This is a tricky one to review; there are many, many things I really enjoyed and appreciated about this book but it also felt like it was missing so much. I was never bored once, but I finished the book wondering what happened. I enjoyed my time reading, but I still felt the book was half-baked and unsatisfying. I'd still recommend my fellow fantasy readers to consider picking this up (especially considering it is in a major book box this month!) but with some tempered expectations.

With all that, here is what I *did* like.

Dennard wrote some great characters and interpersonal relationships. Winnie Wednesday was a fun character to root for and a breath of fresh air in a YA fantasy competition story because she was not an all-encompassing badass. She was a 16-year-old girl who attempted to train in her living room and quickly realized she was way too over her head. Her mother, brother, and former-bff-now-trainer Jay Friday were all well built out characters and the dynamics between them all were strong and complex. I especially really liked the exploration between Winnie (and her family's) feelings towards the town once they welcomed them back from exile and the complicated feeling of, once again, being welcomed back but acknowledging just how fickle these community ties were. It was an uncomfortable, raw emotion that we could see them all grappling with in their own ways.

The monster lore the Luminaries are based around is freaking cool. Almost feels a bit like Supernatural where anything and everything is on the table for monsters. Winnie is meticulous about the facts and learning about them so we got brought up to speed quickly through her mental recollections. I really enjoyed this part and that it also highlighted that there is more that is unknown we will get to learn about in future books.

Finally, the competition. I love a good competition plot. I won't even be particularly picky about them. This book had defined competitions we were introduced to as they were coming up and Winnie's attempts to pass each one (despite, like I mentioned, being woefully unprepared) by the skin of her teeth.

And what I did not like...

There were times the writing was just strange. I read that this started off with Dennard doing Twitter polls to decide what character decisions were and I can't help but wonder if these moments were fan service nods to that community. But they did not fit the tone, or context of the page and pulled me out of the story thinking "why the hell are they describing Ginger Ale like this?!" At best, these sections gave it more of a juvenile writing style that felt much younger YA than the dark themes of the book aligned with.

Besides the competition resolution (e.g. we get to the end of the new Luminary trials), the rest of the plot, characters, and storyline felt like it ended mid-book. And I know you might say "but Rachel, that is the point of a series" and I hear you but that isn't what this felt like. It felt abrupt and out of place for an ending. Maybe it needed just a couple more chapters to make this feel like its own, full book that is leading to a sequel. I saw another review that said this book never goes past the synopsis and that struck chord with me, too. I struggle to put my finger on what exactly it was but I felt entirely unsatisfied at the end of a book that I, generally, enjoyed.

My hope is that the second book fills in all the cracks from the first and this can be a strong series. I see the potential but am also nervous that it could all collapse if the second book doesn't bring it.

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard is an intriguing read full of tension, and suspense with intricate worldbuilding! The romance is classic YA at its best with all its teen awkwardness, sensitivity, impulsivity, love, and wholeheartedness. I could not read this book fast enough. I just had to know what happened.

I thought this was a solid first book in a series. I have read a handful of other books by this author and definitely see a maturation of ability, which is awesome, so I'd definitely say that this is my favorite of hers thus far! I loved the space that this book occupied, too--it wasn't too young YA but wasn't too old (so as to be adult), such a good sweet spot that I love to read in. The writing is great, the pacing of the story is excellent, but I do think it was a little short. (I know, not a common complaint of mine). I wish there was more time to establish and marinate in the world and the magic system, but since this is just the beginning of the series I'm not too bothered by the depth of this first novel. Hopefully the world and magic will continue to flesh out as we progress in the series. I definitely recommend this--can't wait to read the next in the series!

