loved the creepy forest and the nightmares that lived there, the language and world build was light and easy to understand which made the book a fun and quick read which could easily be finished in one or two sittings. The plot was pretty simple and a classic example of “like it says on the tin.” The story didn’t really stray from the blurb at all but that being said i still enjoyed reading about Winnie going through the hunter trials.

I think my biggest complaint is that I wanted a few more chapter that would give a few more answers than we got in this book, it feels like there are just as many questions at the end of the book as there was at the start. The ending felt a little sudden and wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped, i get that she is setting up the sequel but the mystery element ended up feeling a bit drawn out.
I also found the constant teeth clicking which seemed to happen every other page increasingly irritating throughout the book. I get that it was when Winnie was anxious, I just don’t feel it needed to be mentioned as often as it was. Overall a 4 star read, hopefully the sequel will answer a few more questions than this one did.

This rating was a very hard choice for me but I think I’m settling on the good side of it.
This isn’t a book I would’ve picked up if it wasn’t for NetGalley, but I am so glad I did! The first part of the book I must admit I found slow and disengaging, not making me want to binge it in one sit kind of thing. But that feeling was quickly turned over.

The plot is pretty straight forward, Winnie has to get through three tests to become a hunter, so she does. And some reviews aren’t wrong in saying that by doing so the blurb doesn’t leave much to the imagination. But there’s a lot more to the book than that - a mysterious backstory of the father, a cute beginning of a young romance, an incredibly original society and culture and just a lot that we don’t know about this world and these characters!

I personally would’ve liked some of the mysteries to be resolved in this book, but it’s always fun to get a bit of a cliffhanger, and I am excited for the next book!

I could not be happier that I was granted the privilege of reading an arc of this book. I absolutely loved it! From the very first chapter I simply couldn't put it down. I loved the pacing of the world building and all the little details that go into making the world and the characters feel read. The illustrated pages featured in the book added such a fantastic layer, helping me better understand the terror of many of the creatures in this world. I love our heroine Winnie's determination to right the wrongs that have befallen her family, and I love the way she really sees the flaws in the community around her. I was very much on the edge of my seat the entire time and am SO EXCITED for the potential of some relationships changing in the next book (*wink wink*)

This is by far one of the best YA books out there and I'm delighted at the thought of continuing this series. I also cannot wait to go through the back catalogue of @stdennard while I wait for the next instalment! Congratulations on producing such a wonderful piece of art!

Thank you to Daphne Press & Netgalley for the arc of The Luminaries by Susan Dennard in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I’ve been hearing a lot of noise about this book and had watched the author’s Twitter polls from afar a year or so ago, so I was eager to read this and receive the special Illumicrate edition in November before the book is published in the U.K. in January 2023.

I have to say that this book delivers, the characters, the world building, the beasts and nightmares and the story itself.

The story takes place in the town of Hemlock, one of a number of places across the globe where nightmares have spawned and the Luminaries are families dedicating to protecting the world from these nightmares.

Winnie Wednesday is the youngest daughter of a family ostracised from the community because her father betrayed them to the Luminaries greatest enemy, the Dianas who want to bring to the nightmares to life. Winnie is about to turn 16 and us determined to redeem her family by becoming a hunter. What Winnie doesn’t realise however, is that the journey to achieve her goal won’t be straightforward and she has to face a lot of confusing feelings, as well as of course the danger that goes hand in hand with hunting.

Of course this book is YA, and there is the inevitable romance and feelings that come with this, but don’t panic, it’s so well integrated with the plot that you do find yourself rooting for Winnie and the ending, oh does that leave you wanting more!

If you are looking for a plot and action packed YA book with engrossing worldbuilding, great characters and of course nightmarish monsters, you definitely need to pick this one up.

Hemlock Falls and the forest surrounding it managed to grow roots in my brain. By that I mean that I read The Luminaries at the beginning of the month and not a day has gone by that I didn’t think of it. For a lot of reasons. For one, I simply love stories with forests. Forests are gorgeous and this one was described in all its glory. Where comes another reason into play: I am the biggest scaredy cats of all and the creepier scenes were described so well, I felt myself panic a little. Anyways, this forest lives in my head. Maybe not rent free but almost.

