Book Review: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2)
Author:  Libba Bray
Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication Date:  August 25, 2015
*ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

From 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?

Review:

I really liked this book and here's why:

1.  The plot.  A sleeping sickness where the victims go to sleep, get trapped in a dream, and never wake up.  Creepy and compelling.  Along with that you have X-Men type abilities and a government conspiracy.  And this is how a series should be done.  You have the main mystery wrapped up but then other plot lines continuing throughout.

2.  The setting.  I love that it takes place in New York in 1927.  Libba Bray does a fantastic job of creating a setting that I can picture when I close my eyes.  The setting is a living thing that adds to the plot of the book.  The dialogue, the description of the city, the history…well done.

3.  The characters.  What a diverse set of characters, including an interracial couple, a same-sex couple, and a Chinese/Irish character with a disability.  I do believe there are too many POVs, however, and I'm a reader that loves multiple POVs.  There are seven main characters and then there are a few more POVs too.  It was just too much and there were certain characters that I love that were barely in the book (like Jericho).  

What I didn't like:

I already mentioned the too many POVs.  Other than that, I was disappointed with Evie's backslide as a character.  In the first book, she's shallow and silly, but she grows throughout the novel.  In Lair of Dreams, Evie has become a media darling, and is so concerned about her image and being famous.  She parties and drinks.  A lot.  And she barely has anything to do with the sleeping sickness mystery.  And the romance…yes, a love triangle has emerged.  The romance is not the focus of the novel at all, but still.  Her reasons for staying away from one guy are noble, but I still didn't like it.  

Posted by:  Pam