The Luminaries was filled with supernatural intrigue and a magical world of horror. I really enjoyed the plot line and the monsters and the folklore behind them. I thought it was a really unique read! I however did not love the main character as I felt she was a little immature for her age which made the book difficult to enjoy at times. Otherwise this was a great read and definitely gave me Supernatural vibes!

The Luminaries was a wonderful concept by Susan, whose Witchlands series I enjoyed very much. I really liked how the main character developed throughout the novel. Even though the premise seemed sort of basic at first, needless to say I became enthralled by Susan’s prose.

This book was EPIC! Filled with monsters, mystery, and mayhem, I just couldn’t put it down. If you loved House of Hollow and Our Crooked Hearts then you’ll definitely love this.

I can’t wait for the next book, this series is going to be spectacular!

"You either trust the forest or you dont, Winnie."

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Teen for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I'm going to preface this review with the fact that this is the first Susan Dennard book I've read, though the Witchlands series has been on my radar for a while now. I dove into The Luminaries not knowing what to expect, and came out of it NEEDING the sequel... it's terrible knowing I'll be waiting for quite a while, as The Luminaries doesn't release until November 8th!

The main character, Winnie, along with her mother and older brother, are outcasts from The Luminaries. We first meet Winnie as she is on corpse duty - a task given to the teenage members of the Luminary clans before they attempt the Hunter trials. The story is told through her eyes as she navigates being rejected by her extended family and friends, all because of her father's betrayal.

Winnie is a very lovable and relatable character, and I especially appreciate her anger towards the other clan members, and her reluctance to open herself to some of the girls who don't care that she is an outcast. I enjoyed seeing Winnie's character develop over the week or so that the novel covers, and I can't wait to see more of her interactions with Jay!

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed The Luminaries! It had a bit of a slow start and I do have some questions about the world building, but I'm looking forward to the sequel and hopefully having some of my theories proven (or disproved!).

"Never surprise a nightmare..."

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars

In this book, we follow Winnie Wednesday (yes, that’s her last name). She and her family were part of the Luminaries, a group of different clans that hunt nightmares (monsters like werewolves, vampires, etc.), until Winnie’s father was discovered to be a Diana, the Luminaries’ enemy. Since then, her family had been deemed traitors as well and have been outlawed from the clans. (This happens four years before this book takes place.)

Because of this, Winnie loses her two best friends, Erica and Jay.

Winnie, wanting to gain her family’s reputation back, enters the Trials to become a hunter. There’s three stages:
1) Kill a nightmare by yourself.
2) Survive a night in the forest of nightmares without aid.
3) Complete your clan’s specific and secret challenge.
Winnie “completes” the first trial by kinda cheating. So she’s allowed to enter the next trial and can also get formal training. But because she’s so far behind on training, she hesitantly asks Jay for help. And he agrees.

Most of the book is essentially her training with Jay to become a hunter. But there’s also another factor: there’s a new nightmare in town and Winnie is the only one who has encountered it. The few people who have seen it through cameras don’t know what it is. Everyone else doesn’t believe that it’s real. So Winnie sets out to find out what it is.

Thoughts about the book:

Overall, I enjoyed it. The beginning was a little slow for me, but it definitely picked up quite a bit towards the middle.
The world itself was interesting (though not completely unique), but I could have used a little bit more explanation on some aspects.

The trials itself was pretty straight forward. The execution was fine. Nothing special. Most of the monsters in this book are ones that everyone probably had heard of, except for the one that Winnie is hunting. Looking forward to seeing what that monster is.

My least favorite thing about this book was the characters. I wish we got a little bit more of everyone’s personality. Everyone kind of sounds and acts the same. But a lot of our main characters have secrets to them, and I’m intrigued to know more if I read the next book.

Another thing I didn’t really like (but can be easily fixed in the next book) is Winnie’s friendship with Jay and Erica. Jay and Winnie spend a lot of time together because he’s helping her train. And it seems like Jay is the love interest. The thing is, we don’t see a lot of Erica for some reason. And if Winnie, Jay, and Erica were all BFFs so long ago, why did Erica appear only a handful of times? I would have liked to see her a little bit more. I also didn’t like how it was Winnie who was trying to make amends with Jay and Erica, given that they stopped talking to her.

