The Luminaries is a contemporary fantasy with magical societies, questions of friendship, and complicated family. My heart broke for Winnie, how her family is cast out of the magical society, scorned, and made fun of. All the ways her father's actions have changed their lives forever. Because one of my favorite aspect was how even though Winnie's dad is absent, even in his absence we feel his presence. How the town's silence, their family's reversal of fate, all have his mark on them.

So Winnie is the ultimate underdog - and while everyone loves an underdog, not a traitor as well. I couldn't help but empathize with her resilience, cunning, and recklessness. But quickly her story becomes about unraveling the true danger that faces her community, even if they will not admit it. If you liked books like The Devouring Gray, then this is for you! It has that similar vibe of magic and this communities that are so wrapped up in each other.

The world of the Luminaries is filled with Nightmares and a mystery that will have you hooked! We follow along the story of Winnie Wednesday, an outsider trying to find her way back into the world of the Luminaries, and on her sixteenth birthday, she takes her opportunity and joins the first trial.
The eerie setting was the perfect backdrop for this monster hunting story, Hemlock Falls, with its foggy mornings and the forest, you could just see it all. The monsters and their descriptions were on a leave of their own, terrifying descriptions had me turning pages so fast. Winnie and Jay’s moments were my favorite, their tension-building only makes me want more.

Excited that this will have a sequel and possibly more, I have so many questions since finishing and cannot wait for its continuation.

3.5 stars!

I was immediately sucked into this book. The premise is so interesting! I really loved the creepy, monster-filled forest, the secret monster-hunting society, and the unique characters.

However, I found a lot lacking in this book. The worldbuilding was weak in a lot of areas. It’s such a cool idea and I want to know so much more about Luminaries and the ins and outs of Hemlock Falls! The secondary characters are pretty flat and have very little backstory to explain them. I also wanted so much more out of Jay. It seems to be trying to introduce him as the romantic interest but all I got out of it was that he was *mysterious*.
The plot is also a bit flat. Nothing really happened beyond what is mentioned in the synopsis and a lot of things are left unresolved. P

I am hoping that since this is the first in a series that many of these problems will be solved in subsequent books. Overall, I loved the premise and the ambiance but it fell a bit flat for me.


Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC!!

The Luminaries was such a monster-filled fun paranormal read! Someone else mentioned in their review here that Susan Dennard went back to the pre-2010s YA era to write this and I agree! The vibes were pretty much all there and I had a lovely time reading this 😀

The plot was pretty straight forward and followed along the beats presented in the summary. The story really didn’t stray from that original premise and, while I did have loads of fun reading about Winnie going through her hunter trials, I did find myself wishing this book had been a few chapters longer so we could have gotten some resolution in at least one of the subplots introduced here.

Winnie, as a main character and narrator, was a sweetie. I really enjoyed her perspective and thought Dennard did a fantastic job at establishing Winnie’s drive for more and her determination in changing her family’s situation in the Luminary community. I’m usually not that big a fan of trial/competition stories, but I really liked how that was executed here–I think that might have had something to do with all the monsters lol

The romance was… not my favorite. I guess because it was entirely expected? And I wasn’t convinced of the chemistry between Winnie and her love interest considering their previous history. I did like that the romance element didn’t take the focus away from Winnie’s journey, though!

The ending could have been extended, as I mentioned above, to give us a little more answers to all the questions Dennard raised here. I’m not all that upset about that, in a way? Because I do expect they’ll be developed in the next book. In the end, this was a fun read for the spooky season and I’m really happy I chad a chance to read an eARC for it ❤

THE LUMINARIES is the first book by Susan Dennard that I’ve read, and all I can say is, what have I been doing with my life?!

I was absolutely hooked from the first page. The story world is tense and dangerous, its forest filled with monsters. Winnie had my heart from word one.

At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of the whole clans organized by the day of the week thing? It seemed a little clunky? But once I got into the story and understood how it worked, why it worked, and that different places had the same system but used weekday names in other languages, I kind of got into it.

