The Luminaries by Susan Dennard Series: The Luminaries, #1, #1
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Published by Tor Teen Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Pages: 304
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From Susan Dennard, the New York Times bestselling author of the Witchlands series, comes a haunting and high-octane contemporary fantasy, about the magic it takes to face your fears in a nightmare-filled forest, and the mettle required to face the secrets hiding in the dark corners of your own family.
Hemlock Falls isn't like other towns. You won't find it on a map, your phone won't work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.
Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie's town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night.
Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family's good name. Or die trying.
But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for.
Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.
"You'll want to get lost in the world of The Luminaries again and again.”—Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
I spent a lot of this book wondering what I was reading. Nightmares coming alive in the forest? What is this craziness?
Winnie Wednesday is desperate to get back what she lost four years ago when her family was outcast. Her in? Complete in the hunter trials. The odds are against her, yet Winnie suddenly finds herself the talk of her little community of Hemlock Falls while she tries to understand how she’s ended up as the town’s darling and investigate the new nightmare in their woods.
The author mentions in a note that this book came from a project she did at the beginning of the pandemic where readers got to choose what happened next. Very cool concept, but I feel like that concept dropped us into the middle of the story. The “bad guys” are the Dianas. But who are they and why are they bad? We know Winnie’s father was proven a Diana and the family outcast. No one stood up for them, but why were they allowed to stay in the town of Luminaries if they’d been kicked out? And why, just because Winnie passed the first test in the hunter trials did their family suddenly open their arms? These were nagging questions that haunted me as I read the book that was only exacerbated when we get to the end and certain revelations come out.
I find myself in an odd spot with this book. On the one hand, there were too many holes and questions in the storyline. On the other, I’m curious about what happens next. Curiosity killed the cat and will most likely have me looking out for the next book in this series just to find out what happens next.
Shannon
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