Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
Libba Bray’s Diviners series, which started with the wonderfully unsettling The Diviners, mixes together a heady mix of ingredients: the supernatural, music, theater, eugenics, spiritualism, youthful rebellion, horror, crime, and a dash of superheroics. In the sequel Lair of Dreams, out today, the series continues expanding and exploring the lives and intersections of the growing number of Diviners, or people with special powers, beginning to grow in to their powers in New York City.
My elevator pitch for this series is that essentially it’s CSI: 1920 with a good dollop of the Stand and a bit of the X-Men for good measure. Of course, it’s more than that, and Bray has once again brought the vibrant, troubled times of Jazz age New York City to life. This time, while we still get to catch up with the central characters of Evie, Sam, Jericho, Memphis, and Theta, the focus is on aspiring songwriter Henry DuBois and budding scientist and dreamwalker Ling Chan. I thoroughly enjoyed the shift in focus. With so many characters to juggle it’s vital to balance the different points of view without losing track of everyone’s individual thread. Ling is a charming new voice to add to the mix, full of curiosity and a sly sense of humor, and Henry becomes a more integrated member of the Diviners as we witness his past and his dreams.
This novel has a bit of the “let’s get the band together” focus that makes it feel like what it is – an installment in a series. Unlike the first volume, where all of the characters were mainly in their own story lines, this time around the plot revolves around getting everyone in the same room together, acknowledging each other and seeing their collective potential. That in and of itself is satisfying, but it’s less immediately compelling than the first novel’s slow build toward a dramatic confrontation. The simmering threat of the evil that will no doubt be their Big Bad is still just that – simmering – and for now that’s ok. The best part of series is getting more time to establish everyone and make a reader care, and Bray is having a ton of fun giving readers all the details.
For those who were incredibly creeped out by the crimes of Naughty Jack that centered the plot of the Diviners (raising my hand here), know that Lair of Dreams is less terrifying and more unnerving. The danger of dreams, and fantasy, and ignoring reality are central, but somehow the threat being a bit more supernatural and less serial killer made this volume easier for this reader to race through without resorting to turning all the lights on.
As is always the case with my favorite series, I finished this installment wishing I had the next one on my to-read stack. Of course, I’m happy to wait for the next one, as I was happy to wait for this one, but there’s no doubt Bray has once again created a landscape and characters that I love visiting.
Exciting tidbits
As with The Diviners, all the 1920s slang made me happy. Now I just need to work it in to daily conversation.
Radio! I love listening to stories, and I thoroughly enjoy the Sweetheart Seer radio bits. I kept imagining it a bit like The Thrilling Adventure Hour, though.
Visiting the neighborhoods – I’ve always enjoyed how Bray uses this series as a window into the many enclaves of New York, and especially to dig in to the various ethnic groups and cultures that run in to each other in any big city.
Yay for STEM! Ling’s curiosity and excitement about science and mathematics was the cat’s pajamas.
Excellent references back to the Five Points area of NYC and the whole mishmash of immigrants, political corruption, and thuggery
I loved getting to visit New Orleans via Henry’s memories, and I admit my mind boggled a bit at imagining a New Orleans during Prohibition. It seems…impossible.
On a side note: pneumatic tubes!
One thing I love most about historical novels is their ability to give readers a window on to the lost, but often fascinating, details of life in a significantly different time and place. I’m always one for a touch of the magical within my realistic fiction (hence why I spent my teen years reading pile upon pile of urban fantasy), but with this series I found that the remarkable true details embedded in the story the most exciting.
Since I am, like many folks, fascinated by the lost failures of science that didn’t quite arrive at the right time, the central role of Beach’s Pneumatic train (pictured above) prompted me to immediately go look up the truth behind the experimental train line that only ended up with one street of track, now long shuttered underground. I admit, I wish my library had buildings with pneumatic tubes for message (if you’ve ever seen the 1994 film The Shadow, which had many amazing 1920s details plus Alec Baldwin’s voice and Penelope Ann Miller’s gorgeous emerald velvet dress, there are also many delightful whizzing close ups of pneumatic tubes! I want them!). The reality of Beach’s train, and the echo of what transit might have been with that system, is intriguing to contemplate.
