A wonderful finale to a magical, gripping story! All the tension built in the previous books, the yearning, mysteries, and the uniqueness of this world has exploded on the page like no other, and I was entranced! I love Susan's witty, teasing, and magical writing! I devour all her books!

The Whispering Night is a satisfying conclusion to a much-anticipated final installment in the Luminaries. Loose ends are tied up, although rather hastily. I particularly wish the character development of Winnie’s family could have been fleshed out more, and I feel like Erica’s POV was a bit contrived and wanting. However, I do recommend to those who have read the first two installments to round out their Dennard journey.

These are fun, almost cozy fantasy with magic, mayhem, and fantastical creatures in the mix.

I was so hyped for this release and could hardly wait after the way Book 2 ended! And let me just say—this finale did not disappoint. Once again, the book kept up the fast pace of the previous installments, pulling me in from the very first page and never letting go.

Honestly, this book was perfect. The pacing was spot on, guiding both the reader and Winnie through revelations in such a satisfying way—either confirming what we already suspected or completely turning our assumptions upside down. Every open thread was tied up beautifully, with all the answers falling into place in a way that made perfect sense.

The plot twists? Absolutely fantastic. They were shocking in the moment, yet looking back, you can see how cleverly they were built up—subtle hints sprinkled throughout but never too obvious.

Overall, this was the best book in the series and a super strong conclusion to an already incredible story. I couldn’t have asked for a better finale.

Oh, the Luminaries series, my beloved. I have been feral, waiting for the release of The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard, the final (for now?) installment in her paranormal YA series. So much was happening at all times and we learned more about the world, along with some extra background building. This was so close to perfect, stumbling just a little toward the end.

With how spread out each book is, it’s hard to remember that all of this is taking place within a 1-3 month period. I know I didn’t remember until Winnie mentioned it at one point. And damn, that’s just so much to have to deal with in such a short period of time as a barely 16 year old. This is basically just a Winnie struggle book. Struggling to balance school and life and luminary responsibilities. Struggling to find peace between her boyfriend and her former best friend. Struggling with being the only one to know about The Whisperer. I think, because of these struggles, book out of the three is the one that felt the most YA to me. Juveniles will relate to this need to solve everything on their own and having to figure out how to live life, solve problems, while having the troubles of maintaining a school presence. All I could think was forget school, tell an adult!

The relationships were interesting. I love that we get Jay and Winnie comfortable with each other, with being affectionate and together. But, here’s the thing. The friendship between Winnie and Erica, I just couldn’t see what was worth salvaging. Especially as we get further into the book, it left me thinking Winnie deserved so much better. Sometimes, friendships aren’t meant to be forever. Sometimes, the hurt is too deep and you need to stand up for yourself. Erica dropped Winnie so easily, unlike Jay who struggled with it and had a valid reason. And Winnie simply shrugs it off and welcomes her back. And continues to welcome her back no matter how many times she’s hurt by it. Winnie’s brother also made my list. Winnie took it upon herself to do anything she could to bring her family back into good standing but Darian is content to put his family on the back burner, put Winnie through trauma and troubles so long as he keeps his entry level assistant job. It feels like so many people in this book let Winnie down (except Jay, you keep staying the shining star you are Jay Friday.) But it makes me sad because it’s framed that Winnie’s loyalty is such a great thing but it feels like it just ends up hurting her when the loyalty isn’t repaid. The loyalty should have been toward Britta and Emma and Fatima, who were by Winnie’s side even during her banishment.

Plot wise, it feels like there are so many strands working against and with one another. It makes everything feel chaotic and frenetic, but ultimately satisfying. Most things (that I can recall at least) are answered or resolved. But, it’s one of these resolutions that resulted in such a heavy disappointment to me that I had to knock a half star off the review. It felt like a cop out – not what happened but how it was written, how it was described (or not described more like.) Winnie may not have had the words for it, but we still should have gotten them.

