This YA horror is an urban fantasy that follows Winnie through 3 trials to become a hunter of nightmares. While the world building was slim it was a good amount for YA. We got fun side characters, a mystery brewing with her MIA father, and lots of nightmares in the forest. I definitely recommend for those who like YA urban fantasy horror who don’t mind that it’s a little simpler than adult fantasy!
Pub Date: Nov 1st, 2022
Pages: 304
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I received an eARC and I was so excited for this book. I love The Withclands and I felt this would be another favorite. It turned out to be so boring I DNFd it 27% through. There is nothing remotely inresting happening. We are given a surpluss of information that tells us so much and yet nothing. The heavy narration only made the pacing drag on so unnecesarily. None of the characters gave me anything worth knowing about. And what was worse, the overuse of onomatopeias. I expected to have CLICKS, ZIPS, and KNOCK on a grade school book. Certainly not on a near Adult urban fantasy. Its both distracting and off putting. Definitely a dissapointing and dull read.

I absolutely loved this book. The way the author wrote it and had the main characters inner monologue and feelings made me feel like I was her because how she reacts to things is exactly how I would. I loved the idea behind this book and it was executed so perfectly. Im going to need the next book like yesterday.

Nightmares and monsters rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night and the Luminaries are the protectors that keep the rest of the town and humanity safe from those nightmares. Winnie Wednesday dreams of being a Luminary, but when her father was outed as a witch her family was shunned. Now on the month of her 16th birthday she has one opportunity to participate in the trials to become a Luminary and hopefully show her family's loyalty to their society.

I thought this book was great. I loved the characters, particularly Winnie and Jay. I cannot wait for the sequel. Two thumbs way up!

Book Review of The Luminaries (The Luminaries #1) by Susan Dennard

Cover Story: Still Death
I dig the dark vibes of this cover and the mix of life and death. There’s little telling what this book is about, but this is the kind of cover that intrigues people from the very first glance.

The Deal:
Winnie Wednesday is a Luminary—or, at least, she was until four years ago when her father was revealed to be a secret enemy of the Luminaries and she, her mother, and her older brother were cast out of the not-so-secret society of nightmare hunters who live in and protect Hemlock Falls. But it’s Winnie’s 16th birthday, and joining the hunter trials, and becoming a full-fledged hunter after completing them, is the only way she and her family can maybe lessen their 10-year-sentence and rejoin the only family any of them have ever known.

BFF Charm: Heck Yes
Winnie is exactly the kind of person I would have loved to be friends with when I was her age. Self-aware yet unsure, confident but not without bouts of indecision. She’s funny and smart and a total badass. I certainly wouldn’t be unkind like all those other jerks who shunned her when she became an outcast.

Swoonworthy Scale: 4
There is a definite and obvious (except to Winnie, but she’s a teenage girl) connection between Winnie and her former best friend turned town bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold Jay Friday. There’s also a lot more to Jay than it seems. But we only get glimpses of what’s possibly to come for the two in this book, which is the first of a trilogy (?).

Talky Talk: The Start of Something Good
The Luminaries is based on a (terribly fun) “choose your own adventure” Twitter thread that Dennard kicked off a couple of years ago featuring ideas and characters from an idea she’d never sold to a publisher. The novel is a new story—though it does feature the same main characters and general worldbuilding—with a few direct nods to the thread (or so Dennard says in her author’s notes).

Dennard is skilled at writing relatable and realistic characters, and the worldbuilding around The Luminary society (more on that below) is unique and fascinating. In general, The Luminaries is a really fun story, but I couldn’t help but feel like it ended just as it was getting good. (I literally had a “wait, what?” moment when I reached the end of the book; I was switching between a physical ARC and the Kindle version and didn’t have the “X minutes until the end of the book” up at the bottom of my device; I was blindsided by the ending.) I know there are additional books to come, but this is definitely one of those series starters that leaves you begging for more.

Bonus Factor: Secret Societies
The Luminaries are a secret(ish) society of people who live in 14 areas around the world where “sleeping spirits” create “nightmares” (a myriad of paranormal creatures) each night. Luminary hunters are tasked with killing these monsters and keeping the world safe. As a Luminary, you belong to one of seven families named after the days of the week* with distinct characteristics and jobs. Basically, the entire town of Hemlock Falls is made up of Luminaries and a few “nons” who’ve been enveloped into Luminary society through relationships or general trustworthiness/usefulness. Dennard glosses over the whole sleeping spirit thing a little bit, but knowing about them is not necessary to enjoy the story; the details about Luminary society, however, are many. (And this kind of secret society is right up my alley.)

