The best part of this story was the writing, the magic system and it being set in the 1920s. The worst part was the characters, which are the reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5.

The writing was so beautifully descriptive and Bray did a fantastic job of transporting readers to the 20s. I have never enjoyed taking in all the details of a setting more than I did with The Diviners, especially considering this is a decently long book.

The set up and pay off was also very satisfying and even though I predicted many reveals, I wasn't upset at all by that because it was done in such an artful manner. I loved the magic or paranormal elements as well: diviners, naughty John, the 'not a cult' cult, all of it was so creepy and so fun.

Moving on to the characters, they were flat, bordering on one dimensional and the only character who did have a bit of depth, Evie, was insufferable. All the parts I didn't enjoy in the book had her in them. Though she would start becoming decently likable in between, she'd be back to being insufferable soon after. A lot of her dialogue would come across as incredibly inorganic as well. She didn't feel like a person, ever.

Adult authors, please, please stop writing teenagers, especially girls, as irritating, selfish and shallow. Sincerely, a teenager.

I hope the next two books will show more of Mabel, Theta, Henry, Memphis, etc. They're a lot more interesting and have much more potential than Evie