The Luminaries was an absolute joy to read. I was completely sucked into the mystery surrounding the woods. First off, there are a lot of unknowns which kept the pages turning. Why was their family outcasted basically, what would cause her father to betray them so horrifically when there were absolutely no signs. Why did her best friends abandon her when they were outcasted? Right off the bat, you are left with questions and I loved it. I love trying to figure out what is happening or what happened in the past or what will happen. The mystery of it all was enchanting. Add in some mysterious creatures in the woods that these luminaries go out and fight, I was hooked. When Winnie sneaks out to try out to be a luminary I was cheering her on. As the scene played out and certain circumstances led up to her passing and bringing her family back into the fold, I was nervous. I was worried and hopeful. This book brought out a lot of emotional responses. After she passes her second test, with a little training from her ex best friend turned possibly romantic interest, she sees something that shouldn’t be there. Now the leaders are behaving strangely, and she begins to wonder if everything is as it seems. The ending to this book completely took me by surprise and now I am in need of the sequel asap

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital arc

Overall Recommendation

The Luminaries sets a new secret society within our world that guards humankind from nightmarish creatures lurking in the forests at night. Beautiful worldbuilding and mystery subplots keep the momentum going that I couldn’t put this book down at all. The ending was abrupt and most things were not concluded in a satisfactory manner, but this definitely makes me all the more excited for what’s to come in the next book.

——-—
**The Luminaries comes out November 1, 2022**

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

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

Oh boy, I was so immersed in the world of The Luminaries. While the concept may seem simple to some, it was just enough to be super fascinating. I had to read this one as fast as possible to get to the very end!

In a world where there are sleeping spirits that manifest real life nightmares each night in their dreams, a secret international society called the Luminaries are tasked to keep the general human society safe from such creatures. Broken into 7 clans, each one named after each day of the week, they each play an integral role in the functioning of the society and have a specific culture/motto they live by. I absolutely adored this world’s set up and felt it was so incorporated into the characters we’re introduced to.

Winnie Wednesday, of the Wednesday clan, was a fierce protagonist. She yearned to be a hunter her whole life, but due to transgressions of her father, a traitor in a group called the Dianas, her family was outcasted. Honestly, I was so angry on their behalf at the way the clans treated them for something that wasn’t their fault. The dad made his choices, but being duped by him should be punishment enough yet they isolated and cast them out of all Luminaries activities.

With that setting, I will say the story moved quickly. Susan Dennard has always been good at crafting stories, but her imagination with the nightmares and this society was superb. We follow Winnie’s attempts to go through the three trials to become a Hunter. In the meantime, there were a few mysteries lingering as subplots: something was happening in the forest with a new nightmare that no one else saw but Winnie, something suspicious about the nature of her dad’s deception, and a werewolf that perhaps could leave the forest even when dawn rose.

There’s also romance here, although a little more subtle than I expected. The tension was there so that made everything beautiful with the slow burn. Not so much a typical bad boy, Jay Friday was a bit of a loner who chose to stick to himself although people at school would love to get to know him better if he only gave them the chance. An excellent Hunter, he was the obvious choice for Winnie to train under. Their past history and second chance for something more was great to follow.

While there were plenty of things I enjoyed, I will say there are certain things that weren’t the best, namely the ending. All those mystery subplots I mentioned? None were actually resolved in a way that felt satisfying at all. I flipped the page and there was the Acknowledgements. I know there’s a sequel but I wish more had actually happened in this first book besides the foundation. It’s not a big deal for me since I loved everything that led to the end, but I know this may bother some people.

Written in Dennard’s signature creativity and well-thought out plotting, The Luminaries will delight both old and new readers alike.

*3.5*

The Luminaries follows Winnie who lives in a town surrounded by a forest full of monsters known as nightmares. The Luminaries is the organization who lives in this town and is tasked with protecting the rest of the world from these monsters. Winnie’s family have been deemed outcasts due to her father being revealed as a spy for the enemy organization known as the Dianas. Throughout the novel, Winnie enlists the help of her mysterious ex best friend Jay to withstand 3 trials in order to become a hunter for the Luminaries and regain her families place in the organization. While lying about her abilities and trying to survive the trials, Winnie faces a new kind of monster that causes her to have many more questions and unlock new secrets.

