Loved this sequel to 1920s YA supernatural/paranormal/horror/historical fiction/romance/...comedy-fantasy? Or whatever it is? Love to see the genre boundaries getting blurred like this. Libba Bray is an incredibly skilled writer, successfully juggling an enormous cast with complex motivations and backstories against a truly frightening supernatural mystery-thriller and all with well-researched, creative and tone-perfect 1920s historic reference. I found Diviners both more frightening and less diverse than Lair of Dreams, and I'll be looking forward to where things go from here, since the secretive government conspiracy in the background seems to be heating up. Only complaints are that it does feel a bit jarring to start the book, so well-grounded is it in its historic setting and language, and the diverse cast gets a little peripheral at times. However, the very relevant themes around (historical) racism, race and class issues came out more strongly than in Diviners, and yet were perfectly integrated with the story, never detracting from the narrative and characterization. Brilliant writing.