Okay, also, I loved the stuff with Winnie and Jay. He’s definitely got more secrets than we know about at this point, but that only made me read the book faster. It only makes me want the next book in the series sooner! Haha. I definitely liked the slow burn of their connection and the layered-ness of it.

All in all, I’d say this book is just about unputdownable. I started it in the morning one day and didn’t go to sleep until I’d finished every page. It made me think a little bit of A FAR WILDER MAGIC by Allison Saft, which I also really enjoyed. I haven’t read Susan Dennard’s other books, so I can’t compare this to those, but I’m much more likely to pick up her Witchlands series now.

Review will post on 10/31/22

ARC REVIEW

*no spoilers*

The Luminaries is a YA fantasy novel that follows Winnie Wednesday who dreams of being a hunter. Winnie has grown up in the town of Hemlock Falls where nightmares stalk the woods and the people of the town are tasked with keeping them in check. Winnie is no ordinary member of this group though…four years ago her father was found to be a witch and fled the town while Winnie and her family were outcasted from the community.

The world this author built is unique and exciting. The nightmares are intriguing because the whole feel from the start is that there is more to them than we think. Also, each person in the town has a last name that is a day of the week corresponding to their particular group. So we have characters such as Erica Thursday and Jay Friday. Then each group has their own lodge, motto, and place within the town.

With all that being said this is a strong action packed novel that will leave you excited for book two! I highly recommend to anybody who enjoys magical realism, YA fantasy, and mystery!


*TW infertility and miscarriage discussion below*

I also want to applaud the author for her honesty at discussing how this book came after her miscarriage while in the midst of IVF treatment. Her honesty and openness are so important. I identified so much with her and it made me appreciate the beauty of this novel even more.

Ah, well, this review kind of snuck up on me because I thought I had scheduled blog posts through my return from vacation (Universal/Disney adventure). So here we go with a hurriedly typed on my phone review!!
The Luminaries is honestly a surprise new favorite for a few reasons. Reason number one being that it manages to combine several themes I enjoy in a brilliant way. Winnie Wednesday (the names make want to die) and her immediate family are outcasts in the Hunter society thanks to her fathers betrayal many years ago. Winnie is determined to enter the Hunter Trials despite this in the hopes that if she succeeds, her family will no longer be shunned. I love trial/competition themes when they're well executed, I love a good underdog main character, and boy do I adore a good secret society, especially if they are out fighting supernatural critters/beings.
The second thing I love (and I'm totally stealing this from someone else) is that this has the vibes of a YA book from circa 2010, but it's GOOD and has some more modern aspects for sure. I think it's a combination of the themes, the age group of the characters, and the relationship between Winnie and her friends and family. Her mom tries hard but can't get things quite right and is definitely a bit frazzled. Her former friends are the hot, ultra talented monster Hunter dude and the equally gorgeous but snobby girl, but they're much deeper than that. Winnie is sort of accidentally successful and halfway stumbles her way through things. I'm probably doing an awful job of explaining that, but if you've read it I'd love to know what you think!
I would like to point out that the supernatural aspect is actually quite cool as well! The monsters are varied and have some cool lore behind the origins. And there's a group that sort of aids the monsters and the spirit that forms/attracts them, which are in opposition to the Hunters. It's rather vague in the first book, but the second book is going to have more info, especially with that ending! There's werewolves, shifters, banshees, and a new mysterious blob that has the most ridiculous descriptions ever, plus just about anything else you could think of.
Overall, I was delighted by this book and read it SO FAST. I didn't want to put it down and never for a moment found my attention waning. I loved the characters, loved the weird, elite secret Hunter society, and I liked seeing how the author handled outcast Winnie suddenly becoming accepted again. The names were a bit silly, but after a few chapters I didn't really notice it anymore. I can't wait to see what the next installment holds!

