- Author: Libba Bray
- Genre: YA Horror
- Page Count: 468
- Date Started: October 8th
- Date Finished: October 13th
A Brief Description
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.
Life don’t come to you. You gotta take it.
My Review
Hi there old sport! This review is late. It’s really, really late. But it’s here. I’ve had a rather busy few weeks with school and my mental health taking a nose dive, but I’m finally getting back into the swing of things and plan to be more active come November. Anyways, on to the review!
This book was so incredibly atmospheric. The world was very well built and it shows that the author did research on the era. I felt like I was in 1920s New York City. Everything from the phrases and language used to the speakeasies, flappers and dance clubs added to the atmosphere. The author blended the atmospheric elements with the horror elements in a really new and amazing way. This book didn’t scare me. The villain was well fleshed out and scary, but the book itself did not keep me up at night. I would say that the story was more dark than scary.
One thing I will say is that the main character of the story, Evie was likable, but she annoyed me. She got herself into situations that could have easily been avoided and I found that she was… imperfect, which means that the writing for her character was well done. I find that many times authors write a character that is perfect in every way, and this makes the character unlikable to me. That being said, she still annoyed me, at least at the beginning. She definitely had a character development arc and I’ m intrigued to see what happens in the rest of the series. The rest of the characters were well fleshed out and had back stories that hurt to read about. Each character had a distinguishable voice and personality.
This book also had some romance elements that I found to be realistically portrayed. That being said, I hate love triangles. I find them completely unnecessary and this book was no different. One of the “interests” does not need to be portrayed romantically, yet he was. (Love triangles is up there on my most hated tropes list) I don’t want to spoil who the main character ends up with, but let’s just say it went in the opposite direction than what I was expecting. That being said, I think that where the romance stands now is the most realistic option for the characters. I’m intrigued to see if this changes.
All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and will probably keep reading this series. While there were a few things about it that bothered me, they weren’t prominent or annoying enough to hamper my reading experience.
Have you read this? What did you think of it? Let’s discuss in the comments below! Have a wonderful day, and as always, keep reading ❤
~Cam
Cosmic Lattes and Books 