All of that to say, The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard is an enjoyable conclusion to her Luminaries trilogy. I didn’t think this review would be so long, but I guess I had a lot of thoughts and though it sounds negative, it’s only because I feel so strongly protective over Winnie and this series. I’m glad it ended here, simply because the realities of Winnie and Jay remaining happily ever after into adulthood seems farfetched. Not because of them, but because of how life tends to be. It would be interesting to see if we get a new book in this universe, who it focuses on and what more we’ll learn and see.

A+++
Oh. My. God.

This was honestly everything I could have ever hoped for and I'm not kidding when I say The Whispering Night might be the best book I’ve read all year. I am so happy with the ending I barely know where to begin.

I haven't been this excited and happy about a series in so long and I'm so sad that it's over but elated on the high note it ended on. Subsequently, I've actually re-read the entire series over and picked up on so many subtle things I missed on my first go. The was WN tied things up? Love.

If you like fantasy, Magic gone wrong + right, a murder mystery, complex realistic characters who have wonderful organic growth then pls try the Luminaries Series by Susan Dennard. As you've seen I cannot stop yapping about this enough and I apologize because I don't see that stopping soon.

The final book in The Illuminaries trilogy rounded this fantastic series off perfectly. This is that rare trilogy with no tricky middle book or disappointing ending, every book was a solid 5 stars for me.

I absolutely love the world of Hemlock Falls. This tight-knit community with the various clans and their differing skills and styles really had me gripped.

Winnie has been through a lot in a really short space of time, and the third book picks up immediately following the events of the second. Winnie is deep into the mystery now and there’s no way out but through as she works to figure out what happened to her father, and protect her family and friends.

We get a bit more romance in this book (ugh, Jay) and it is really lovely, but also not Winnie’s main driver, which I love.

Without giving anything away, this book wrapped up the plot beautifully. It was a very satisfying ending.

Susan Dennard has mentioned that she leaves herself little elements that could potentially become spin-off’s and I am holding onto the hope that there is some sort of spin-off to this series because I would love to see more of the world of The Illuminaries!

Please note this review is only for the preview chapters, not the entire book. This is a great start to the final book in the Luminaries series.

This is a chapter sampler.

I will definitely be reading the full book once it's available to read. The connections made in the first two books are all coming to a rapid conclusion even in this sampler!

I think this might be my favorite book of the trilogy. Winnie is in top form, emotions (so so many emotions) are across all the pages. Ugh!Jay stole my heart even more than I ever expected. He had the best lines of the whole book, and I just melted. I cried at more than one point. I laughed. And I fumed. The gentle balance of new and old friends and alliances, a really great big bad, the issue of having been a loner for so long and then learning to trust people again, subtle science drops, and trying to hunt down a mystery. The challenge of literally. having a gauntlet thrown and trying to protect the ones you love. Winnie both gives to many flying fucks, and none at all. I as so proud of her growth, we learn so much about backstory without it having felt like telling. The Nightmare Masquerade is such a fun backdrop of chaos and pomp and circumstance.

Also I will just say that you'll need to pay attention to the details, even the small sentences that I thought were lovely turned out to hold so much information. Again a master craft of understanding that every single sentence and detail needs to lead to something. And Sooz is so very good at details. She pairs devastation and drama side by side with humor to cut tension and still manages to sprinkle in real life among the paranormal. Just *chefs kiss*.

I will say that this book is so much faster than the other two, I got to one large turning point and had to stop because I knew that I was pulling into Paris and wouldn't be able to pull myself out of the book mentally if I kept reading. So I tucked it away and after I was back from my Europe trip I allowed myself to savor every single sentence. I then proceeded to write Sooz an effusive email highlighting what worked well and we clarified some bits (truly she did it in like two sentences, I am eternally amazed at how she can wordsmith) that should hopefully make the story even better for you all than it was for me.

I cannot wait to read it again. On that note we are doing a readalong to time with the release of the Whispering Night! Currently we are deep into The Luminaries but starting in October we will jump into The Hunting Moon. It truly is the best little series to kick off you fall reads and I would love to talk more! Please come join us on the discord.

this is just to say, luminaries edition

I have read
the whispering night
that was in
my inbox

and which
you were probably
excited
to read

believe me
it was delightful
so satisfying
and so [redacted]