That said, I did love Winnie, the protagonist. Ever since her dad betrayed her family and the whole town of Hemlock Falls, Winnie, her mother and brother have been outsiders. They’re mostly ignored on better days, treated like lower beings and being bullied on the worse. Winnie wants nothing more than to belong again. She grew up wanting to be a Hunter, someone going into the forest at night to keep the nightmares at bay. She trains herself in secret, while enduring the town’s terrible treatment. She tries to harden against it all, but she can’t, not really. Not when the town’s appreciation is what she wants so desperately.
I really liked how resilient and resourceful Winnie is and how the story is very focused on her personal development. Winnie is such a well written character and I Ioved her monologues. I especially loved her scenes in the forest because there, she is still herself but she has to also be more. She fights for what she wants and I really liked how she went about achieving her goals.

I also enjoyed the other characters. I didn’t necessarily like them but I liked reading about them. I especially liked the twins who, despite the fact that Winnie is technically an outcast, are always nice to her and try to befriend her. They’re just so nice and I love them so much for it. I’m really excited to see where Jay’s character is going because there are so. many. secrets. surrounding him.

As I already said, I loved the forest. For atmospheric reasons, I do recommend reading The Luminaries on an autumn night. The book is set in spring but it definitely has an autumn vibe more than anything. I loved how scary it was but how lovely it could be during the day. I loved the training scenes as well as the panic-heavy, darker scenes of the nights, of nightmares and danger. I loved how the forest was not only a place for the characters to be, but it felt like a character of its own.

I do have some questions regarding the world building in the Luminaries, especially when it comes to the society of Hunters and their enemies, as well as the nightmares, spirits and their existence. After reading this book, I absolutely cannot wait to continue the story and see where Winnie will take me.
The Luminaries was such an amazing book that I loved reading from page one.

3.75
« 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. »

I was very intrigued by The luminaries because Susan Dennard is an author I loved the truthwitch saga when I was a teenager.
The luminaries is a story with a lot of potential and a very rich universe: werewolves, vampires and a very extensive bestiary.
Winnie and her family have been sentenced to 10 years of ostracism because her father betrayed the community by affiliating with the sworn enemies of the Luminaries. For the past four years, Winnie, her brother and her mother have been living in hell and are bullied by the community. But all that will change, or so Winnie hopes, if she passes the three ruthless tests to become a hunter. As you might expect, not everything will go according to plan.
I find that even if the universe was sometimes weak in terms of construction and that there was a lot of repetitions, it is still very interesting and well brought in general. I just regret that some things were not (yet?) exploited and that the novel has a rather irregular rhythm. But this ending... even if I saw it coming I am SO curious to know the rest!
Anyway, this novel made me feel very nostalgic about what I was reading a few years ago and made me want to go into the past again.

Winnie Wednesday and her family have been made outcasts but the Luminaries after her father is outed as a traitor. She decides to gatecrash the hunter trials on her birthday to try get them back to luminarie status. Pretty much the blurb.

While I enjoyed the overall story, Winnie annoyed me with her constant clicking of her teeth. So many questions were left unanswered at the end, I really hope there is a part 2 lined up.

I was generally really enjoying this, until the ending which I felt was far too abrupt and unresolved (even for what is obviously the first book in a series).

Things I liked:

The monster Hunter community / world was well realised, and the main protagonist Winnie was a joy to follow. She is a great mix of determined, hopeful and typical fallible teenager. The monster aspect of the book was really fun and I loved the illustrations and descriptions. I appreciated the diverse supporting cast (Black characters, a Muslim character, disability rep).

Things I didn’t like as much:

There are three main mysteries in the book and none of them are explained by the end. Admittedly, one of them seems fairly obvious, but that storyline still has time to subvert our expectations. I realise that this is the first in a series, but I felt it still needed to give the reader at least some kind of resolution, maybe to just one of the three mysteries. The ending just felt a bit empty to me.

Overall, this is a great world with compelling characters, but if I was recommending it to someone I’d say wait for the series to be completed to avoid the abruptness of the first book’s ending.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Luminaries
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Book 1 of ? Of The Luminaries series
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Susan Dennard
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Young Adult Fantasy
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 1st November 2022
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3/5

”That’s why we’re called the Luminaries, Winnie: we are lanterns the forest can never snuff out.”

