{Audiobook Review} Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Title: Lair of Dreams
Author: Libba Bray
Narrator(s): January LaVoy
Series: The Diviners, book #2
Length: 20 hrs 12 mins
Publisher: Listening Library
Publication Date: August 25, 2015
Source: ARC received from publisher, purchased audio
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

So, big books intimidate me. I love them, but they are just so daunting. I had the same problem with Bray's The Diviners back when I read it in 2012. Which, by the way, is the last time I entered this world. And that's another reason I kept putting off reading my ARC of Lair of Dreams. I thought I needed a refresher first. (You really don't, by the way. Bray is the bee's knees when it comes to that.) But the biggest reason I waited to dive into this sequel? January LaVoy is maybe the most fantastic narrator I've ever listened to, and I couldn't imagine not hearing more of Evie and company's story in her multitude of voices.

And I must say, once I returned to the story, I was so glad to be among old friends again. It was interesting to see how the world reacted to the existence of Diviners but also intriguing to see who would hold their cards close to their chest and not reveal the nature of their gift until it was forced out of them. Especially as "America's Sweetheart Seer" became more popular. And as it was becoming clearer that someone was hunting the Diviners.

But maybe more important than that storyline is that of those dying of the sleeping sickness, a sickness brought on by a killer from the dreamworld. As Evie and her friends discover more about their gifts, some of them fall pray to the lure of the dreamworld, and it's up to them to discover how to stop it from killing again.

I'm not usually a fan of stories with so many varying perspectives, but Libba Bray makes every character arc count. And it doesn't hurt that January LaVoy's narration helps me keep them all straight. There are definitely those that I favor, but there is no character who doesn't matter when it comes to this series. No action that doesn't have a consequence. It's all so very dire, and I think that's one of the things I like best. I'm not expecting happy endings for all of these characters, if any at all -- especially after what the author did to my heart at the end of The Gemma Doyle Trilogy -- so I'll be pleasantly surprised when things turn out unexpectedly...at least that's my fervent hope.

On a side note, I really like that thing that's happening between Evie and Sam Lloyd. Especially as they become a little less guarded around each other and begin to let feelings -- and secrets -- slip. I mean, I think Jericho is a great guy, but I'm of Sam's train of thought: that Jericho is not the kind of guy Evie should fall for. Maybe Sam isn't, either, but I think Sergei might be. ;0) Also, the ruse/fake engagement angle is one of my favorites! LUH-VING IT!

Obviously, I want more Sam and Evie and Theta and Memphis and the rest of the gang. If the wait for this book is any indication, I have a while to endure. That's okay, though, because being back with this series has reminded me of just how much I love Libba Bray's writing and how much I miss Gemma and Kartik, so I'm going to start a re-read soon. =)

GIF it to me straight:

And so is this series!!!

About the author:

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series. She is originally from Texas but makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and two sociopathic cats.

Find Libba:

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Labels: audiobooks, diviners, favorite authors, favorite narrators, favorites, hachette, historical fiction, libba bray, must-read, paranormal, reviews