*Although the American Luminaries are named Monday, Tuesday, etc., the various other Luminary groups around the world have names that match the language of their location. It’s a small detail, but a very clever one.

Bonus Factor: Mysterious Loner Dude
I offered Jay Friday a provisory place in my personal MLD Hall of Fame during the Twitter thread, but The Luminaries made it official. He’s broody, he rides a motorcycle, he plays bass in a band, he smells of bergamot and lime. He rarely attends school, he shows up to places reeking of weed (but doesn’t actually smoke it?), and yet he’s one of the best hunters the Luminaries has ever seen. He likes Winnie’s glasses! He thinks she’s spectacular! (Even though she thinks he’s making fun of her when he mentions that last thing.) Hemlock Falls’s Most Eligible Bachelor: You’ve got my heart.

Factor: Series Starter
I mentioned this above, but the ending does come unexpectedly fast.

Relationship Status: Book of My Nightmares Dreams
I’ve been excited to read you since the Twitter thread, Book, and you didn’t disappoint. You stole away before I was ready for our date to end, though, so I’m hoping we can get together again soon.

I really enjoyed the Luminaries. My only negative was that I didn't love the pacing. It felt to me like it this should have been one longer book but instead got split up. I am really excited for the sequel, though. The ending really snuck up on me and I was left wanting more! I love Susan Dennard's Twitter and newsletter. I love her world-building and characters.

This surprised me! I wasn't sure what to expect, as I hadn't read anything by Dennard before. The plot was interesting and kept me guessing without being convoluted. It was so unique! Dennard's writing is descriptive without being so lush that it's difficult to parse.

Winnie, our main character, was very fun to follow and her romance with Jay was so sweet.

Definitely a great start to a new series. I'm excited for the rest!

I tried this author’s Witchland series, but it just wasn’t for me. But this book? I couldn’t wait for its release. Everything about its description called my name.

Although set in the modern world, Hemlock Falls is kind of its own world. They’re a pretty closed society, and outsiders have to be vetted before their admittance. Why? Because the town is protected by Luminaries (hunters) from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest every night. You’ve got your garden variety creatures (basilisks, werewolves, kelpies) plus some the author created. It’s a highly dangerous job, and not everyone makes it to retirement. Winnie comes from a long line of hunters and has wanted to continue the tradition as long as she can remember. After it’s discovered her father is a traitor, Winnie, her mother, and brother are shunned and lose their standing in the community for ten years. Winnie thinks her dream is lost until she finds a loophole that allows her to still compete in the Luminary hunter trials. All she wants is acceptance for her family and for things to be the way they were.

Winnie is such an easy character to root for. She’s plucky, brave, and family is her top priority. She’s determined to show everyone they aren’t responsible for her father’s mistakes. Luckily, she has the support of a few friends who stuck by her over the past few years, unlike Jay, her former best friend and now one of the society’s best hunters. Jay piqued my curiosity. There’s something going on there, and he’s definitely holding onto secrets. I’m anxious to learn more about him in the next book.

Besides Jay’s secrets, something’s also afoot in the forest – something that has even the regular monsters running. Winnie saw it (she’s still not sure exactly what it is), but no one believes her, and town leaders reassure the citizens that everything’s under control. It’s not.

I loved the author’s note about the origin of this story – it began as a choose your own adventure Twitter serial. Dark fantasy is one of my preferred genres, and my head was buried in this book from beginning to end. I was annoyed when I had to put it down. I’m anxious to learn the secrets this forest and a certain character are hiding, so the second book can’t get here soon enough.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard is a YA fantasy novel with horror elements and the first book in a new series. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little under ten hours and is narrated by Caitlin Davies. We follow our main character with a solo third-person point-of-view.

Hemlock Falls isn't your typical rural town. The city is protected by the Luminaries, an ancient order that saves the world every night by killing the monsters that appear in the surrounding forest. Winnie Wednesday's family was shunned after her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor years before. To get her family back into their good graces, she decides to take on the sometimes-deadly Luminary hunter trials on her sixteenth birthday. But she might need a bit of help in training from her ex-best friend Jay Friday, aka the resident bad boy.

