Stunning magical novel with elements of fantasy, magic and romance. Suitable for Young adult or adult fiction readers. Romance interweaved with elder wisdom containing some great life lessons. A fantastic fantasy read. Thank you to #netgalley and publisher for opportunity to review.

Actual rating: 4.5

I read this as an ARC, courtesy of NetGalley & the publishers & I cannot wait to purchase a physical copy of it!

I don't typically read fantasy, YA, or adult, but the book's description lured me in & once I started reading, the writing gripped me & I did not want to put it down. The world-building and character-building was great, I particularly liked the mention of typical folklore figures such as fairies, dryads & spriggans, but my favourite character was Harito because who doesn't love a cute gargoyle?

One thing I also really liked that I've not seen other people comment on, so it might have just been something I took from the book, was how the book subtly brought up the issue of climate change & human nature. The book made several references to humans not respecting the natural environment, our greed for material things & the effect of this on the world & our wellbeing, such as the increase in mental health issues. I thought this was cleverly incorporated into the storyline & while it didn't feel to overbearing, it made you reflect!

Essentially, I liked everything about this book: characters, storyline, world & pacing. I was so happy when I realised it was a series (something I didn't realise when I first started reading) because I didn't want the story to end already & I cannot wait for the next book!

*NOTES REGARDING OTHER REVIEWS*

I have included the link of this review on Goodreads.
I will also be posting a shorter version on Instagram shortly before the books release. If you could like details on this then please do not hesitate to contact me at Leah.maystanford@gmail.com.

I requested an arc based on the cover and blurb but 'Luminiferos' wasn't for me. Fantasy is my favourite genre, and the world-building was interesting enough, but the narrator is honestly a bit boring. As mentioned by other reviewers, the writing style is also very tell not show, which creates long sections of explanations without much to engage the reader. I found myself disinterested and not looking forward to continuing the story.

This book was overall an interesting concept that had me intrigued because of it's stunning cover and how it was described, it gave me "Magical, Harry Potter-esque with philosophy" vibes, which were curious for me to say the least.

The premise was relatively interesting and had me going through this book quickly to get to the end, but I will admit the plot was at times confusing and lacked the "oomph" that made me really interested in it. This was a case of wanting to finish the book in hopes towards the end it got better. And I do think by the end it was interesting, but it felt like it took a long time to actually get there. This definitely feels and reads like a YA novel, which explains some aspects of the book, but overall, it felt a little underdeveloped, I'm hoping that the next books in the series progress the plot further and get things really going!

This is the author's debut novel, and I definitely think the rest of the series has potential, I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for more by this author to see how the plot could potentially progress!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

LITERALLY every woman who is considered "beautiful" or "good" is described as THIN or SLENDER. The author says it - I am NOT EXAGGERATING - about 50 times, about multiple beautiful or good women - repeatedly declaring them as small, slender, thin. It is absolutely infuriating. Meanwhile, there's a "big" butch, broad woman who is "bad" and hits Lilly (her original personal trainer), Of course she's described as huge, broad, and big. It is repulsive this author repeatedly, repeatedly, REPEATEDLY uses physical beauty and small bodies for women to equate them with "good".

I struggled to finish this as I didn't engage with the writing style. It felt little choppy, very "tell me" VS "show me" and felt like it should be aimed at a younger audience.

The premise is good, and there were elements that pushed me to keep going even though I wasn't really enjoying it so I'd still give this three stars.

I can guarantee it'll be well loved by some - it just wasn't for me. I'll maybe give it another go in the future.

2.5/5

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

DNF'd around 52%. I might skim the rest to see how the story ends, as the story itself was interesting and had great potential. Unfortunately, there's too many technical issues for me to have the patience to continue. I don't feel that I'm going to change my opinion from here on out.

The MC, Lilly, is an orphan in modern times who was left at an orphanage when she was 5, but has always had constant dreams about where she's from - another realm. The story starts with her searching for this "parallel world" at age 18, and she describes all the research she'd done. She'd deep dived into philosophy and different theories to try to solve it, which at first seemed like an interesting mystery. The book is marketed, after all, as having a philosophical twist.