I know this is the beginning of the series, but it felt like a lot of set up for a story that was over before anything really happened. At the beginning we’re told that Winnie will complete the three trials for her to become a Luminary and be re-invited into the clan that had cast her and her family aside four years earlier. And that’s it really. I felt on edge the entire time like some big plot twist was coming and when it abruptly ended I sat back thinking, ’huh’. Don’t get me wrong, I’d read the second one, but the first one was all exploration and no resolution.

Of course, there are reasons why I enjoyed it. It was fast paced, easy to read, it had likable characters that were multi dimensional. I liked Winnie’s anger and how she held on to it through her and her family’s mistreatment and reintroduction into the fold whereas it seemed as though her mother and brother’s anger fluctuated, if it even occurred at all in her brother. Winnie’s teeth clicking went through me a bit and I wanted to recommend getting a mouth guard.

I loved the idea of the forest being sentient “you either trust the forest or you don’t” as though it could be on the side of the hunters. There was something I didn’t understand though… The nightmares didn’t seem worthy of being hunted which is the whole point of the story, they can’t leave the forest so why not just leave them alone and stay away from the forest 😂 why do their lives have to end? Especially if they’re just regular people who have died a certain way and been bought back to life, if no one went in the forest there’d be none or barely any nightmares? I’m hoping I’ve got this wrong in my head. Or maybe things will make more sense in the sequel.

🧚🏻‍♀️

Hemlock Falls is a unique town. It is full of unique people, living in a world full of monsters and nightmares. You won’t find the town on a map, and if you take a walk into the forest it could kill you.

The Luminaries are an ancient order that protect the town, and humanity from the monsters and nightmares that spring from the forest every night. Every family has a duty to protect the town, and every teenager grows up training to become a hunter. Winnie Wednesday aches to become a hunter, as legendary as her mother was. However, her father was discovered to be a traitor and a witch and ran away, leaving Winnie, her mother and brother outcasts in the town.

On Winnie’s 16th birthday she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials to prove herself worthy and loyal. Or die in the process. While taking the trials, she discovers something darker than the usual nightmares are lurking in Hemlock Falls. But who will listen to her before it is too late?

This was a really enjoyable read, the world created was vivid and encapsulating. The sketches worked in through the story provided an additional layer of detail to the story, and really built the picture of the town and what the hunters were fighting every night. The characters were interesting, and you could really feel Winnie’s pain and anger in what she had lost, and had to suffer as an outcast. I found myself really rooting for her. A great read, with plenty of action. I can’t wait for the next!

*I received this copy from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Daphne Press & Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I LOVED this book! I'm having a hard time settling on a comprehensive review since I only want to scream how good it is (but I shall try)!

First of all, the worldbuilding is amazing. The Luminaries takes place in a world where families of hunters risk their lives fighting monster. Simple? Nope! The monters actually emerge as dreams of spirits that are found in 14 different corners of the world. Even though the book takes place in the USA site, we still get hints of other countries and how the monsters function there. I really hope that the author will introduce more facts about other sites in the sequel and more important foreign hunters. And while the monsters are taken from the real worlds mythology, they are reimagined, and this edition even has illustrations of them! Books with illustration=my favourites.

I also found the plot entraping. It was helped by the chapters shortness - you can read a lot of them by one sitting. But I was also invested in the main characters Winnies journey. Her family was outcasted for 4 years and Winnies aim is to become a hunter and such once again belong to the Luminaries society. While Winnie is trying to achieve this, she has to confront her feelings: how do you interact with people that shunned you because of something you had no control over? And how do you reconnect with family and friends that have abandoned you? Futhermore, there were some sparks of romance, but it was not the focus of the book. The author has left unresolved plot points that should be picked in the sequel, and I have theories! Hopefully at least one of them will be correct.

The Luminaries is an action packed YA book with an interesting worldbuilding and characters. A definite recommendation: 5 stars

I really enjoyed this one, although it feels unfinished. I know it's a duology, but I feel a book should be able to stand on its own and keep me wanting more.

I have a lot of theories, but not a single one was confirmed nor deinied and no new questions were raised.

Annoying habits aside, I really like the main character and the world we find ourselves in. A group of people, The LUMINARIES, protect people from creatures in the forest.

I will be reading the next book because I have to have answers to all the questions. And I want to know more about this forest!

The luminaries will transport you to a stunning scene that is full of all of your favourite fantasy offerings - forests, a friendship to fawn over, monsters you want to hide from and a family you would be envious of. I thought Winnie was great as a FMC, overcoming odds and fighting for what she believed in to get what she deserved. I could see this being inspiring for so many who will pick up this book to read it. I really enjoyed it and I hope to return soon to Hemlock Falls!

