I received this ARC from Publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray on August 25th 2015
Pages: 624
Amazon-Indiebound
Goodreads
After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...
Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?
My Thoughts:
I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this book since reading The Diviners in September of 2012. It can be a bit scary to read a book you’ve been waiting years for. There’s always the fear that it will be disappointing or that you won’t be able to get back into the story the same way you did with the first book. I am happy to say that Lair of Dreams pos-i-tute-ly lived up to all my expectations! Libba Bray is simply divine.
I didn’t have a chance to re-read The Diviners before starting this one. This made me a little nervous. There are parts of the story that are still clear as day (Naughty John!!) but I knew I was shaky on some of the details. Would I be able to pick everything back up, or would I be confused? I needn’t have worried. I was immediately sucked back in to the story. Everything came back as I caught up with Evie, Theta, Mable, Sam, Jericho, Memphis, Will, and the crew.
There is just so much I loved about Lair of Dreams! Here are some of the key things:
- The time period is so perfect. Flappers and speakeasies and jazz and bootleggers! I can picture it all and I so want to be there… without the lurking evil of course!
- The slang is so fun… Everything’s Jack! Pos-i-tute-ly! We’re copacetic! Oh, applesauce! I had to make a conscious effort to not walk around using these terms in day to day interactions after reading.
- I just love the way Theta calls Evie “Evil” instead of her name. Perhaps it’s from listening to the first book on audio? I find it so endearing.
- The friendships… the characters in this story have really built their own family with the people around them. (Even though some of them seem to forget that in this story.) I loved seeing the ways there were there for one another.
- I love that the focus of the story shifts from chapter to chapter. We follow so many different characters. This really built up the suspense. The reader sees connections between the characters and the events before the characters do. It all builds so well.
- Libba Bray crafts a gorgeous (and terrifying!) story. I highlighted so many passages because the phrasing was just so beautiful. There are these amazing, descriptive bits that really pull you into the story. When things start to get crazy the sentences themselves chage which builds the tension for the reader… it was just incredible how much the actual structure of the writing added to the reading experience.
- And the creep factor! Typically I’m out once things start getting too scary. But there’s something about this series that keeps me invested. Such incredible storytelling!
- Evie is such an interesting character. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to shake her or the way she was behaving! However, it totally made sense. She’s trying to deal (or perhaps avoid dealing with!) some pretty incredible events. She’s not exactly equipped for this! I can’t wait to see what the next book has in store for her.
- After book one, Diviners are becoming a “thing.” They’re not all hiding their power any more. I loved that this book started to look at how society might have reacted to that. I don’t really want to give too much away so I’ll stop at that.
Basically, I loved everything about this book. It’s the berries! Libba Bray is the Real McCoy. In Lair of Dreams, she takes the reader on a mystical 1920s adventure that I simply couldn’t get enough of. I can’t wait to see where she takes us next.
Leave a Reply