Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more to be welcomed back into the Luminaries - the hunter society that she, her brother, and her mother were banned from after her father was discovered to be their enemy. Her plan is simple: complete the first trial, then the second, and the third and the Council will have to revoke their ten year ban. When her first trial goes horribly wrong and an assumption turns into a lie, Winnie and her family are welcomed back, but things are not the same. Winnie is angry that people that wouldn't talk to her family for the past four years is now acting like their best friends. The threat of a werewolf and a secret note from her dad throws Winnie's world upside down. Will everyone survive?

The Luminaries’ world is a dark one. They are monster hunters that protect the rest of the world from nightmares including werewolves, banshees, and vampires. Winnie wants nothing more than to be hunter - unfortunately for her she and her family are considered outcasts ever since her father was convicted of being a traitor. Can she prove that she can be a hunter and save her family from the shame of being outcasts?

This was a great YA novel. It definitely starts with all the 16 year old teenage angst and bad parenting choices but then morphs into a dark urban thriller. It is fast paced and I read this one in a day. My biggest complaint is this one ends without wrapping up a lot of loose ends. I believe this is the beginning of a series but I have so many questions! Mostly like when is book 2 going to be released so I can know what happens?

"That's why we're called the Luminaries, Winnie: we are the lanterns the forest can never snuff out"

The forest near the town of Hemlock Falls is full of monsters every night. They are the nightmares dreamed up by the Spirit that sleeps below the town. A secret society called The Luminaries guards the forest and stops the monsters from escaping. The Luminaries is broken up into Seven clans named after the days of the week that they are assigned to protect.

Winnie Wednesday, along with her mother and brother were outcast from the Wednesday clan four years ago when her father was revealed to be a spy for the rival Diana's. After four years as the pariah of Hemlock Falls on her 16th birthday, Winnie is allowed to compete in the hunter trials and hopefully win back the towns trust in her family and be allowed to hunt the monsters.

Until then Winnie has been on corpse duty. Clearing the forest of monster bodies and the bodies of the humans they kill.

The town is worried about a Werewolf loose in the forest and Winnie has seem the Werewolf but it pretty sure it's not actually the monster they really need to be afraid of. Winnie has seen the strange phenomenon that moves through the forest, warping and destroying which she calls the Whisperer but no one is taking her seriously, solely focusing on the Werewolf.

The book is full of nightmarish creatures harpies, banshees, manicures, Sylphids, ballisks and other creepies but also a bunch of humans who I don't totally trust.

YA Urban fantasy with elements of horror

This is my first Susan Denard novel and I am looking forward to book two in this series.

If you love Lovely, dark and deep and Wicked walking by Claudia Cain you will probably also like this.

Thank you to MacMillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for the review copy of The Luminaries

I absolutely loved this book! I blasted through it! If you loved The Grace Year and The Nature of Witches, this book is for you. Atmospheric with characters that you can't help but root for every step of the way.

I love Dennards writing and The Luminaries isn't an exception to that. Eerie and on brand for the type of book it is, Luminaries is a great Autumn read with great characters and phenomenal writing. The plot got a bit muddled in the middle but I think she worked it out by the end.

Loved this. Winnie and her family have been exiled from the Luminaries,, a society which keeps nightmare monsters at bay. However, she’s determined to restore her family’s fortunes by passing the hunter trials. However, there’s things in the forest that are worse than the typical nightmares. With a werewolf on the loose, a whispering creature , and mysterious notes from her traitor father, will Winnie success in her mission to prove her loyalty and get her, her mother and her brother accepted back in the family.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Great teen heartthrob in the form of Jay, gutsy heroine, scary monsters. Twists and turns and intrigue. Reminded me a little bit of the Scholomance series and a bit of All of Us Villains. Can’t wait for the sequel and to find out what happens next.

Want to learn much more about some of the side characters (Erica in particular) and to wrap up some of the mysteries left hanging. Great book. Fun from the off.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this earc!

This book has so good! It’s been too long since I’ve read a YA book I enjoyed and read basically in one sitting (more like two but I’m still counting it)

I enjoyed everything about The Luminaries. The story, the characters and the relationships. I liked how it’s a little spooky but at the same time can totally happen in the forest next to your house.

Winnie, 16 year old main character was very related: yes, she wants to kill nightmares and help her family but she’s also not perfect, and gets scared and lies. I really enjoyed the fact that this book definitely felt like the first book in the series. We learned some things but left with more questions than answers.

I liked that most of the characters are actually not bad people. You can see that some of them wanted to be friends/ family with the Wednesdays but couldn’t because of the laws. I liked even more the fact not everything was magically fixed after Winnie “passed” the first trial. Erica still has her secrets and Jay is no better.

