4.5 stars rounded up
I actually don't have a lot of thoughts on this book. I might come back to make a more detailed review later, but this is what I have to say now:
The Luminaries is truly a great book. It establishes easy, consistent world-building with clans and traditions based around paranormal and urban fantasy. It is a bit unclear whether this town is one secluded town with Luminaries and the rest of the world (besides the other towns) is normal or if they all know about the Luminaries. However, this book was truly addictive, and even when I wasn't /invested/ I still wanted to keep reading. Susan Dennard really is a master of prose.

this is another case of while the book is decisively lovely, i just don't feel strongly about anything to love it. i even dnf-ed this book at the 40% mark and skimmed the rest.

as always, there are spoilers.

let's start with the goods, i love how poetic and precise the writing is, how dennard doesn't need much to build atmosphere and set up the tone for a scene. the spooky/unsettling vibes are just immaculate.

winnie wednesday is a very likeable heroine and easy to root for. she's imperfect in the most perfect way and her determination to rise above hardship is wonderful to read about. although my interest in her character immediately dips whenever she is around her love interest—whose personality is as exciting as a wet rag and who seems so easily forgiven (because he's tall, dark and handsome) after what he'd done to her. twice now i'd come across instances where the female mc miraculously forgets her "supposed hatred" *wink wink* for Boy and runs straight to him as soon as there's an opportunity to do so. where is my "hate to love" tension? speaking of ruined tension, their teenage flirting just makes me uncomfortable. (*whispers* the true wasted potential here is winnie and erica)

the world building is... interesting? there's certainly an attempt on slowly easing the readers into it, but ultimately everything still feels surface levelled to me. for once, i'm not quite sure if i "get" it and i'm not sure if reading the other 60% will help me. like sure, there are... these things? and they dream up supernatural creatures that needed to be put down? but why though? what's the myth behind it? and why these supernatural creatures specifically and not others? if your answer is because werewolves and banshees are cool, i agree with you; no shame in that. i just want… more. more depths. something to convince me to take all of this seriously and care. (why werewolves and not vampires, anyway?) i unfortunately has the same reaction when it comes to other characters beside winnie (except maybe erica), they just... exist without any depth whatsoever and are ultimately boiled down to (1) the camp who hate winnie's family, (2) the camp who are friendly bipocs and (3) adults.

while i do have a lot of grievances, i'm not the intended audience for this book, nor did i finish it. do not let me discourage you if anything about this book catches your eyes. i do think this can be a very fun and enjoyable read if you are able to Vibe with it.

Umm and where is the rest of it??

“The Luminaires” hunts monsters in the forest but Winnie Wednesday is on corpse duty cleaning up the mess from the night before as her family was blacklisted following her fathers betrayal. Loyalty above all else is key to rejoining the ranks but with a little lie she is able to sneak in and hunt the true monster lurking in shadows.

This was such a fun read I was surprised to see it end so soon!

The concept is a lot of fun bringing in some of our favorite monsters of the week giving us a new take on vamps, werewolves, sirens and the like as Winnie tries to become a Hunter and restore the family name and the idea of the respective families being named after the day of the week in which they guard the forest was a lot of fun. There’s a lot here that is merely brushed upon but it’s clear there will be a few more in this series so I’m not too concerned about the lack of explanation.

The characters are fine if not traditional for the type of story this is but I have no real complaints on that front though I have a sneaking suspicion about some of them that may or may not prove to be true. I still want to know more about the dynamics of the hunters and how the monsters are made as it doesn’t quite make sense to me in terms of creation that we know from mythology (which we see discussed here) and the idea of the nightmares.

My biggest critique is that this doesn’t feel like a completed book in the sense that while she does have a bit of a personal journey and we complete a rule of three I felt like we were just gearing up to some sort of big reveal that would springboard us into the sequel but instead we get the promise of tomorrow. That being said it’s hard to fault a book for leaving us wanting so while I wish there was more the sink my teeth into I’m satisfied knowing more is on the way.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review***

There is so much to enjoy here. I was not a part of the Twitter polls that resulted in early drafts of this, but I can honestly say that I think they helped. So often in YA coming of age/rights of initiation novels, we see characters keeping secrets from others for no reason. I hate that trope. Dennard deftly avoids that over used trap. If a secret is kept, there is a very good reason. When Winnie gets in over her head, she talks to people who can actually help. Because of this, we still get all of that solid YA angst that we look for, but also a protagonist who feels smart and capable, not just because of her strengths, but because she knows her limits. Winnie is the protagonist you want to be friends with, because sure, you may end up doing something ridiculous together, but at least you'll be prepared for it.

This kind of reminded me of The Hunger Games at first, but not quite as dystopian. It has all the tropes I love, and is a great first installment in a series.

Winnie Wednesday desperately wants to join the fighters that protect the world from a sleeping spirit. She longs for community and to know her place in it. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside her control, her family has a 10 year outcast status. Desperate not to lose her chance, Winnie takes on challenges she is not really ready for. Dennard's book is very compelling and keeps the reader constantly cheering for Winnie through all of her trials. The world building is great and is introduced in a way that adds depth to the characters. Overall a very compelling read and I couldn't put it down!

I absolutely loved this book! It was full of action and adventure which I really love in a book. The author did a great job keeping the plot moving and creating unique and interesting characters. This was such a fun read that I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

This is Susan Dennard's best book to date. The characterization, worldbuilding and everything is A++. I have so many theories and can't wait to find out the answers! I love that the book takes place over a super short period of time and yet everything changes for Winnie like 5 times. The supporting cast is gold.