Maybe it happens later in the book... but Plato was mentioned once in the first 5% then no philosophy is ever applied or mentioned again. In fact, when Lilly is later asked what fields of study appeal to her, she says quantum theory. There's little to no philosophy. Most of the book is a chunk of dialogue with little to no "he said with a smile" or "she said" or anything. There were multiple points in the first 30% where I had 4+ pages of nothing but dialogue.

The dialogue is how the world-building was delivered, and it sucks because it was a huge Q&A every. single. time. Lilly talked to anyone for the first 30%, often times without any reason other than just curiosity. Which I guess is valid given her situation. The world itself is interesting, and the building would've been great if it wasn't in info dumps.

The pacing is also... nonexistent. Lilly would meet someone, someone would warn her about them, and suddenly that new person was evil and the whole plot and multiple pages were dedicated to her whining about how evil they were. With little to no interaction, context, or reasoning. There was also a sudden time jump. A chapter suddenly goes "it's been two months" and Lilly is head over hills in love with a guy. We don't see the build up. Then suddenly she's hurt when miscommunication that *she* created occurs, and she doesn't bother to ask about it.

And this might be based on where the author is from, but dialogue written in single apostrophes 'like this' instead of quotation marks kept confusing me. I hope that in the final version (especially if it's the final US version) that it's changed to quotation marks.

Overall, I'm disappointed. It all feels like immature adventures of a 14 year old not an 18 year old. She claims to be strong but she's quick to judge and listen to others' opinions. Which 18 isn't grown up, don't get me wrong. But She feels more middle school than "been on her own and exploring for 2 years in Europe." The writing itself has some beautiful descriptions and some gripping moments, then there's multiple pages in a row of dialogue or miscommunication that's resolved in the next chapter or two then lather, rinse, repeat. It seems poorly edited. The flow suffers, and so far this is my most disappointing read of the year.

[BOOK REVIEW]

LUMINIFEROS: The Omen of Light (Luminiferos #1) by: Yana Metro

▫️Star rate: ♾⭐

Time check... it's 12:54 in the morning here in Sweden and I just finished the first book if the Luminiferos series.
I'm having a major book hangover right now but I'm not complaining at all ☺
Thank you, Netgalley and Yana Metro, for this amazing opportunity.

Firat of all, this book is giving me a Mortal Instrument/Shadowhunter vibe, and I'M SO FREAKING IN LOVE with it! 😍❤

I really didn't know what to expect when I read the book, but it was a page turner for me. I couldn't put it down. 

This book just left my mouth hanging because of the ending. I was like, WTFH?! Holy sh*t!  I NEED MORE! I need the second book right now because, hell no, that was the ending.

This book has everything that I love in a fantasy story. Full of action, scary/sad moments, couch-grabbing moments, heart-warming romance, a right amount of comedy, and a cute-ass gargoyle sidekick. Now, who wouldn't want that? (I need a Hairito plushie so bad!😍) 

I always imagine the settings when I'm reading the book, and I'm always in awe of how magical it is. Everything feels magical about this book.

You will never be disappointed as soon as you read this story.
This book doesn't deserve five starts because of how amazing it is. If infinity stars exist, that would be my rating for this story.
It is magically epic! Completely mind blowing!🔥💕

▫️Favorite quote: "I don't want three hundred years if they're spent without you." 😭💕

What a captivating book! I was quiet drawn to the cover design, but the blurb had me sold for upcoming adventures and mysteries. I couldn’t wait to start and the stores did not disappoint.

An all round wow and I can’t wait for the sequel.

This book has got a good premise, but it didn't live up to my expectations. The world building is good. You get a lot of information about it. However, the book never really grabbed me which was mainly due to the choppy writing. It felt as if written for a younger audience, which made it less appealing for me. The characters, especially Lilly, seem to lack depth and show no character development. I finished it because I was reading it for a review otherwise I would not have finished it. The book did get a little better after 2/3 of the book because there was more action. Overall I didn't really like it, so give it only 2 stars. I won't continue the series.

I adore that cover! It's the first thing I noticed, of course, and it is just beautiful. The description of the book was also quite interesting and I thought it was something I (and a friend) could enjoy. We were looking for a book to read together and this seems to fit the bill. Unfortunately, neither of us truly enjoyed it. The writing was just not as engaging and it felt that it is aimed at younger audience.

