Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray - Review

Title: Lair of Dreams
Author: Libba Bray
Pages: 613
Published: August 25th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Libray
Links: goodreads, LibbaBray.com

The longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams. After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners. Piano-playing Henry DuBois and Chinatown resident Ling Chan are two Diviners struggling to keep their powers a secret—for they can walk in dreams. And while Evie is living the high life, victims of a mysterious sleeping sickness are turning up across New York City. As Henry searches for a lost love and Ling strives to succeed in a world that shuns her, a malevolent force infects their dreams. And at the edges of it all lurks a man in a stovepipe hat who has plans that extend farther than anyone can guess…As the sickness spreads, can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld to save the city? In this heart-stopping sequel to The Diviners, Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray takes readers deeper into the mystical underbelly of New York City.

I had been waiting for this book, the sequel to The Diviners for a long long time.  Like two years!! The books in this series are quite long so it's no surprise that I had a hard time remembering a  lot of the details from the first book and I searched the internet for a synopsis of The Diviners to help me remember and there was pretty much nothing out there.  So I had to just go off memory when starting this book (and my memory isn't great).

This book pretty much follows the format of the first book in the series.  Long... lots and lots of words.  It is slow to read, but I really liked it.  But I really enjoyed it. I love that this book takes place in the 1920s.  It is full of jazz, speakeasies, flappers, and ghosts.  Yes that's right ghosts.  This book is sort of in the horror genre.  The atmosphere in the book is spot on.  When you read it.. you read from the perspective of different characters in each chapter.  Their stories are pretty much going on simultaneously so you get information on what is going on with so many people. There are a few new characters added into this book that weren't in the Diviners and I look forward to see what they all end up doing in the final book (which may not come out for another 3 years).

I like how now the Diviners are so main stream in society. Evie has her own radio show where she shows off her Diviner skills.  I was a little disappointed that in this book we don't get to spend as much time in the Museum of American Forklore.  I wish that the characters spent more time together too.  The really don't all meet up and work together till the very end of the book.

I don't know why the cover had to change.  The original Diviners cover was really neat and what drew me to that book.  Then when the cover for this book was revealed you could tell a new illustrator was hired because the Diviners cover changed to match this book.

I would recommend this book to you if you enjoyed the Diviners.  Plus.. if you enjoy horror.  I love horror and it's always fun to discover it in young adult books.  I am sure you won't see my review for the third book for another 3 years.  Seems a lifetime away doesn't it??

4 out of 5