When I started reading this book, I wasn't aware it was the start of a new series, so please keep that in mind if you're like me and like to binge series. I do plan to continue with the series, as the world seems pretty cool and I have a few theories I'd like to see if I'm correct about.

I'm still a little confused on how the monsters here are formed, and on the "big bad" Dianas--a group of witches who appear to be the mortal enemies of the Luminaries. I'm guessing we'll get more information about those things in later installments of the series.

The pacing goes at a good clip, so if you're looking for some YA to scratch a thriller itch, this could satisfy that craving for you. There's also a wee bit of romance to curb that want as well.

If you dislike repetitious sounds, I want to briefly mention that several characters--including our main character--seem to have a habit of them. Our main character clicks her teeth together, which makes me worry for her dental bills, and another character consistently blows bubbles with bubble gum. I'm guessing these were supposed to be quirks for the characters, or maybe signs of OCD/stims? That's unclear, though.

Tropes in this book include: supernatural creatures, nerdy FMC, FMC with glasses, outsider

CW: body horror, death, murder, gaslighting, abandonment, anxiety, panic attacks

The publisher provided a audio ARC of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Susan Dennard's The Luminaries is the beginning of a brand new contemporary fantasy series set in a place called Hemlock Falls. Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. It’s not on a map, cell phones don’t work there, and you might find a ghost-deer grazing at midnight. It’s also inhabited by the Luminaries, an ancient order charged with guarding the nearby forest. Each night, when nightmares rise, only the Luminaries stand between humanity and these monsters bent on devastation—one clan for each night of the week.

The main character in this book is Winnie Wednesday who is just turning 16. 4 years ago, her father was charged with being one of the hated witches called Diana's which in turn destroyed her mothers role as lead hunter, and made the family outcasts. He hasn't been seen since. Winnie is about ready to change that choice by participating in 3 levels of hunter training. If she passes, her family might be able to regain their reputation. Since nobody is supposed to support her or help her family, Winnie has been training by herself for 4 years to pass the Hunter trials.

She knows that there is no rule against an outcast participating as long as they follow the rules. Not even her Aunt Rachel, who is now lead hunter for the Wednesday clan, can stop her. In this world, there are things called living nightmares, and it is up to the Luminaries aka Hunters to track them down and eliminate them. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it, and that someone may one day be Winnie if she survives. Things don't go as planned for Winnie on her first night after being told to go home. Winnie encounters a new, unknown monster that slaughters a banshee and everyone assumes Winnie did the slaughtering.

She doesn’t correct them. But she does reach out to certain people still friends to find out what the new threat is. Winnie finally accepts help from Jay Friday, the boy from the smallest group of Luminaries and the best hunter in Hemlock Falls. When Winnie encounters the same mysterious threat on her second trial which requires you to remain over night alone and without help, things seem to be turning for Winnie and her family. But the question remains, why does it seem that both a werewolf, and something dangerous always seems to be around whenever she's on the hunt?

The thing I must address is how people turn on a dime when Winnie shows them the error of their ways by successfully completing each part of the trial. People who used to scorn her, or pick on her, or ignore her, now want to be friends with her including a couple rookie hunters. I can't address the issue with Winnie's father because there's a whole lot that has to be revealed, and I hate spoilers. I do know that nothing is going to stop Winnie from finding the truth. Not her Aunt Rachel. Not her former lead hunter mother, and especially not her brother.

I am not one to start a series, and then abandoned it, especially one of Susan Dennard's books, so yes, I will be looking forward to the sequel releasing to find out what happens next.

I missed when Susan Dennard’s choose-your-own-adventure version of this book blew up on Twitter, so I’m glad I was able to go into this blind and still get all of the impact of the story. It was great to finally get to meet the characters from that adventure and to get to see the world.
I really liked this book. It held my attention really well, the pacing was very fast and steady. The characters were very strong and well developed. I thought the world-building was the most outstanding aspect to The Luminaries. I could really feel all of the effort and planning that Dennard put in to building up this setting. It felt very unique to me, although I admittedly don’t read much urbane fantasy.
I also really loved the ending. Plot-wise I would say that was the strongest part. It really left me craving more and I can’t wait for the sequel.
The Luminaries was a really fun read for me, and is a perfect fall read.