The thing that happens about Winnie’s father at the end of the book is also very interesting. I was going to make comments about why we don’t learn much about him, but I think the next book(s) will answer that.

Overall, solid read. I’m very willing to pick up the next book!

Would I recommend this book? Yes.

Winnie Wednesday is a luminary, or, at least, she used to be one. Four years after her father was found to be a traitor to the Luminaries, Winnie sets to undo the outcast status that has been placed on the rest of her family by completing the Hunter Trials.

This book is a lot of fun. High stakes, but not sad stakes, a likable protagonist, a cute love story, and a great fantastical world within our real one. I would recommend!

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Luminaries*
Why do I keep doing this to myself? Why do I keep requesting ARC's of the first installments to a series that doesn't exist yet? Why do I insist on burning through book one of a proposed many, months before its release? Why must I put myself through the emotions of getting hooked on a budding series and have to wait who-knows-how-long to gain clarity, resolution and conclusion?
Because I can!
I must be a glutton for punishment yet it is such a sweet form of torture I am gifted.
What do I have to say about The Luminaries? A few things.
This was a story that pulled you in. Almost against your will. Almost before you realize what is happening. I was not hooked in the beginning. It took a good bit of this book to wrap my head around the world spreading out before me. While I was anxious to understand the concept of this muted world, there were several holes that didn't get filled until much later in the book. While making it intriguing and mysterious, it also left me frustrated and mildly confused. There are still gaps that remain even at the completion of this first installment. However, there was just enough explanation to keep me going, craving more! Half way through this book grabbed a hold of me and didn't let go. In fact, I am still in its clutches as I keep picking it back up hoping for more words to magically appear. My mind keeps going back to the what if's and what now's hours after finishing. I was definitely not ready for it to be over.
The world building was both interesting and puzzling. I followed the bread crumbs like a good little Gretel through the haphazard explanations to the world I was now sucked into. It was enough to keep me hanging on and not completely exasperated at the lack of completion I will say that by the end I had finally painted a picture of Hemlock Falls and the dystopian snapshot that was laid out for me.
The character development was a bit more thorough and set a little bit of a faster pace. While bumpy and in snatches, I was able to form a viable look into who these characters were. Our protagonist was a likeable and relatable character albeit irritating at times. I waited until the very end to see her grow a pair. To come into herself. To blossom into the badass I sensed and suspected she would be.
I appreciated the basis for this world, this story. I was captivated watching it unfold. The beginning didn't necessarily grab me. I was going through the motions to just get through it and realized I was enjoying it. I was looking forward to the next page. I was sucked in and held tight to the end.
I have been teetering between 3-4 stars for this book. 3 for the sheer frustration of the unknown. 4 for the blind sightedness, the sneaking up of the hook. The hook that caught me and reeled me in and left me wanting MORE, MORE, MORE!

Winnie Wednesday and her family is an outcast in her own community due to things outside her control. Her community, The Luminaries, that live in the hidden town of Hemlock falls hunt nightmares in the woods surrounding town. Her biggest dream? To take the Hunter trials and become a hunter like her mom and grandma. Due her outcast status she hasn’t been allowed to train but Winnie is determined to make it.

I loved The Luminaries from the moment I picked it up. It was a vortex in to a magical realism realm that I never wanted to leave. Susan Dennard wrote The Luminaries using a series of Twitter polls and put together a story both enchanting and mysterious. A page turner to the end.

This is my first book by Susan Dennard so I didn't know where to set my expectations! Winnie Wednesday and her family, the Wednesdays, are basically pariahs in their town of Hemlock Falls due to what Winnie's father did. The world-building was definitely one of The Luminaries' strongest aspects while other aspects such as the repetitiveness of certain (unnecessary, in my opinion), character development, and mystery fell a bit short. I couldn't really keep track of who was what and nothing exactly stuck. I really liked the vibes, however, and the concept of the secret society explored in this book. I'll definitely be checking out the next installment in this series and I have hope that it'll only get better!