Can we also for a moment appreciate that even though there’s definitely something there between Winnie and Jay, we leave this book with them trying to be friends again, nothing more? Just makes it feel so much for real and truthful. Like that have to find their way back to each other.

Even though the plot of this book is not complicated, I really enjoyed the writing style and all the sets up will definitely be needed for the future books.

Thank you to Susan for making me believe in YA again.

Super creepy and unique story! I loved the Luminaries, and it was a great way to kick off my Halloween month adventure! It was such a huge world filled with magic and great characters. Super excited for the next installment!

DNF

The Luminaries was one I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, this one did not end up working for me. I kept getting pulled out of the story with an overabundance of unnecessary similes & metaphors and what I believe to be attempts to be quirky/relatable. For example, right off the bat we have this analogy:

"Just like that, the inseparable trio, triad, triangle was split in two: A right angle on one side, still welcome in the world of the Luminaries. A lost hypotenuse on the other, cast adrift, floating and alone."

Just....why? I don't read fantasy for math lessons. This line annoyed me so much, I had to set the book down and walk away. Once I came back to give it another shot, I read this:

"Now it will serve as a crude body bag. Or . . . foot bag. With her hand in the bag, she picks up the two corpse remains like she used to pick up Erica’s dog’s poop. Crinkle, crinkle. One foot. Two."

Again...why? I think the intent was to give the book a creepy, atmospheric feel but this line was just creepy, hold the atmosphere.

In addition to this, we get a lot of repetitive, unnecessary details like the fact that the main character keeps clicking her teeth. I don't particularly care if she is clicking her teeth ten times, nor does it add to the story.

Overall, this one just didn't work for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fast paced, creepy, unique adventure!

This book captures my attention VERY quickly. The world is introduced fast, and the action is quick to follow. From the very moment Winnie steps into the forest, I genuinely could feel my heart pounding from a very real sense of fear. This is something that doesn’t happen to me very often in books, and it was incredibly impressive.

I can’t get over how unique this story was. The premise of a sect of monster hunters protecting the world from being overrun by vicious nightmares from a haunted forest really brings the creep factor, making it perfect for this time of year. I enjoyed Winnie as a character; and found much of her inner monologue and experience relatable and easy to empathize with in a very real way.

As the story goes on, a lot of intrigue and tension builds. This ended up being good and bad, as it completely kept my attention, but it also left me feeling like it didn’t stick the landing.

There are about 3 important plot lines happening alongside the main arc of Winnie’s tests to become a luminary. At times, I found myself much more engaged in some of these side mysteries, and I wanted to learn more about them before the book finished. I was hopeful that there would be more on them, only to find the book ending after focusing only on the main plot line and giving us quite literally not even a nibble of what could be happening with the side ones.

This was a great book overall, and it felt like a 5⭐️ until the ending, which fell a bit flat. The action at the end regarding Winnie’s final test was absolutely heart-pounding, though, and I adored seeing her grow into herself as a hunter after so many years of being treated like less.

All this said, I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series, and I’m looking forward to reading more of Susan Dennard’s books in the meantime!

Thank you to Macmillan Tor/Forge & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title before publishing!

I really struggled to connect with this book. The premise was interesting, but I did not get on with the writing at all.

3.5 stars

I wanted to love this book but sadly, it felt unfinished. I didn't hate this book but I really wish that it was much longer. It felt like nothing really happened and it made me dislike the main character. I really enjoyed the world and wish I could see even more of it. I will likely read book 2 because I want something to happen. I have a feeling I'll end up wishing the two were combined into one longer book. I had high hopes for this one and it just fell flat.

This is a really promising start to a new series. I really liked the ideas behind the worldbuilding (though I'll admit to not fully understanding/keeping everything straight with the various week day named families and how they work and what each one does). And Winnie is a great, complex character. She turns 16 at the beginning of the book and has spent the past 4 years as an outcast in their society (along with her mother and brother, for something their dad did). The hunter trials are coming up and Winnie is determined to pass them to help her family be recognized in the society again.

Along with the conflict of the trials, she also has to deal with people who have shunned her for the past four years (including her best friends) suddenly paying attention to her again. What does it mean for their relationships to have people who cared about her ignore her for years and then want to be in her life again? It's a really rocky path for a teenager (or anyone for that matter) to navigate.

I really like Jay's character and look forward to getting to know more about him in future books. And although the book doesn't end on a cliffhanger exactly, there are a LOT of unanswered questions that really make me wish the second book was already out because I want to find out if we get any answers.

