This was a tale about a girl name Liora, who has suppressed her magical ability to protect her family reputation and to protect herself from Darius, an evil warlock who sucks the life from powerful mages for his own power. Her magic makes her skin glow so she isn’t allowed to go far from home except during the brightest part of the day, but she has her loving sisters and her best friend Evryn to keep her company. Her magic is discovered by Darius but instead of taking her, he takes her younger, non-magical sister instead. Darius knows of her magic and Liora and Evryn are pulled into Darius’ plans to turn the world into nothing. She has to fight for her family, her love, and her country by finding her own strengths inside of herself and discovering her own hidden potential.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The story was unique and I felt I understood the characters. This book had a great ending but I’m hopeful there will be another book that goes on after this story. I don’t want to say the story wasn’t told complete, but there was lot of things in the story that could be continued on to anther book and I loved it enough that I would be thrilled for more!!

I would like to thank the publishers for allowing me to read a copy of this book for an honest review through Netgalley.

Liora is a witch who must keep her powers secret because of a cruel mage who kidnaps those with powers to make them work for the king. This mage, Darius, is actually holding the king under his powers and is the one in control of the whole kingdom. When a cruel plot is uncovered Liora and her friends must try to stop Darius.
I loved this book. There are a lot of twists and turns, a slight bit of romance, magical monsters, sinister plots and more. Author, Mara Rutherford, creates the perfect formula for a page-turner of a book.

*I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

In a world where mages are being hunted down for their magical abilities, one girl is about to discover hers, whether she wants to or not. Loira has spent her life hiding her magical abilities, particularly her glowing skin. She lives in fear of being discovered by the mage Darius, who uses other mages’ magic to grow his own power. Not only does he essentially rule the kingdom, but he has taken a particular interest in Loira. Instead of taking her after discovering her, Darius takes Loira’s little sister Mina to work for the palace, but essentially is holding her a hostage. To make matters more complicated Loira’s childhood best friend and crush, Evran, has been acting mysterious, disappearing for long stretches of time, avoiding her, and saying cryptic things. When Evran’s mother, a fellow witch who works under Darius, hires Loira as an apprentice, Loira will start to truly come into her power. Things end up taking a turn for the worst when Evran goes missing and Darius becomes a more frequent visitor in Loira’s life. Soon Loira must embark on a journey to stop Darius from destroying the entire kingdom and to finding the powers waiting to be unleashed within her. This story gave me strong Shadow and Bone vibes with the whole “one poor girl with magical abilities related to light and a villain/sort of love interest who is interested in her power and has abilities related to darkness/void, and a childhood best friend who sorta disappears and reappears but has his own thing going on” <spoiler> it even ends in the same way sort of, Loira ends up with Evran and they go traveling together after defeating Darius and Darius isn’t technically dead just loses his powers </spoiler> I enjoyed Darius as a villain, he was complicated and had a depth to him that was interesting to unravel. The romance between Loira and Evran was sort of what you expect from childhood best friends who are dealing with their own lives but are supportive of one another. I just didn’t really like how Evran constantly didn’t trust Loira and left her out of crucial plans, that even impacted her, and she constantly justified it and said “oh yeah he was right not to trust me, it’s fine” girl no. He is your best friend, he shouldn’t be ghosting you, leaving you hanging with your emotions, and show up and say cryptic things and then disappear again, and then keep you out of important decisions. I did however like Loira for the most part. She takes things in strides and was willing to make the big sacrifices for her loved ones. She could empathize and see things from Darius’s perspective while also holding onto her own ideals. Overall an okay fantasy romance read. If you liked Shadow and Bone I definitely think you’ll like this one.

*Thanks Netgalley and Inkyard Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book is very interesting, and I really liked the character of Liora. The concept is quite interesting and unique and the story itself it written really well.

I loved all of the ways that Evran would empower Liora into believing that she really is her own star and everything. It was interesting to see a witch hunt being lead by a powerful warlock, and I really like the character of Lord Darius. He was actually my favorite, and I would have loved more development for him.

While this book is a young adult novel, at times, it did read a little young, but that may be do more to the innocence of Liora due to a life of isolation. But, I do think a little bit could have been adjusted to make this feel a little more young adultish.

Lastly, my biggest issue (but not really an issue?) was that the way that the story was written, it really seemed like Liora was going to end up with Lord Darius. They had a very interesting and unique relationship in this story, and I genuinely kept thinking that was where the story was going. Don't get me wrong, I loved Evran, but honestly, I would have loved to see more of a redemption arc for Darius.

Overall though, a great new book! I read it in a day and a half because it is hard to put down.

3/5 stars. A quick fantasy read for fans of Shadow and Bone. I found myself referring back to the parallels between the two books; light powers, brooding villain who may not be a villain, shadow creatures, mysterious void. While the book has enjoyable characters who are well written, I was distracted by the magic system and how it worked. I think teens will enjoy this book and look past some of the issues for the likable characters and romance.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn't expect some of the things that happened and that is always a good thing.

