Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray
Publication Date: 25 August 2015
ISBN: 031612611X
Pages: 578
Genre: Paranormal Historical Fiction
Format: Hardcover
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Buy it: Amazon|Book Depository
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.
As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.
I'm glad I decided to listen to all the hype on booktube about this book. I've been hearing all about it for quite a while and the premise seemed interesting.
One of the first things I noticed about this book was its accuracy to the time. From the descriptions all the way to the speech patterns, it's clear that Libba Bray spent quite a bit of time doing research. From this alone you feel as if you are planted solidly in the 20's. I really enjoyed that aspect of it. Another thing I thought was well written were each of the murders that Evie follows. We, the readers, learn about the murders before Evie does meaning we have details and context that she doesn't. It's interesting to see the levels of speculation that the characters do and their process when you know so much more than them.
The character development was done exceedingly well in this story. We see through two main perspectives- Evie and Memphis- and little bits and pieces of a few of the other characters. I really enjoyed reading through Memphis' eyes because his emotions were very real. I related more closely with him than I did with Evie. One of the other minor characters who I really enjoyed was Theta. Her back story was so unique to this plot and she was an all around interesting character. She was, despite being minor, a round character who showed some growth.
There weren't very many characters that I particularly enjoyed in this book unfortunately. There is no specific reason for why I didn't completely enjoy Evie's character but I just didn't like her. It might be because she was somewhat an attention hog and had a "holier than thou" attitude. Jericho was a wimpy character who doesn't serve much purpose until nearly half way though the book.
However, overall I felt my dislike for some of the more major characters didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. It was well written, historically accurate, with a very interesting plot. Getting to the ending was very intense and learning about the history along the way was really quite amazing. If you're interested in a good, based in historical fact, paranormal book, pick this up.
Title: The Shadow Society
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publication Date: 16 October 2012
ISBN: 0374349053
Pages: 416
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Mystery
Format: Hardcover
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Buy it: Amazon|Book Depository
Darcy Jones doesn't remember anything before the day she was abandoned as a child outside a Chicago firehouse. She has never really belonged anywhere—but she couldn't have guessed that she comes from an alternate world where the Great Chicago Fire didn't happen and deadly creatures called Shades terrorize the human population.
Memories begin to haunt Darcy when a new boy arrives at her high school, and he makes her feel both desire and desired in a way she hadn't thought possible. But Conn's interest in her is confusing. It doesn't line up with the way he first looked at her.
As if she were his enemy.
When Conn betrays Darcy, she realizes that she can't rely on anything—not herself, not the laws of nature, and certainly not him. Darcy decides to infiltrate the Shadow Society and uncover the Shades' latest terrorist plot. What she finds out will change her world forever . . .
I picked up this book at the library for the sake of procrastination. I wanted an easy read, something that didn't require me to think too much. And this book fulfilled it's purpose well.
I didn't really like the beginning of the book. It felt very middle- grade, Darcy was whiny and it started out like a very typical, stupid love story. But when Conn betrays Darcy, she does grow up and starts making better decisions. But even with her growth, she doesn't seem to fit the age she was portrayed as (17, if I remember correctly). While I understand that 17 year olds don't make the best decisions, hers were exceptionally poor. Moreover, she was involved in this horrible love triangle with two guys who were equally mentally abusive and manipulative. To make matters worse, instead of walking away from the romance she embraces it. It was irritating.
But I have to give credit to Marie Rutkoski for having very in-depth imagery. This is a novel where you are transported into the world, where you're experiencing what Darcy is experiencing. It's a very well described world. On the same note, she doesn't give much explanation on how everything came to be. For example, I'm not sure how the alternate world got there or how anything at the end came to be (not specifying because spoilers).
Overall, there was a lot of potential here. It was obvious that this was the first time that Marie Rutkoski was writing in the YA genre. If you're looking something that's an easy, no commitment, just okay type of book, feel free to pick this up. Will I be recommending it to any of my friends? Probably not.
So I just heard about the mass shooting that occurred in San Bernardino, California. I'm not sure what the specifics are but, according to CNN, 14 were killed and 17 were injured. My heart goes out to all of these people and I send my condolences.
On CNN, after discussing the shooting, they talked about the best way to protect yourself in case there is a mass shooting. And it hit me, this is something that we actually need to have safety precautions for. Mass shooting has its own set of safety precautions. You know how we have safety drills for fires and tornadoes? Safety drills for mass shootings may need to be added to the list. I know we have lock down drills but that's generally for threats outside of the school. This is for imminent shootings. That's terrifying.
We live in a world where mass shootings have gotten so common that we need to show safety precautions for them on national television.
I'm not entirely sure why this bothers me so much but it does. I guess the only thing that can be said right now is "be safe to the best of your ability".
