Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray (Review #171)

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE DIVINERS SERIES, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 2. CHECK OUT THE DIVINERS FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1!

"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?"

Review:

Wow, okay 561 pages never felt this long! No wonder it took me all month to read it! I've read stories that were slow going before, but this??? Absolutely glacial. I thought at some point the story would pick up the pace but it didn't until the very end. Our main characters are just living their lives not really doing anything  about anything. All the while people all across the city are dying of this disease known as the sleeping sickness. 

Honestly that was the mood the whole book.

Sam Lloyd was the only one who had actual important stuff going on and who was actively trying to pursue it with Project Buffalo. Even our new character Ling, who seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders, who's only friend DIED from the sleeping sickness, is lollygagging about slumberland with Henry and Wai Mai wasting precious time. Because no one was on the case for the majority of the book, the case was not really all that complicated once people were paying attention! It's just infuriating to know that this book could've been half its length if you cut out all the dillydallying. 

But remember how in the last book I said I just wanted the Diviner team to come together? *the trumpets sound* IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!! I've been waiting for two whole 600 page books and finally it happened. Our dear Diviners have only just begun to see behind the curtain to what's really going on but now we're on the trail! And just like the last book, I'm left with some big revelations and some unanswered questions to keep me reeled in, hook, line and sinker. 

As always let me know your own thoughts and feels about this book whether you've read it or not, and I'll see you on the next one! In the words of Evie O'Neill, it's been jake, Dahhhlings!