author also did a good job with the bad guy, he really was terrifying. In general the mysteriousness of everything was well established through the writing style, very cool.
I also liked the characters, I don't think there's anyone I disliked. Sure, we see most of Evie and she's a little pain in the ass sometimes - you can just see her making decisions without thinking a single thought beforehand - but she's a seventeen year old teenager and I do think there are a lot of teenagers like her in this world. She and the others were fun to follow and I'm excited to get to know them better over the course of the series.
One of the reasons why we get to know the characters enough to care was because we spent a lot of time reading how the relationships between them form. I understood why they clicked or didn't click with eachother, which is always a good sign for well fleshed our characters. However, this aspect also contributes to this book being quite slow paced. A lot of things happen, but it still feels slow, because while there's a good amount of mystery and murder, the tension takes its time building up. So if you're someone who wants a lot of action and moving fast towards the solution of the main mystery, I fear you might get frustrated ove the cause of these over 500 pages. I personally was entertained enough the whole time, especially because of the atmospheric writing.
Still, I was a a bit confused by the way the story was told - and I think that might be a frustrating aspect for some readers: The reader knows a lot of things before the characters do. You can pick up different pieces and put them together to the point where you're sometimes like: "Oh my god, can these two please meet and then stumble upon this one topic somehow?? It could be so much easier!"
Sometimes you read about characters figuring something out that you already put together or were told about upfront. It was a little much.I still don't get why there's a scene from Ida Knowles perspective when her diary is found later on and everything important is in there as well? Even the knowledge the characters gained over the course of the story never felt surprising, nor were there any plot twists (in my opinion). Everything just fit together. That doesn't mean that the story wasn't exciting to me, it was just not as exciting as it could have been.
All in all I liked this book a lot and read it surprisingly fast for its slow pace, the book being over 500 pages and me being a slow reader. That is a good sign and I'd definitely recommend this book to people who are fine with the flaws mentioned above.
I also liked the characters, I don't think there's anyone I disliked. Sure, we see most of Evie and she's a little pain in the ass sometimes - you can just see her making decisions without thinking a single thought beforehand - but she's a seventeen year old teenager and I do think there are a lot of teenagers like her in this world. She and the others were fun to follow and I'm excited to get to know them better over the course of the series.
One of the reasons why we get to know the characters enough to care was because we spent a lot of time reading how the relationships between them form. I understood why they clicked or didn't click with eachother, which is always a good sign for well fleshed our characters. However, this aspect also contributes to this book being quite slow paced. A lot of things happen, but it still feels slow, because while there's a good amount of mystery and murder, the tension takes its time building up. So if you're someone who wants a lot of action and moving fast towards the solution of the main mystery, I fear you might get frustrated ove the cause of these over 500 pages. I personally was entertained enough the whole time, especially because of the atmospheric writing.
Still, I was a a bit confused by the way the story was told - and I think that might be a frustrating aspect for some readers: The reader knows a lot of things before the characters do. You can pick up different pieces and put them together to the point where you're sometimes like: "Oh my god, can these two please meet and then stumble upon this one topic somehow?? It could be so much easier!"
Sometimes you read about characters figuring something out that you already put together or were told about upfront. It was a little much.
All in all I liked this book a lot and read it surprisingly fast for its slow pace, the book being over 500 pages and me being a slow reader. That is a good sign and I'd definitely recommend this book to people who are fine with the flaws mentioned above.