An action packed novel that has me asking for answers at the very end. Definitely one to read if you like mythical creatures and hunter trials.

This book was so good, I really enjoyed it and I cannot wait to read the next one and find out more about Winnie’s journey. She is such a brave and beautiful character!!

This book does exactly what it says on the tin, there is no deviation from the blurb and no surprises in store for you. The one “twist” can be guessed within the first quarter of the book. The world isn’t revolutionary and doesn’t really leave much room for growth.

Although I am intrigued enough by the whisperer and where the story will go in the next book that I will probably pick it up, but overall quite a disappointing read.

Thank you to Daphne Press & Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

You know when you have a beautiful book (sprayed edges, intricate pattern, lovely dust jacket - you know the ones!) and then the book just HAS to be good because you want to be keeping that mighty fine book on your mighty full shelves? Well, this one is staying because it's pretty, not because it's good (and pretty). The disappointment is sadly all too real.

There are things I love about this book. Here, let me list them:

1. It's pretty (yes, yes, we've covered this one).
2. It includes, interspersed throughout the book, a compendium of monsters (the ultimate in cool book things, if you ask me!).
3. It's about monster hunters (easy win, but a win none the less!).
4. There's a competition (I am a sucker for any and all competition tropes).

I sadly can't get past four things. This is a case of "it's me"....I think! I've notoriously struggled with Susan Dennard (and that particularly sucks because she seems like the nicest person in the entire world!). I think her writing style, for whatever reason, just doesn't capture me quickly enough for me to want to keep reading - same problem with Truthwitch! I need to be grabbed right from the start, otherwise it's a struggle to pick it up again.

It just never really got going; I saw another reviewer say that everything that happens, happens in the blurb. Yep, they're right. I also couldn't really get into the characters or their development, and the weird "factions" of sorts, organising people into tribes named after days of the week? Seemed a bit lame for me. I did love the compendium though; the illustrations and the accompanying monster details.

Anyway, not for me sadly. But I'll keep it (and you know why!).

ARC provided from Netgalley, prior to receiving a copy in a book subscription box, in exchange for an honest review.

I think overall I enjoyed more than I didn't, and therefore my rating's a little above middle road. I'd like to see where this goes.

I had really high hopes for this book because the premise sounded really fun and like perfect fall read but did it live up to my expectations?

Sadly not. And I’m not exactly sure if its a book problem or a me problem but some things just weren’t working for me.

While I liked the characters and writing style a lot, the plot just fell a bit flat for me and maybe also the world building, though I’m not sure if the latter isn’t only because it’s the first book in a series. But nonetheless - I just wanted *****more*****.

Don’t get me wrong, the book is exactly what the synopsis says it is. Monsters, outcasts and three trials and the book is nothing more and nothing less. In other words - I was a bit bored. I found the beginning pretty exciting but somewhere around the middle I began to feel a bit meh about the book. And while I liked Winnie, the characters weren’t carrying the book enough for me to oversee being bored by the plot. Because just everything that happens was either already in the synopsis or just very very predictable. There’s a bit of an mystery with the weird monster - or more like two mysteries because what exactly happened with Winnies dad? - but at least in this book it’s not really going anywhere. And especially the thing with Winnies father is where I wish there was a bit more world building, a bit more explanations. The Dianas are the bad guys and Winnies father betrayed the Luminaries but either I missed it or there really wasn’t any explanation why the bad guys are the bad guys. What are they doing? Who are they? Why are they the enemies? No idea. And I get that that’s probably something that will be relevant in later books but it also still made this first book a lot less exciting because why should I care about the Luminaries and their enemies when I barely know anything about them?

Overall I just would have liked more explanations and a less straight forward plot. There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily but it just wasn’t doing anything more me either.

This read is a fast paced YA supernatural mystery with a hint of romance! I really wanted more romance as I was loving those bits of the book.
The world building is unique and there’s plenty of intrigue to find out more, not a lot is revealed in the book but I’m sure that’s to come as the plot develops!
The creatures and images of them were great and the best part for me, there was definite peril and action.
Thank you to NetGallery and the author for this E-ARC for an honest review! Can’t wait for the next instalment.