I expected a magical world and mostly, the book delivered that. This universe I could really loved but near the end, I felt there was a lot of info dump; there was more and more and more but it's nearly the end of the book!

What I really did not like was the characters. I'm not enamored with the protagonist and the romance, I didn't really feel the sparks though that might have something to do with not liking the MC in the first place.

The tropes you expect in this type of book were there exactly as they are meant to be so the supposed to be twists weren't really surprising either. So, okay maybe this is not the book for me but others do seem to enjoy it; do check out other reviews.

<i>My thanks to BooksGoSocial for ecopy of book via NetGalley in exchange of my honest thoughts</i>

Lilly lives parellel lives... She eventually enters a magical portal into a magical world. Along the way, she meets many new magical friends. Terrific world-building with an interesting magic system. I love the sweet romance in it. Looking forward to the sequel.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Luminiferos is worth the read and here’s why…

While I would have liked Lilly to be slightly older (to avoid any mixed feelings about her relationship and because nobody finds themselves at 17) I did really like her character. It was interesting to read that she was both strong willed but didn’t know who she was. Often those two characteristics aren’t written into one character but it felt very real world and relatable. I really liked the other characters as well who also had some conflicting characteristics written into them. I like that the group had different views on certain things but could still be friends.

The world building was awesome. While this book begins in the ‘real’/human world, Lilly discovers a hidden world right under her nose. The explanation of how this was possible was interesting, I liked it.

Now to the plot. The first 2 months Lilly spent in Faivendei felt very rushed, I would’ve liked to hear more about her day to day life and the relationships she built before it got to the actual plot. There were other parts also felt rushed or glossed over. I think it could’ve been a slightly longer book with a little more description and I wouldn’t have minded. Once the story moved into the full plot, the writing was much more appealing. This is the kind of plot where you must know what happens next, un-put-down-able.

I really like the whole finding herself concept and liked that she said she was still finding herself but Will made her happy instead of her finding herself because of a guy. I also do love a ‘touch her and you die’ kind of relationship

I loved the reveal of Lilly’s gift. It was well written and showed that it is possible to be overwhelmed by such things.

A lot of talk about emotions which is different for a fantasy, not sure where I stand on it. I think it worked well but I’m not a big feelings person. I’m saying this, I did learn from this recurring theme and the talk surrounding it.

Overall, I really loved this book. The ending was so nice with an air of finality until the very last part where it was clear the story wasn’t over.

And lastly, a thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this book.

This book did not disappoint. What a world. This story was so immersive and interesting. Lilly was such a likable character and I was routing for her the entire time.

This book was alright, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it. The characters were alright didn’t feel like much depth or growth, the storyline was interesting and seemed to move at fast enough pace which I liked. Overall not horrible but could’ve been better.

I was drawn in by the stunning cover and the summary of the story. I was hooked by the second chapter and could not wait to see where it would go, however that's when things got a bit rocky. The descriptions in the story were great. I could really envision the Spirit World and the cast of characters.

The story started out feeling like a dark New Adult fantasy and became a YA story quite quickly. Lilly finds the parallel world she's been searching for quite quickly and there is initial conflict with her being there. Then we time jump two months and are told that these people who didn't want her there are now fine with it and this one who was a jerk is now in love with her and these three are now like sisters. It really prevented us from understanding the relationships that formed, grew, and deepened. We also find out Lilly's true identity and role in the new world. She is the last of her kind, they've been extinct for ages, but somehow everyone knows how she's supposed to use her power. That also lead to some magical rules that felt icky for lack of a better word. When she's being taught how to call up her power the conversation feels like being gaslit by an abuser.

I really wanted to like this story much more than I did, but it just wasn't a good fit for me.

From a vivid world to a complex magic system, Luminiferos by Yana Metro is a fast-paced, action filled fairy tale full of evil villains, a strong female protagonist and a cute little gargoyle I simply cannot get enough of!

Synopsis (no spoilers)
Lilly White has spent her entire life trying to get back to the Spirit World, even though she is told it is all just dreams. When she finally does manage to find her way back, she's confronted by a past she'd all but forgotten, an evil force trying to destroy everything she loves, and a gang of misfit friends which give her something even more to fight fore.