3.5 stars
Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Luminaries to review!
The Luminaries is about a small town called Hemlock Falls where a spirit resides. Every night when the spirit goes to sleep the nightmares come out in the forest. The nightmares can be anything from a werewolf to a large arachnid. The people of the town are called the Luminaries and everyone in the town belongs to one of the 7 clans, one for each day of the week. The hunters of each clan fight the nightmares of the forest on their respective nights. Winnie Wednesday's family was shunned from their clan four years ago when her father was exposed as a traitor to the Luminaries. On the night of her 16th birthday Winnie decides to participate in the first trial to enlist as a hunter in hopes of being able to follow her family's heritage as famous hunters and to restore her family's name.
I thought this book was really cute! It was an easy read that was also really spooky and great for the Halloween season! I thought all the characters were written really well, I LOVED Jay as a love interest and Winnie's family and the twins were so sweet the whole time. I thought that learning all about the clans and the hunter trials was very interesting. And I also thought that the whole aspect of the story that surrounded Winnie and her family getting reacquainted with the Luminaries life was very interesting. It kind of portrayed mob mentality at its finest.
A few qualms I had with this book. Although I thought it was a good read, I also didn't think it was anything grand or anything I haven't seen before, hence the 3 stars rating. My other major qualm with this book was that literally nothing was resolved in the end!! Like zero part of the mystery was solved. AND YET I didn't even feel like it ended on a cliff hanger. Don't ask me how that makes sense but it does. This book did a lot of setting up and not a lot of resolution. It was also slow going at times and just didn't grab me as much as a hoped it would. Overall, good but not great, I might pick up the sequel, I might not, TBD.

I received the eARC through NetGalley and Macmillan/Tor Teen.

So some stories are cookie-cutter; the same idea, same plot, but just retold in a different way. This book is nothing like that. It was such a different and creative concept. The background of the forest and the creation of the monsters were a little confusing to follow at first - mainly because it’s not a cookie cutter story. But after a little while, I was able to get sucked in and had a hard time putting the book down.

I hated most of the town for being so cruel to Winnie and her family. I felt so bad for Winnie and don’t blame her for her choices.

I’m not sure how many books will be in the series, but we are left with a lot of unanswered questions and suspicions that I NEED the next book NOW!
🐻
Did you know that the concept for this story was an interactive Twitter poll in which readers were allowed to vote on what they wanted to happen next in the story? Make sure to read the acknowledgments in the back of the book when you read this story to hear about it. What a fun idea!

Let me start off by saying, I wasn’t expecting this book to be set in our world. I thought it was going to be set in a fantasy world, like the author's previous work, but after that initial surprise it didn’t take long for me to get really engrossed in the story.

The main character Winnie and her family are outcasts in their little community of monster hunters. But when she finds a loophole that allows her to take the hunter trials to become a Luminary, and restore her family’s name. But the trial is not like she imagined, and turns out the forest is more dangerous than anyone first thought.

I really adored Winnie. She’s strong-minded and clever, but also vulnerable and self-doubting. She’s very relatable, and is the kind of underdog you will cheer on because she deserves a win in life. Her emotional turmoil that cut through the pages, to be an outcast from something out of your control and the desire to prove herself worthy of love. As well as the conflict of wanting to fit into a group, when also knowing it’s flaws. She also wears glasses, and I felt so seen by this. Furthermore I loved the fact that Winnie had some actual good friends that were always there for her, always kind and supportive.

The Luminaries is such a fun and refreshing read, while also being wonderfully creepy. The forest and the monster, “nightmares”. The lore is super interesting and there’s an amazing eerie atmosphere throughout the book. The nightmares are not only portrayed as scary monsters, but also creatures that Winnie can’t help but be fascinated with. Because she’s a nerd, even in the deadliest situations will be interested in them, and want to update her material with her new knowledge of them. It was something almost humorous about it, that I also really related to.

The Luminaries is a wild, fun and fast-paced story that had me hooked from the first page to the very last one. I’m ready for book two, as I was left with so many questions after the book ended, and I need more of this world and Winnie!

I don't think this author is for me... When I was reading it I was thinking that I also felt the same things about TOG by Sarah J. Maas — I didn't have the best experience with it —, then I remembered that she and Susan are good friends. Windwitch also gave me the same vibes... some boring ones.

"You either trust the forest or you don't, Winnie."

I couldn't get into the story and the main character was kinda dull. Nothing was extraordinary about Winnie (maybe just the name and that's because I love Winnie the Pooh so...) and I didn't care enough about her.