Thank you to MacMillan - Tor/Forge and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars.

Hemlock Falls seems like a normal small town, despite the fact that it can’t be found on a map and is surrounded by a forest filled with supernatural nightmares. Selkies, changelings, werewolves, banshees, are just a few examples of what stalks the dark woods surrounding the town. The townspeople of Hemlock Falls protect the world from these supernatural horrors, and killing monsters on a nightly basis is the norm. School even starts later than normal for the sake of the teenagers who had corpse duty the night before. For Hemlock Falls, these things are the norm and are ingrained in their lives.

Winnie and her family are ostracized by society after her father was revealed to be a traitor, siding with the witches who want to release all the supernatural horrors into the world. Despite this, she doesn’t want to give up on her dream of being a luminary and fighting monsters every night. She soon finds there are unknown nightmares in the forest that are a far greater concern than werewolves.

By far the strongest part of this book was the world building. With a town that isn’t on the map and is surrounded by a monster filled forest, you’d think they’d be living off the grid or living off the land. But nope! Hemlock Falls has everything you’d expect a small town to have, from clothing stores to fine dining to a local coffee shop. The teenagers train to fight monsters after school then go to the coffee shop to watch their favorite local band perform. Hemlock Falls quite literally has anything and everything a normal town has. Everyone is nonchalant about the supernatural creatures that are a part of their lives while everything else screams normalcy. I found that very cute and quirky.

The plot left more to be desired. I get that this is book one in a series, but the entire book did little more than set up for the rest of the series. I had my theories ready and all, just for nothing to really be revealed at the end. The characters (especially the love interest) were flat and unoriginal, and nothing about their motivations or reasoning behind their behavior was revealed. The book could’ve been significantly shorter as well, since the middle 60% seriously lagged.

Solid world building though, because I really did love Hemlock Falls. 3.5/5 stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for sending me and advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Another first time author for me! I was immediately drawn into the world created by Dennard. It was almost like a Divergent meets Vampire Academy meets Cabin in the Woods. Dennard doesn't have to explain the how of this world because it just is! The character development was great, I thought, and (while predictable) an intriguing and fascinating storyline. I will highly recommend this book and look forward to the next one.

I went into this book knowing nothing about the author or the story’s history on Twitter. I was just intrigued by the cover and the description because I typically enjoy a lot of the things this book has on the surface — YA paranormal fantasy with some creepy/spooky elements.

Unfortunately the actual book did not live up to my expectations. The plot is meager and predictable, the characters are generic with poorly explained motivations, and the world building is almost non-existent. The reader is just supposed to accept this world without any explanation as to why it exists the way it does. In short, nothing about this story felt well-developed, and it was very reminiscent of any generic YA fantasy novel from the early 2010s.

Maybe people who like the shot of nostalgia that comes from reading a book with that tone will enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.

Thank you very much to the publishers for granting me access to this ARC in return for my honest review.

ARC review but these are my honest thoughts and opinions
I love Susan Dennard and this was one more great book by her. The story is interesting and compelling with the perfect amount of mystery and information drops. I can't wait to read it again when it releases and to read the next book in the series. I have so many theories about what is going on.

Super excited to finally read this as it's one of my most anticipated releases!!
I will update the review with a link to our blog closer to publication date.
I'd like to thank the publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge and netgalley for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Luminaries is a story about a small town that hunts nightmares. They are part of a larger global, but secret, community. The main character Winnie Wednesday and her mom and brother were outcast from the hunters because of something done by their dad, and the Wednesdays are doing what they can to make it back in the good graces of the town.

Overall I enjoyed this story and I hope there is a sequel because the cliffhanger really got me! I want to know more about what will happen to each of these characters. The various families in town have last names for the days of the week, which also correspond to their jobs and place in society. It was an interesting and unique concept which also seemed random and cool.

A few details did become annoying after being repeated constantly - in particular Winnie’s teeth clacking and how cold she was all the time (yet never wearing enough clothes).