Book: Luminous
Author: Mara Rutherford
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Inkyard Press, for sending me an ARC.

I love Mara’s work and when I was offered this one by the publisher, I knew I had to pick it up. Mara writes YA fantasy. While a lot of elements in her books are rather cliché, there is just something about them that makes me enjoy them and keep reading. Luminous was no different. The idea of having a main character with magic and having to hide from the world because she could be taken never gets old. You see in this world, those with magic are taken by Lord Darius, a powerful mage, to do his bidding and once he has taken you, there is no going back to your old life. This alone is enough of a hook for me.

The way that the overall story is presented is really what makes this book. We start out with what just seems like is going to be another good versus evil story. However, the more I read of it, the more I realized there was to it. We start out by following three sisters, whose bond has deepened because of their mother’s death. Liora has magic, which allows her skin to grow. She had been kept hidden her entire life because her father fears she will be taken. This means that she has also been taught to fear her own magic. This, of course, gets her into trouble. Her family is rather tight knit and through a series of events, her younger sister, Mina, finds herself being taken to the castle by Lord Darius. This sets off a whole quest to save Mina from the castle. We see Liora, who has never left her small village, take these chances in order to save someone she loves very much. The bond between the sisters drives the book. Without this event happening, what goes on later in the book would not have happened and it would not have worked so well.

Not only do we have the bonds between the sisters, we have the bond between Liora and Evran. Evran is the only one outside of her family who knows that Liora has magic. Despite knowing this, they develop a deep friendship. Seeing their friendship and what they will do for each other pulled at me. These two will and do risk life and death for each other. We see them go, literally, into the unknown to save each other. They share their fear-the fear of being a monster. It is through each other that they learn that they are not monsters and should truly embrace who they are. I’m kind of paraphrasing this because of spoilers. Seeing them grow and form bonds with other characters is just great.

What makes all of this work? Well, it’s the writing style. Mara writes in a simple, yet captivating way. She has the gift of hooking you right from the start with a world and magic system that isn’t all that common. We see her turn everyday objects into something magical and sometimes on the terrifying side. Her stories and writing aren’t super dark, but they do manage to capture the fantasy aspects that we need in order to make the story work. I think this comes from having just the right amount of balance between details and keeping the plot moving. A lot of times fantasy has this rather nasty tendency to get blogged down in the details and make the reader feel a little overwhelmed. This isn’t the case here. We have a captivating world that is pretty much contained in one book. I mean, the book is pretty solid as a standalone-I’m not actually sure if there is going to be a second book.

With all of this being said, I will admit that this one does read and feel a little on the younger side of young adult. If you are looking for a more mature feel in a YA fantasy, then this may not be the book for you. If you are looking for a transition book from middle grade to YA, then not only this book, but this author, may be a good starting place.

This book comes out on October 5, 2021.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/JjgQKYDydls

I really enjoyed reading Luminous by Mara Ruthford. Rutherford created a clear world without needing to use a lot of exposition. This book was an absolute page-turner for me, and I read most of it in one day (while on vacation - sorry family!).

Luminous is a great book for readers of all ages - it has a fast moving plot and fulfilling message. This is a YA novel, but could be appropriate for younger readers looking for a challenge.

Rating: 3.5

I was excited to start another book by this author after liking her debut duology. She does a good job of creating such an interesting plot and this one had that same quality. Although I did like it overall, I still had a couple issues with it as well.

Liora has magic but isn’t able to use and must be very strict when it comes to going into town. Her seclusion felt a lot like Rapunzel’s from Tangled. She even glows at time but it’s not her hair. You can tell that she loves her family and would do anything for her sisters, especially the youngest one. There are a couple quarrels between them and hints of jealousy but what sibling bond doesn’t have that? Liora has good development throughout the book as she tries to understand her abilities while also learning more about the Lord Darius that everyone is afraid of.

Lord Darius is an interesting guy and usually I don’t like villains but I did take a liking to him. He definitely is more complicated than what is led on at the beginning and I also liked his development as well.

There is some romance in this book. To me, it felt very minor and it also was one of those where Liora already has feelings for him after being friends with him. This development obviously happens off the page so it was hard to actually feel anything for them when they were together. I also didn’t like the development the relationship throughout the book. Liora knows what she wants by Evran is very wishy-washy and the whole trying to let her go to save her got old real quick.

As I mentioned previously, the plot is very unique and what really makes this story. The magic system isn’t new and there are some abilities that have been used before but she still makes the ones that a very present throughout the book special in their own way. Using a star/light as a magical ability was fun to read about and I liked to see how it involved Lord Darius and what Liora would do with her power.

There are some plot twists that I definitely wasn’t expecting. It made the pacing of the book good but the ending felt very rushed with all of the reveals just feeling very anticlimactic which is one of the things I dislike the most about books.