The main idea was interesting, yet the execution was common and it didn't stand out among the other stories with young people who hunt supernatural beings.

I liked some magical elements and the structure of their "organization". It also has that mysterious element which makes it good for an autumn read. I also love that cover, it was the one who drew me to this book! ❤️

Firstly, I would like to thank NetGalley, Macmillan and Tor Teen for an e-arc of this book.

It's been a long while since I read a Susan Dennard book. I had read the first three books in her Witchland series when they were first published but unfortunately, never carried on. But when I heard about this new book that was inspired by the work she had previously shared in her newsletters I was intrigued!

And as with most books, I went into this completely blind.

It took a hot second to get acquainted with the story as you are introduced to a horde of new mythical creatures that you think you are familiar with until you read their descriptions. But you quickly understand what they are and the role of The Luminaries in defending the populous from them.

I think it's difficult in books to fail on pacing when the main element has a tournament aspect as you know it will need to hit each major beat. And I think this book did deliver. Stylistically it keeps a reader engaged with all the action elements and keeps you wondering about the outcomes.

While I found the main character Winnie felt a little flat - her tenacity was engaging but her indecisiveness felt almost whiney - the mystery behind the character Jay has me coming up with multiple theories I am hoping will be revealed in the following books.

My only main criticism of the book was the fact that there almost wasn't enough backstory. You get the impression that The Luminaries is a group of people who have been protecting society from these nightmares for centuries across multiple geographies. However, we're not really told the extent of this. While I understand readers sometimes have an aversion to too much backstory - I think with the scope of this book, it is almost needed. Similarly, we're informed of a rival group the Dianas but asides from being told that want to harness the power of the nightmares we are not granted any information on why there is such a rivalry between the two groups.

Overall, I am excited for the next book in the series. The book concluded on a bit of a cliffhanger which I believe allows for the next book to fill in the gaps I had with the rival Diana group.

A special thanks to Netgalley for sending me an E-arc of this book. I just want to say this, Winnie was probably my least liked character I've read about in a while. I can really tell that this is a debut novel, not saying that the book is bad but I've been reading a while now and I can just tell. It was kind of hard to get into this one. Usually I can read at a break neck speed but I put this one down every chance I could. I feel like there was so much repetition that I felt like I read the same sentence over and over again. The concept was really cool and I was hoping that the Trials were going to be really exciting but for me they just kind of flopped. I would recommend this one for a younger audience, like someone just entering into high-school.

Hemlock Falls is something else. It's not on maps, people in general don't know about the place. And here, lives a secret society of sorts. An organisation known as The Luminaries, who protect the people from Nightmares lurking in the forests. Real nightmares like Banshees, Warewolves, Vampiras and such. The society consists of a few clans named after the days of the week. (too cute this part but also confusing) We have our MC, Winnie Wednesday, whose family and herself got outcasted years back after finding out her dad was actually a spy for their rivals. Now at sixteen, she joins the hunting trials in order to get her family's name back in the society. It's a story of loyalty, upholding your name and your rights. About friendship. Secrets and lies. Deception. And of course, the urban fantasy aspect with all the hunting and fighting and eliminating the Nightmares. Which includes something new that scares even the regular Nightmares themselves.

The premise is definitely refreshing. Something away from the common faes and whatnots. It's like Shadowhunters of some sorts. While the premise had promise, the worldbuilding and overall flow felt slightly stunted. I attribute it to this being the first in a series so i guess i understand the slow build up. It was most definitely atmospheric and haunting. The MC is a tough and determined girl, stubborn yet eager despite actually being scared shitless. All because she knew she needed change for her family. I had difficulty in remembering who was who though cause mind you, there were alooooot of characters with different roles and positions. So with all the questions lingering in my head from book 1, i am expecting answers from book 2.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and devoured it quickly. It was a fascinating exploration of coming of age, belonging, and self-knowledge in the face of adversity.

Winnie's family has be ostracized from their community because of her father's actions and she decided to participate in community trials to regain her's and her family's status. Hunger Games meets Harry Potter (the later books).

It was a nice, fun read and I'd read the next book in the series to find out more.