This book was pretty good. I really liked the mystery aspect of it and the magic. I do wish there was more depth with the world building because the world is so interesting, but it doesn’t feel as developed as it should. The main thing that kept me reading was all then questions I had. There were so many mysteries within the plot of this novel that left me intrigued to find out what was going to happen. There were multiple times I felt like certain plot points or character motivations didn’t make sense logically and it did get repetitive at times. I didn’t connect very much with the main character. She very much was a typical YA protagonist who was born to be a hunter despite not having years of training. It was refreshing to see her deal with her own social anxieties and insecurities due to being an outcast. Overall, I enjoyed reading this. I think the ending left me with more questions than answers, but I will most likely continue reading the series because I’m intrigued to know where it’s headed.

If you've been missing the 2010's paranormal YA novels, then you might find yourself enjoying this A LOT.

Like many, I was there in the beginning when the author started telling Winnie's and Jay's story through a choose-your-own-adventure poll situation on Twitter. So, naturally, I was thrilled to get my hands on the finished version of that same story I chipped in on. And it was a fun read! Hemlock Falls is home to the Luminaries, a group of hunters whose job is to hunt the nightmares that rise from the mist every night. Entities called spirits live all over the world, and where they live, these monsters spring forth. And Winnie Wednesday is desperate to become a hunter too.

I really liked Winnie, but it was a bit hit or miss at times because of the audiobook narrator. Definitely wouldn't have been my first choice—she made her come across as quite whiny at times when she actually wasn't. I was still rooting for her though, because the kid has a big heart. Her dad effed them over by being a Diana in disguise, and even though her mom turned on him for the Luminaries the first chance she could, Winnie's little family group have been outcasts for the last few years. Entering the trials and becoming a hunter is her only chance to help get her mom and brother back into the community that abandoned them, and nothing will stop her from trying. Her age definitely showed a few times and I really wished she was 17/18, not newly 16. It was a little painful at some parts where all the signs were there and she did not put it together. I think I liked Jay a lot more, all quiet and moody, and I hope we get more of him in book two!

There are tons of monsters in this, and most are ones the reader will be familiar with. Banshees, basilisks, werewolves, manticores. There aren't a lot of original monsters, but that's okay. The big baddie of the year is new though, and it's a surprising choice. It's existence is probably what will have me reading the sequel, just to know what it is.

I think what made me not fully like this was the 2010's paranormal YA vibes. Some of it felt cheesy and annoyed me more than anything. Like every family's last name being a day of the week that also indicated what day they did their hunting. It comes across as uninspired and didn't make it any easier to keep them apart. Same with the mottos each family has. The Wednesday one was repeated often and I hated it. It's a two sentence mouthful that doesn't even make sense to me. And of course, she's never done it before but BAM she's the absolutely best at it! Also the constant reciting of the compendium as a way to not info-dump—I'd have preferred the info-dumping.

If I manage to snag a copy of the second book, I'll give it a go. There are definitely a lot of loose ends to work on, including one that I have a feeling will be a big twist later but was painfully obvious in this book.

Back in 2019, Susan Dennard created a "Choose Your Own Adventure" tale on twitter involving a mysterious locket, spooky monsters, and nose boops. Now, the world of that tale has been expanded and reimagined into The Luminaries which is a promising start to a new YA contemporary fantasy trilogy.

There's something I find inherently cozy about contemporary YA fantasy set in small towns (even when deadly monsters/nightmares are involved) so this was a delight. The worldbuilding is fascinating and atmospheric making this a great story for anyone looking for a spooky fall read.

In addition, Winnie is a wonderfully grumpy and brave protagonist who I adored reading about. I loved her relationship with her family as well as the evolving dynamics with other characters in the town where her family are considered outcasts. Jay, as expected from the twitter story, was also a standout character and their slow-burning romance is excellent.

I will say that this book feels very much like a set up for the rest of the trilogy. It's an engaging story but feels very much like an intro - it's a small-scale story that introduces a lot of mysterious questions but doesn't answer all of them. It's also important to note that this book fits firmly in the YA category rather than being YA/adult crossover that fans of The Witchlands might be expecting. In fact, it feels very much from the 2010's YA era (I can't quite articulate why other than vibes) and I found that to be really enjoyable. I think this is going to a great series for teen readers especially when a lot of YA tends to skew towards older audiences these days. Winnie is a 16 year old protagonist who feels like a 16 year old protagonist and it's great.

