The Diviners by Libba Bray

Author: Libba Bray
Original title: The Diviners
Edition Language: English
Series: The Diviners #1
Genres: Mystery, Fantasy
Format: Audio book
Read by: January LaVoy
Duration: 18h14m
Goodreads

Blurb:
    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.
My thoughts:
     I was going into this book with HUGE expectations as I have heard only positive reviews so far. I have even chosen the audio book format, which was masterfully narrated by January LaVoy. As I was enjoying the audio format I gave a book a higher rating. The book itself left me a bit puzzled. I can see only positive features: the coherent plot development, the characters greatly outlined, the city description is so vivid that it is almost a character itself, the atmosphere of the 20s is depicted colorfully; but still the book did not captivate me and I even struggled through it. Maybe it is because the narration was jumping from one character to another trying to introduce everyone who will be playing roles in later books. Maybe because of constant repetitions of passages, or maybe because Evie's incredible egoism.
      The crime/horror plot line was not very interesting as well. Though the murders are quite horrific, I was not terrified and could not feel the suspense; and the ending was flat and crumpled. So thought the book did not grip, it was solid and entertaining read and I will continue with the series.

Rating:  

    3/5