Susan Dennard, the author most known for her wtichlands series, is back with a brand new novel in the genre of contemporary fantasy. This is definitly taking a much sinister route as it sounds like its full of dark magic and it does have a very like YA plot, like something you typically see which I’m sure will make a lot of die hard YA readers happy. So It’s set In a world where monsters and nightmares exist and people train to hunt them down in fact a secret society called The Luminaries guards the forest and stops the monsters from escaping into this town. Our 16 year old protagonists winnie and her family are unfortunately outcasts because of her father being revealed as a spy. Well she is finally able to enter these trials the town holds in hopes of earning their trust again. So we got some angst, a competition, dark spooky forest, definitly a fall read if you’re looking for one.

"All around the world, the Luminaries live near fourteen sleeping spirits. Each night, when the spirits dream, their nightmares come to life. And each night, the Luminary hunters guard the world against those nightmares, one clan for every day of the week."

The atmospheric forest is cultivated perfectly for the witchy environment and overall tone of The Luminaries. Hemlock Falls isn't like other towns. You won't find it on a map, your phone won't work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie's town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night.
Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family's good name. Or die trying.
But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for.

The characters were well developed and I liked the relationships represented, but the creepy tone is what sold me in the end.

Thank you to Tor Teen and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC.

Secret society of nightmare hunters? What more could you ask for. This is a fantastic paranormal YA novel that sets you up for book 2 so well, I’m very excited to see how this series continues. Excellent pacing and interesting plot.

Rating: 3.5

I really liked the idea of this book with a secret society that hunts monsters and keeps humanity safe. That in itself isn’t such a unique idea, I’ve read plenty of books that have a similar premise but I enjoyed Susan Dennards take!

The plot was pretty straightforward, with Winnie trying to pass her hunter trials so that her family will be accepted by the Luminary society again after her father was revealed to be a witch traitor. And again, trials/competitions are pretty prevalent in YA but I loved the way that the monsters made it feel unique.

I wish that we had gotten more backstory on the monsters and their origins because it was really interesting that they come from a spirit that dreams them up, and the older the spirit gets the more the monsters evolve. I’m hoping we get more of that in the next book, considering the way a few plot lines ended and the clues that were dropped about the witches and Winnie’s dad.

I liked the way that the clans were set up with days of the week, so there is the Monday clan, Tuesday clan, Wednesday clan, etc. The only thing I’m not super clear on is that’s also people’s last names, but not everyone in a clan has that last name and they aren’t actually all related so I’m not sure how that ends up as a last name for a bunch of unrelated people.

I didn’t love this as much as I was hoping for a few reasons. I’m closer to 30 than I am to being a teen and I found a lot of Winnie’s thoughts and feelings didn’t resonate with me as much now as they would’ve if I were 10 years younger. I found I was getting irritated with Winnie for those moments where she’s wondering what others think of her outfits and if someone likes her or not and at times it read even younger than that. There were also things that made me cringe, like the fact that Winnie’s full name is Wednesday Winona Wednesday. I can’t decide if I think that’s creative or uncreative, but when I read that part about her name, I rolled my eyes so hard I felt like I could see my brain.

I would love to see more worldbuilding in the second book some more fleshing out of characters like Jay and the twins who seem really interesting, but there just wasn’t a lot of development especially with Jay.

I enjoyed this book while reading it, and I’ll probably pick up the sequel because I was intrigued, but with how many exceptional fantasy books I’ve read this year this one just doesn’t stand out as much as I wanted it to.

My first Dennard and definitely not my last, this was a fresh idea for young adult fantasy and I kept thinking I wish I had read books like this in my younger years, however that is also where I struggled a bit as well, the juvenile tone of certain scenarios and relationships left me wanting a bit more maturity.

Excellent in its atmosphere and giving a real spooky, eerie vibe from page one. The characters were fascinating and I was committed to their journey. Some more world building I think would of brought this book into a higher rating and I think will
be one of the biggest criticism this series sees.

Predictable in plot but wildly original in concept , a book worth checking out for younger audiences who enjoy YA fantasy.

Thank you to @TorTeen and @Netgalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.