Welcome to a world where nightmares come alive at night and Luminaries man the forest hunting creatures spawned from mist. I was so thrilled to get approved for this book! Susan Dennard creates beautiful, lush worlds enriched by magic and characters that feel all too real. Winnie Wednesday is a fantastic heroine who's emotions came through so well that they were bleeding through the page. I loved how the author examined the role of outcast and how it felt to be on the outskirts of society due to something that is not your fault. The world of the Luminaries was epic and I am so excited to learn more about the origins of the nightmares and how the Luminaries came to be organized in the manner that they are, because clearly there is way more to that. Overall, this was an incredible read that really took my breath away.

For what this book lacked in world building it definitely made up in the characters.
Winnie lives in a small town where cell phones don't work. I'm sure this is every teenagers nightmare. But not a nightmare as scary as the ones in the forest that just might kill you.

A Deadly Education meets Year of the Witching…


60% onward made me love this story-up to that point it felt like an info dump that was repetitive (she feels guilt over not telling the truth, she feels rejected, etc- we get it!!) and continued to gloss over training or really any action except for the first trial.

However, the slug between trial 1 and 2, the clan names as uncreative as days of the week, and the excess of guilt she feels are my only complaints.


Now for the greatness…

This story has a bit of mystery, albeit obvious- why did her dad suddenly become a Dianne and is it because the Luminaries have a secret evil? Why is Jay clearly a nightmare? But, we will have to wait for the rest of the series to find out why. I’m genuinely excited to find out more.

Dennard does an outstanding job of addressing stimming while never mentioning why. Example: she continually cleans her glasses, zips and unzips her jacket, feels textures, etc. I appreciate her subtlety in creating diverse characters.

There is also a wonderful balance of Winnie still being a teen girl while facing monsters and trauma. In a way, the nightmares are a reflection of her trauma: terrifying but somehow has some beauty within. Masterfully done!

On that note, she does a wonderful job of exposing how normal it was for those on the outside to let Winnie back in but how painful it is to the person being hurt.

I hope we are able to see more world building and drama in book 2!

I was very excited to get this book as an ARC copy but unfortunately I was a bit disappointed. I think I had too high of expectations after reading and loving the Witchlands series. I felt like the world building just wasn't quite there and a bit all over the place at times. I also felt like it was a bit predictable with the twists and turns but I was still intrigued and into the story. I really liked the concept of the book but also felt like something was missing. Maybe it was the abrupt ending or the fact it was in third person and I normally don’t enjoy it when books are written this way but it was necessary for this story. I did like Winnie and really liked Jay's character. Also I did really enjoy the forest and the Nightmares and wanted to know way more about how it all came about. Overall I thought it was a decent story but left me with more questions than answers. I most likely will read the next installment simply because I need my questions answered. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Teen for a review copy of this novel

Hands down one of the best book I’ve ever read!

This was perfect !!! I feel like it’s always very hard to write a review of a book you loved so much because sometimes there’s no logical reason to it you just loved it ! And even though it’s mostly the case here I can pinpoint the things that made me think : ok this is a 5 stars.

First of all the characters are so unique it is so refreshing. The main character was so easy to get attached to because I feel like a lot of person can relate to her. She’s so human and so vulnerable in her own unique way. I love the fact that she had OCD when stressed, how clumsy in a not cringy way. I feel like the song This is me Trying by Taylor Swift fits her. Then Jay is the “i love him and i can’t explain why” part of this review. I mean I know why, he’s mysterious he’s cold, he’s still very clumsy and sensible but he’s also a badass. I’m really excited to see how his development is going to go because I do suspect a few things already!

Then the plot was so thrilling. It’s a mix of fantasy, thriller and a bit of romance and it’s just perfect. There are riddles and secrets which is my favorite thing ever and there’s the hunt and the magic system (that is so cool) that makes it the perfect autumnal reading.
I’m so excited for the second book I miss the characters already it is way too painful to read such a good book but I guess it’s good pain. You either trust Susan Dennard or you don’t. I do.

The world building is a little lacking but other than that this book was very well paced and kept me wanting to finish it in one sitting! I liked the MC and felt like she was a strong representation of someone who wants to accomplish their goals. She passes all the trials and doesn't depend on those who made her an outcast due to some old riles and traditions. I think it would've been a good stand alone but there's talk it might have a sequel!

I enjoyed this story a lot. The lore was very creative, the characters were engaging and I liked that they all grew in real ways. I feel the mystery vibe and would rate this better but the ending felt lackluster. There wasnt enough of a climax or conclusion. I’m looking forward to how the next book builds on the story and hopefully we learn literally anything.