While at times this story seems like an allegory for climate change and environmental degradation, at it's heart it's a familiar trope; a girl learning to harness her own power, discovering love and an inner strength she didn't know she had. Lilly White is a complex protagonist, with motives sometimes a little uncertain and a power which needs more description. Metro's talent is truly in her world building. She paints a luscious landscape the reader can absorb with every sense, and I found myself lost in her descriptions of the enchanted forest. While Metro definitely needs to work on honing some of her craft when it comes to showing not telling and creating believable, conversational style dialogue, this story is still tons of fun, and a great, easy read. I'd recommend this book for YA readers who love fantasy, a healthy dose of romance and a love for the natural world and a desire to protect it.

I want to thank Yana Metro and NetGalley for the ARC of Luminiferos I received.

Im rating this book honestly and received an ARC of it from netgalley. all my statements in this review are honest and my own.

I really enjoyed this book, particularly the world building. Metro created a very vibrant and exciting world for this story to take place. I also couldn't help but fall in love with Gargoyle. I absolutely love the cover of this book and will purchase it immediately when it is released. The writing style is something im not used to personally but I got accustomed to it pretty quickly. This book wont be for everyone but it is good

Honestly, this book wasn’t awesome but it also wasn’t bad at all. I think that the book was a bit juvenile even for YA. Despite being juvenile, the prose itself was generally good and the world building was really great. There was a bit too much “tell don’t show” rather than “show don’t tell” going on.

The concept of the book is incredibly interesting and the plot certainly lives up to the description but the characters really fell a bit flat for me. Its very obvious that the MMC was created to satisfy the “tall, dark hair, wings, deep voice, blue eyes” thing that is currently popular. Other than that, he has essentially no personality. The FMC might have even less of a personality and she’s the one narrating! Her whole bit is that she is lost emotionally and she really sticks to that throughout the book. Some of the supporting characters were great like Haritio and Vesta, but I genuinely wish I had more of all of them. The book could have easily been longer to do some more diving into each character. Just more description on who they are, why we should or shouldn’t trust them, and how their powers work would be nice.
The magic/spirit system of the world was very well fleshed out, but that of the characters was much less fleshed out.

Reading the summary of this book, I was rather excited. A fusion of romance, fantasy, and philosophy. A young FMC searching for another world, a world she is certain she was once part of... I was in precisely the right mood for such an adventure when I opened this up on my Kindle and dived in.

The story is told through the FMC's point of view, and while I generally enjoy 1st person POV, I hated it in this story. The FMC, Lilly, spends essentially the entire story doubting and second-guessing herself. I've never read something where the excessive descriptive prose actually got on my nerves. It was too much. Everything was described in so much detail that it became tedious. There was so much telling and very little showing through the whole story, All of those things ended up souring the experience for me. I didn't connect to the characters really at all.

The pacing was also an issue for me. A few chapters in, once Lilly has achieved the very important goal of finding the parallel world she dreamed of her whole life, the story then skips ahead two months. Although Lilly has found her true home and met lots of new people, the story skips ahead and we get zero insight into Lilly's experiences settling into this new world. While we're promised the found family trope, we're simply told that Lilly cares for her new friends but we never see how she actually formed those bonds because it gets skipped over. Then there's Lilly's relationship with Will. We are set up to expect angst between the two of them, but because the story skips forward the way it does, we see none of the details of how their relationship grows. We learn that Will is tasked with watching her in a way that hints that there will be some tension because he perhaps doesn't trust her. But once the story skips ahead, Lilly and Will are in love and all the little details we got up to that point are essentially forgotten. I don't hate the insta-love trope, but I do hate it when a story sets the reader up for specific things and then fails to deliver. I also hated how preachy Will's dialogue felt at times. He sounded like a positivity guru...but a toxic one.

I really wanted to love this story so much. The cover is absolutely stunning. The premise is truly interesting but it just fell utterly flat for me under the weight of poor pacing, preachy undertones of love and light versus dark, redundant descriptive prose, and flat characters whose names I forgot within hours of reading.

As always, I want to thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review a copy of this e-ARC.