I could have used more detail about Winnie’s dad’s story and the Dianas; they are more like a specter than any actual part of the story.
Ultimately a fun story that I hope will be continued in the future! Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

This was my first Susan Dennard book and I was very impressed with the world building. In Hemlock Falls, the spirit of the woods gives birth to new nightmares each night--nightmares that must be slain by the hunters--the Luminaries. Winnie's family received outcast status four years ago because her father was found to be working with the enemies of the Luminaries--the Dianas, witches who wish to use the power of the forest for their own purposes. Now, during the hunter trials that take place for each Luminary during the month of their sixteenth birthday, Winnie has a chance to bring her family back into the fold by proving herself and becoming a hunter. But when a strange new kind of nightmare appears to her on the night of her first trial, who will believe her?

Thoroughly enjoyed this and may pick up the second one (this is definitely a series starter!) My only complaint was that the author spends the novel laying clues down to the true nature of two of the characters. By the end of the book, it is pretty obvious who is what. Yet she doesn't reward the reader with the reveal, instead choosing to drag this particular story line into the next book. Rather than hook me, this actually made me less interested in continuing the series.

I received an ARC through NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge. All thoughts are my own personal opinion.

Winnie Wednesday and her family live as outcasts in Hemlock Falls due to her fathers' betrayal. So she decides to take part of the hunter exam to gain back her family's status. But during the exam she discovers a mysterious force.

The plot was enjoyable. It developed naturally and did not feel forced. The mood of the story suited the plot and helped create a creepy and mysterious atmosphere that contributed to the plot. The plot ended in a good note. The plot was at times a bit slow but it never staggered.

I felt like many of the side characters weren't really developed so the characters would blend together. They weren't fleshed out so it was hard to keep track of who was who and I would have to refer to notes when they were mentioned. The world building was also weak and felt like it was a second on third book in a series. Things are never explained but there is a lack of lore and the reader is just expected to accept things. For example, all the characters are put into clans named after the days of the week. Outsiders would have their names changed to a day of the week in the language from where they came from. But we never are told why the clans exist, or the process on who gets to go to what clan. It is implied there is an outside world but it never gets explained,

As far as a first book in a series I think it has a lot of potential to turn into something amazing, The plot was good and with a little more world building and character development it will be great. An enjoyable read and I will keep a look out for a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and and MacMillan - Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up.

Since I absolutely love the Witchlands series, I was really looking forward to literally anything else Susan Dennard writes. I was especially excited when I saw that The Luminaries looked like it had spooky vibes, plus a monster-hunting secret society. And it definitely did not disappoint.

Winnie Wednesday and her family are exiles from the Luminaries, the group of people that are charged with controlling the monsters that are produced in the forest each night, because her father was found to be a traitor to the cause and part of a rival faction. Since Winnie found that she technically wasn't forbidden to participate in the hunter trials, she decides that is the best hope for her and her family. But what if there are things lurking in the forest that even the hunters don't know about?

This book definitely had the 'creepy' factor done really well. I especially liked the lore around the monsters. While they tend to be quite familiar and occur in other stories, that doesn't stop them from having neat twists and also still being absolutely terrifying. The suspense was amazing, and it was hard to predict what would happen next.

This isn't even published yet and I already can't wait for book two in the series.

The Luminaries is a fast paced coming of age tale with a twist, Winnie Wednesday is a nightmare hunter. Defending her town against evil is a full time job for the inhabitants of Hemlock Falls, whose clans have seen and killed every monster you can dream about, or have they? Winnie has seen something new, unlike anything spotted in the forest before. Can Jay Friday train her sufficiently to find out what this strange phenomenon is and stop it before it kills the clans of Hemlock Falls? A strong tale, atmospherically told.

Susan Dennard creates a fantasy world that is captivating in its eeriness. Who doesn't like a world in which there are monsters and hunters? These hunters, called Luminaries, are trained and vetted enabling them to enter the forest nightly to stop any monsters from crossing the boundaries and entering into the world. Very well-developed characters that grow and evolve as the plot unfolds in a mysterious emergence of unexplained incidences. You will find yourself entranced by the relationship between Winnie Wednesday and Jay Friday. Looking so forward to our coffee date at 3:00!