I borrowed this book from a generous friend who had a signed ARC! While I never read any of Bray's non fantasy/historical fiction books, I was a fan of the Gemma Doyle series even with the bitter sweet ending.
So, naturally I leaped at the chance to be ahead of the game and read this historical fantasy, which once again dealt with the occult, mysticism and a time period I found intriguing (The roaring 20's. I cringe to think that one day the 1980's may be a source of intrigue for someone, but every era has fans.) The main plot deals with Evie's own supernatural powers (psychometry, she can read images of the past from personal items of other people) that get her into trouble in her Ohio hometown, so her parents ship her to New York City to live with her nerdy uncle Will who runs an occult museum. Evie and her uncle, along with his assistant Jericho become embroiled in the investigation of mysterious murders tied to an old cult.
So why only 3.5 stars? Let me start with this. This book was well written, well researched and at times hard to put down. Except for the times when I had to put it down because it was simply, "too much", like its main character, Evangeline "Evie" O Neal, teenage flapper with super natural powers. I don't mind a book that has multiple story lines. In fact, my friend who loaned the book to me described it as a bit of a "Buffy-esque" story. So I expected an ensemble cast. After all, as most Buffy fans would agree, Buffy Summers herselfis not the most interesting character if the series.
The problem I had was that there were far too many characters' stories to hold the book through over 500 pages and not tie up their story lines. When alternating from Evie, we had: Memphis, a young man from Harlem who keeps his secrets of mystical abilities while he tries to protect his brother. Memphis falls into an intense relationship beautiful "white girl" Zeta ( a Ziegfield girl with her own share of dark secrets. Zeta lives in the same building as Evie's uncle and Mabel, Evie's straight laced friend who is "goofy" for Jericho, Jericho and the Uncle Will himself who both (yep) have secrets.
While everyone had a ton of potential it feels like the attention spent on other characters outside of Evie's main story is inadequate and should have been paced better. Maybe hint at their own back stories and make them (not Evie) the focus of subsequent books in the series? Why do I only get a 3/4 way fleshed out back story on Zeta and Memphis but the green eyed Chinese girl is not even named? Was Mabel's character necessary other than to be a foil for Evie and a litmus test for Zeta? Did she exist as a rival or to introduce Mabel's parents who were Socialists of the 20's? So is she an important character or a plot point to set the mood?
There were not enough pages in the book to make it feel like these fit quite right. They all had great potential but too much to handle for the maiden voyage of a new series. Still, the general feel of the book was just right. Moody, smart, funny, dark. The fact that this is just a set up for what is to come is actually promising in spite of the book's problems. Bray clearly has plans for all of these characters and may just need the next book to hit her stride in writing them all at once. This is worth a read.
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