This book really was a struggle to finish. I would've given up on it long ago, but I do try to finish the ARCs that I get in order to give them an honest review.

First off, the book kept introducing characters that seemingly never popped up again. It was honestly hard to keep track of who was who and why they were mentioned. I get that there were some high school characters and the author wanted to emphasize that Winnie was bullied and ostracized, but at the end of the book, I couldn't name a single person without looking back--not even her brother. There were just too many people.

There was also a lot of divisions within the "houses" that made it even more confusing. The Fridays had a crappy house and the Mondays had good ones? Tuesdays were all science based? Maybe? It felt like there was an attempt at worldbuilding by introducing the families, but again, it just made it hard to keep track of who was who and why this was even mentioned.

The plot fizzled weakly throughout most of the book. Winnie Wednesday, her mother, and her brother were ostracized by their commune of supernatural hunters because Winnie's father was caught being a spy for the renegade commune called Dianas. However, Winnie is determined that she will become a hunter and sneaks into the first task that all budding hunters have to do. She manages to survive and does so well that she's almost immediately welcome back into the fold.

Winnie has a secret though, it wasn't her that completed the task of killing a supernatural creature. Something else did. And she struggles with whether or not to tell people and risk being ostracized again. Meanwhile, there's more people introduced while she has to complete two other tasks to officially become a hunter.

Most of the book focuses on Winnie wavering back and forth on telling people about this unknown creature while also trying to get other people to believe her. There's the faintest hint of finding out more about her father's alleged betrayal. She completes the tasks. And then the book ends abruptly.

I didn't enjoy the book.

I did read the author's notes afterwards and learned that this book originally started as a Twitter challenge where followers took polls to determine what would happen in the book. This all made sense because the book really feels disjointed and awkward in several places. The pacing bumbles along until finally it jerks to the end.

"The Nightmare" sucked me in. The writing was beautiful and I couldn't want to dive into the rest of the story. I enjoyed learning of the monsters (we had all the originals and some fun new ones) and the build-up of the romance (which felt natural and not overdone).

We follow Winnie Wednesday as she completes the Luminary hunter trials and proves herself loyal - while trying to restore her family's good name after being shunned because her father is a witch and a traitor.

Overall, this was a fun read that will finish quickly and leave you wanting more. You will be left with questions ... but it is a series and I'm hoping we will eventually get the answers we are looking for.

*3.5*
I know that this book will be popular with kids in middle school to early high school, it's right up the alley I would have loved at that age for sure! A world where there are secret societies around the world that hunt nightmares to keep them secret from the average human beings is one I thoroughly enjoy. The characters she built were realistic and I'm so so glad that Dennard touched on some of the trauma Winnie had experienced in a way that felt real - it came through in some of her decisions throughout the book rather than just her inner monologue.

I'll admit some of the world-building felt a little weak at times and I would have loved more of it given that there's a lot of potential with this kind of setting. Also some of the similes and metaphors that Dennard used felt off at times? Like they quite didn't fit with the other prose that Dennard had used prior.

Overall though, it was a really fun book!

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley!

The Luminaries is the first book in The Luminaries; it started as an experiment on twitter where the audience got to direct some of the choices the heroine made and then was converted into a novel. I think because of that, the direction of the story takes a few unexpected twists along the way and sometimes flows a little choppily but it does make for some fun discoveries.

This is an interesting world. There is a forest and along the border of the forest is the small specialized town of Hemlock Falls has different families/clans that are responsible for fighting off the monsters who rise in the night in that forest. Winnie Wednesday's family used to do that too until they became outcasts because of her father. Now she has one chance to save what is left of her family. She is going to have to sneak into the forest on her sixteenth birthday and try to pass the first of the trials to become a hunter. If she can do that, she can help to move her family out of being shunned and prove her loyalty to the clan. The only problem is Winnie is in over her head and if she can't get help she is only going to end up dead.

Jay Friday and Winnie used to be best friends but when her family was shunned he disappeared from her life. Now she needs his help if she is ever going to survive. Seems like Jay has some secrets of his own and while we didn't get to explore them much in this book I'm pretty sure I know what at least one of them is and hope we get to focus on that in the next book.