Overall, this was good. I liked the use of magic and the growth in Liora as she learns more about her specific magic along the way.

Rutherford’s writing style quickly captivates readers. The world building was well done although there were moments where I found myself wishing for even a little more. Having just a bit more backstory on the kingdom and magic itself would have been the icing on the cake.

Liora is a wonderful main character. She is struggling with her identity as she grows up. She is a witch. And in Antalla, that can be a death sentence. Her father has kept her in hiding her whole life, causing her to feel guilt over her magic. An unfortunate encounter when she takes a trip into town with her sisters leads to a complete unraveling of the careful life she and her family have constructed.

I really liked Liora. She felt like a believable teenager. She had moments of bravery, but she was also vulnerable and fearful. She had missteps and was forced to deal with the consequences of her actions. She wasn’t a perfect character or completely heroic which I loved. She had moments where she muddled through the best she could in learning about her magic and saving those she loved.

Darius was a very fascinating antagonist. I loved thinking about how his magic may have contributed to his actions and made him who he was. It was very very interesting dichotomy, pitting darkness against light. At first, I didn’t see Liora’s gift as being meaningful or powerful but Rutherford managed to change my mind by the end.

Sometimes the pacing was a little inconsistent. It would go from slow to quick action and back again and a lot happened in the last quarter of the book. There were some unanswered questions and the ending was open ended enough that hopefully there will be a sequel in the future. Otherwise it was very well written and absolutely worth reading. It was really enjoyable overall.

#Luminous #NetGalley
I love Mara Rutherford's writing style. Luminous is a lovely and well written book. It isn't my favorite of hers, but it is a well written young adult book that will appeal for fantasy and romance readers.

This book immediately made me think of Andrew Lang’s fairy tale volumes. I love Liora. Taking this journey with her was a wonderful experience. The way this tale unfolds is compelling and captivating, and I was really enjoying it—then, with 75% of the book complete, I felt like it unraveled a bit. There’s some really great magic and consequences for that magic in this story—without giving too much away—and I was really hoping for more than the end of the book gave me. It felt very neat and tidy, and the pacing sped up at the end, so it almost felt like we had to hit all these plot points to wrap up the story, but there were only 25 pages to do it all in. That was a little disappointing. It was still a very enjoyable read, and I would recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me access to the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book. I loved Mara Rutherford’s previous series, but Luminous fell a little short. The worldbuilding wasn’t great, and I would have liked better explanations about the Magic system. I did like the reveal about the queen and the prince, and I liked the monsters that came out of the tapestry. But for the most part, I felt like things weren’t being explained well enough and that made me enjoy the book less.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This was a delightful book with the vibe of a classic folktale. I found myself super invested in the story and the characters, Liora especially. I loved her magic and how it manifested by giving her glowing skin. This book is a standalone, but I would love to see spin-off books for some of the other characters in the story, especially given how things ended up in the end. All in all, wonderful and I can't wait for the finished copy to be released!

My review for the book's intended audience: I think teens new to the fantasy genre will enjoy this. The brooding villain who maybe, just maybe, is not all 100% evil is a trope I find teens LOVE. The romance is sweet.

I do think that the Darius character needs a lot more development in last 10% of the book and it may have been better as a standalone instead of a set up for a sequel.

Thank you to Ink Yard Press for the arc of this book.
I enjoyed this take on witches and magic, a little different from the norm.
As I got further into the story I really was hoping Darius, oh nvm I can't say too much it would give spoilers.
But I did enjoy this and would read the next in the series.

I really enjoyed this book and was immediately sucked into it. The main characters journey together was so interesting and I can not wait to read more by this author. Great Book!

Luminous by Mara Rutherford was just as enchanting as her debut duology, A Crown of Coral and Pearl and A Kingdom of Sea and Stone. From page one and onward, it was obvious that a lot of heart and thought had gone into this novel. Rutherford wrote about how her Jewish heritage and personal struggle with depression shaped the focus of the story, creating additional layers and depth.

Liora, our main character, constantly wrestled with the feeling that she didn’t belong. She also worried that she would lose herself to her power and hurt the ones she loved. Her fierce desire to protect both her blood family and her found family was really endearing to read about. Liora’s relationship with her two sisters was also exceptionally well written. Because of their relationship’s rough start, it took me a little while to warm up to Liora’s love interest, but he captured my heart by the end of the book.

I’m not quite sure how to feel about the ending. While I’m content with the way the main antagonist was dealt with, there was definitely a huge question raised within the last few pages that never really got resolved. I’m not sure if Luminous was pitched as being part of a series, but I could definitely see Rutherford continuing on with the story.

Rutherford’s beautiful writing style and vivid world building definitely helped bring the story to life. Luminous served as a spot of sunshine amid the dark days of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a novel that readers won’t want to miss!

I received an ARC of this novel curtesy of Netgalley and Inkyard Press, opinions are my own.