Interesting first in the series. I found the characters lacking a little depth, but this is the first book so I can assume that the growth is going to be continuous (which for me works). Lush descriptions and just the right side of spooky and magical.

I’m always on the lookout for YA fantasy books to recommend to my students. They are a discerning bunch so it can’t be too childish but it also can’t be too adult. The Luminaries by Susan Dennard was excellent and I fully plan on adding it to my recommendation list. The writing is fantastic and the story was fast paced. I wish there had been a little bit more time for the world building and developing the magical system but hopefully we get to see more of that in future books. Overall I was really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been looking forward to this book since 2019! I am SO HAPPY that I was able to receive a review copy to read, and it did NOT disappoint! First of all, I am HUGELY #TeamUghJay, secondly, Winnie Wednesday is SO FANTASTIC, I love her so much!!!! The forest drew me in and I just couldn't stop reading. Absolutely will highly recommend!!

I haven’t read YA fantasy in a while and the last one bored me. This book was what I wanted in a fantasy read.

Winnie belongs to a coven that protects non magical people from monsters. She wants to be a hunter, but her family has been banished for crimes her father committed ten years earlier, so she is now an outcast. She teams up with an old friend, Jay from another coven, to complete the tasks to become a Luminary.

There are seven different covens named after the days of the week. I really liked the concept and the way Susan writes, but sadly some parts of this book fell flat for me. The world building was sub-par and some of the characters weren’t really memorable. I think what I loved was the atmosphere the book had and the concept.

So all in all, for it getting me back into the fantasy mood, this book was a 3.5 for me. I just wish there was more since the Witchland series is so well done.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Tor/Forge for allowing me to read this book.

I was extremely excited to read The Luminaries. The Luminaries was very hyped up on across my social media platforms. To say I was immensely disappointed would be an understatement.

Firstly the prose was absolutely beautiful, but I found the prose didn’t match the story being told. What I mean by that is the story itself lacked any world building. Nothing was truly ever explained. Additionally, numerous times across the book sentences and phrases were repeated, which did get annoying at times. In my opinion the biggest flaw was the lack of explaining. I wanted to know about the magical system. I wanted to know about the town they lived in.

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Luminaries series. I got an eGalley of this book from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: Previous to reading this I had read all of Dennard's "Something Strange and Deadly" series which I loved and the first couple books in her "Witchlands" series which I just never got in to. I was hoping that this book was more in the darker vein of her "Something Strange and Deadly" series and boy was it ever. I pretty much couldn't put this book down. I love the idea of monster hunters protecting the rest of the world from ancient sleeping spirits. I also really enjoyed Winnie and Jay and the rest of the town of Hemlock falls.

Winnie's family is part of the ancient order of the Luminaries, who protect the rest of humanity from the monsters a sleeping spirit of the forest generates. At least this is true until her father is found to be a traitor and her family is banished from the Luminaries. This left her family without a father, her mother (the former top monster hunter) working at a diner, and her brother stuck working as a lacky for other Luminaries. Then Winnie decides that she is going to take the hunter trials on her own and try to win her way back into Luminary society.

This was an excellent book and was a fun and fast-paced read. I loved the history and world-building around the Luminaries and how they protect humanity. I loved all the creepy vicious monsters and the monster hunting. I loved Winnie and her family and the other strange and secretive folks of Hemlock Falls.

This book has some excellent action and a great mystery. There is a smaller plot that is tied up in this book but also a larger plot that will carry on into the next book; my favorite type of format for a series! The writing flowed beautifully and was easy to read. This was just a joy to read and I couldn't put it down.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really enjoyed everything about this; from the premise, to the characters and the plot. This was a fun diversion with some rich monster history and a wonderful cast of characters. I am eagerly looking forward to the next book in this series! I would recommend to those who enjoy creepy YA monster hunting reads.

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.