The shortcoming of this book is I think the worldbuilding wasn't built quite enough. The Luminaries fight the monsters in the forest that rise in the night because they are tied to a great spirit. There are witches who are bad, although I'm not quite sure why or if there could be good witches too. I really wanted to learn more of the Dianas (the bad guys in league with the forest spirits), what the Friday's true function is since they seem to be better fighters than all of the other clans and I really wanted to understand what the really big bad thing in the forest is that seems to warp the world around it.

There is enough in this book to keep me really interested in the series. There are hints to bigger plots afoot and maybe the world Winnie has grown up in has a lot of little dirty secrets that she and a few friends can ferret out. You can tell there is going to be a nice slow burn romance possibly in the future but in the Luminaries there wasn't really enough time to focus on it as Winnie was more worried about trying to survive than kissing boys, which for me was a nice change. The forest was a character all by itself, I can't wait to learn more about the world, the forest and the people of Hemlock falls.

Looking for something with a Pacific Northwest vibe? Gloomy skies and mysterious guys in flannel? A fabulously moody mashup of Holly Black style heroine, Divergent style community where everyone has their role, and the forensic creepiness of the X-Files? Loads of monsters and a monster-slayer with an artists' heart? This might just be your book.

Susan Dennard's The Luminaries is somehow the perfect November book. The kind of book that's perfect for pulling out when the fog rolls in, knowing that you are safe and warm and dry inside, because the forest where Winnie Wednesday hangs out is not a safe place by any means.

Winnie really, really wants to become a Luminary - one of the monster slayers that help keep her community safe from the creatures that roam the forest. She's also hoping that managing to be a successful monster slayer will help reinstate her family in the community, after her father being cast out as a traitor. But in order to prove herself in the monster trials, she will have to a) slay a monster and b) figure out what's actually going on.

Winnie is a fabulous character. Loads of snark, loads of trying to figure out what the heck is going on, loads of ambition. Her relationship with her mom and brother is conveyed beautifully, as is her uncertainty about whether she can actually pull all of this off. And then there's Jay, her ex-best friend. Flannel-wearing, bass-playing, monster-slaying hot guy, who seems to be on board with helping her survive the trials. He's a mystery all on his own, let alone the growing suggestion that there's something very wrong in Hemlock Falls, and maybe not just in the forest.

This is a book that you will easily be able to pitch to fans of Twilight or Holly Black or Naomi Novik's Scholomance. I can hardly wait to find out what happens next, as this is obviously meant to be the first in a series.

This particular author has amazing concepts, but I tend to struggle with the writing style. The writing lags at times, and the beginning is dry as a result. However, the premise stays interesting enough that I could finish the book. We are immersed in the world relatively quickly, though the onslaught of characters was confusing until they were all introduced and the Luminary society was explained. While I could enjoy the story and plot, I do wish the writing didn't seem so flat.

This is my first book by this author, and wow, I was hooked right away! At first the part of having all the characters’ families be sorted by the days of the week was a little confusing/annoying, but I got it, and rolled with it into the story. I loved all the monster or nightmares as they were called. What would be so cool is if there were images within the final print copy somehow, pages from Winnie’s sketchbooks, etc. I mean they sounded creepy, but then when they were described in more detail as Winnie actually encountered each one in person, even creepier!

There was a lot of background history and mythology for this story, this world, these characters. The author did a good job of weaving it throughout the story without much of what I’d call an info dump. It fit into the settings and situations as they went along and only made them keep my attention even more. I read this in about one day, since I was home sick and could barely put it down!

But we’re left with a bit of a cliffhanger, and I don’t know how I can wait for the next book! There are a ton of questions we still need answered, and honestly not much was actually sorted by the end, except for a few answers about her dad and that she has taken the steps she needs to become a hunter.

Loved this one and will be eagerly awaiting the second book!

Pretty standard plot: special families protecting the world from "bad things" (in this case, nightmare spirits). Here the families are sorted by days of the week, and Winnie is a Wednesday but also an outcast due to her father's being a traitor. But there's hope, because Winnie is 16 and can enter the Hunter trials and maybe reverse her family's bad luck. Nothing surprising happens, including the hint of mystery surrounding Jay (a Friday, and Winnie's friend pre-outcast status). Still, probably a good series for readers who haven't tired of these tropes.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!