ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book.

I've been looking for a paranormal book for a while now, one that is set in the real world but has a fascinating magic system. I've heard good things about the uniqueness of The Luminaries and I was so happy when it came in one of my Illumicrate boxes.

When I first started reading, I wasn't enjoying the book much in the first 50 pages. I was worried I would have to struggle to read and finish it but as I kept going, I started to breeze through and all of a sudden I read 100 pages in seemingly a blink.

I enjoyed all the characters. Winnie seemed so shy and sweet and I was cheering her on as she made her mark on the Luminaries. After her dad was outed as a Diana, the Luminaries's mortal enemy, Winnie's family was cast out, condemned, bullied and shunned. On her 16th birthday, she takes the chance to regain her family's honour and become a luminary herself. To do so, she needs to undertake a series of tests to protect the human world from the paranormal. With a mysterious new force killing the creatures in the forest, the stakes have become even higher for Winnie to become a luminary and survive the trials.

I enjoyed the story, love interest, Jay and the overall aesthetic of the story. There were times when I felt like the pacing was a little slow but all in all, I had so much fun reading this. I ended up reading the sequel straight after I finished this book and I cannot wait to read book three later this year.

I feel like the summary gave away most of the story, but it was still an enjoyable read overall. I really love the haunting cover.

Ugh, Jay! I followed this story from it's conception as a "Sooz your own adventure" and was so excited when it was published. I love Susan Dennard and her commitment to both craft and her audience. For that reason, I support the hell out of this book. This book was entertaining and enjoyable, with great call-backs to the original story on Twitter. While it is not my favorite book by this author, I am excited to see where the rest of the story takes us.

I was hooked on this book. The supernatural elements were interesting and the unravelling of the plot kept me invested in the characters. There was room for work on developing individual characters, but as this is the start of the series I am holding on to hope that we will get more insight in the future. I burned through this book so fast, and definitely would recommend it to those that enjoy supernatural mystery stories with a friends to enemies to possible lovers? I guess you will have to read to find out.

This book has been out for awhile now, and for some reason I never wrote a review for it. I remember having some trouble reading it - the pacing and plot just weren’t for me. I did enjoy the world building, but the rest was a bit tough for me to get through.

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

When I finished the book, my only thought was, HOW MUCH LONGER till book 2?! And WHY is it not out yet??? (All silly questions, obviously, but I couldn’t help myself.) The story sucked me in, and I did not want it to end. One of the things that I adore about Susan’s writing is how natural the words flow and how comfortable her worlds are. I know that Susan likes to put some hooks and red herrings in her books, so I am sure I probably missed a dozen of important clues (hence, the re-read is needed ASAP).

If you like awkward but fierce main female characters, broody and mysterious bad boys, and exquisite monster hunts - you need to dive into The Luminaries right now!

(The book was read and reviewed in 2022. I am not sure why it is showing as pending review here.)

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity to review this book. I really wanted to love this book. The premise was so interesting but the book itself falls flat of what I expected it to be. The writing was a bit sloppy and the characters lacked dimension.

Loved! Susan’s characters and worlds are so easy to fall into. I loved the mystery of what was out there but had no idea what it was. The mystery of her dad and vibe of the town. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I wanted to love this one more than I did, look at that COVER! The cover definitely was part of the reason I was drawn to this book. I am sad to say it didn't capture me the way I wanted. I found myself wondering about other books and my focus wouldn't stay in the story.

I loved the idea of The Luminaries. The premise of hunters going into a forest every night to eliminate monsters plaguing the forest sounds so amazing as well as the trials the potential hunters have to go through. However, the story itself felt a little flat up until the final moments. I enjoyed the trials themselves and thought they were her most interesting elements of the book. Although, I felt like the plot needed to be teased out more between the big baddie in the forest and the big reveal in the final pages. I’m hoping it was intentionally vague to help set up the next book in the series. I did enjoy it enough to read the next one in the series and see where Dennard goes with the characters.

I’m beyond sad to say I didn’t enjoy this one. The writing and world is there, but the plot and pacing are rough.

There wasn’t enough that pulled me into rooting for Winnie and her family. The build up was weak and the fantasy drama fairly standard.

In a year of stand out fantasies, this one doesn’t stand out.

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this after multiple tries. I feel like I'm just not the target audience for this book. I do love the coverart and the plot sounded really interesting!

Really enjoyed the aspect of the father being the cause of the outcasting of the family. Fun read of trails and loyalty.

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

This cover is everything. I enjoyed the premise of this book and thought the characters were well written.

Decent characterization, basic world building, and standard dialogue. While not bad in any particular way, I found my mind wandering a bit as I read this, so it failed to keep my attention completely on the story. However, I usually enjoy Susan Dennard's books, so I will most likely try book two of this series at some point to see what happens.

It is crazy to me that this is the same story that launched one of the most amazing Twitter experiences in publishing history. You can easily see threads of that story in here, but this novel gave us a whole new world and perspective from Winnie and a harrowing journey to follow her on that the Twitter story only hinted at. Bravo!

One of my most anticipated reads and it did not live up to expectations. Like most of the book community, I followed Susan Dennard on Twitter where she started The Luminaries. When it was announced as a full-length novel, I was so excited.
Let me start with, I like the idea of the book. Had it been longer or given me some answers, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But the book kept giving me mystery after mystery and didn't offer one single answer. That is a sure way to frustrate the average reader. When the book ended, I was speechless. And not in a good way.

Now don't get me wrong, I will read the next book. I want to see this through and finish it. And I do have high hopes it will get better. I know Susan Dennard can write a fantastic book. I am just really hoping the sequel picks up right where we left off. Because I don't think I can emotionally handle a time jump.

If you read this, maybe wait until the second and third books are out. That way you don't get frustrated and the lacking of a proper ending. On to the sequel!!

I loved this book so much this author will always be an automatic read for me. I loved the characters so much I especially loved Winnie she was such a great character that just wanted the best for her family and to end the shunning they have done to her and her family for four years. I also loved Winnie's family her brother Darian his boyfriend Andrew and her mother I like that they didn't automatically embrace them being accepted back for them it was four years too late for them to accept it all at face value. I also liked Jay the potential love interest he was a interesting character looking forward to where that goes. I loved the plot it starts with Winnie telling how they were basically shunned for something her father did so she sets out to end that by entering the trails to become a hunter and end that shunning many things happen along the way looking forward to reading more.

Sadly, I was underwhelmed by The Luminaries and don't feel the desire to complete the series. Upon starting this book I didn't realize it was intended as a series so I didn't understand how the story was going to get wrapped up in the last 10% (now I know).
The concept of the nightmare hunters is cool but I didn't understand what their purpose is. Does the majority of the world not know about these monsters and the hunters job is to keep it that way? That's really the only thing I thought of, which is fine if that's what it is, but it wasn't successfully expressed.
I also found the narrative to be repetitive and I didn't enjoy the use of the main character explaining details about these monsters while she was scared. It just didn't work for me.