This book does exactly what it says on the tin, there is no deviation from the blurb and no surprises in store for you. The one “twist” can be guessed within the first quarter of the book. The world isn’t revolutionary and doesn’t really leave much room for growth.

Although I am intrigued enough by the whisperer and where the story will go in the next book that I will probably pick it up, but overall quite a disappointing read.

Thank you to Daphne Press & Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

You know when you have a beautiful book (sprayed edges, intricate pattern, lovely dust jacket - you know the ones!) and then the book just HAS to be good because you want to be keeping that mighty fine book on your mighty full shelves? Well, this one is staying because it's pretty, not because it's good (and pretty). The disappointment is sadly all too real.

There are things I love about this book. Here, let me list them:

1. It's pretty (yes, yes, we've covered this one).
2. It includes, interspersed throughout the book, a compendium of monsters (the ultimate in cool book things, if you ask me!).
3. It's about monster hunters (easy win, but a win none the less!).
4. There's a competition (I am a sucker for any and all competition tropes).

I sadly can't get past four things. This is a case of "it's me"....I think! I've notoriously struggled with Susan Dennard (and that particularly sucks because she seems like the nicest person in the entire world!). I think her writing style, for whatever reason, just doesn't capture me quickly enough for me to want to keep reading - same problem with Truthwitch! I need to be grabbed right from the start, otherwise it's a struggle to pick it up again.

It just never really got going; I saw another reviewer say that everything that happens, happens in the blurb. Yep, they're right. I also couldn't really get into the characters or their development, and the weird "factions" of sorts, organising people into tribes named after days of the week? Seemed a bit lame for me. I did love the compendium though; the illustrations and the accompanying monster details.

Anyway, not for me sadly. But I'll keep it (and you know why!).

ARC provided from Netgalley, prior to receiving a copy in a book subscription box, in exchange for an honest review.

I think overall I enjoyed more than I didn't, and therefore my rating's a little above middle road. I'd like to see where this goes.

I had really high hopes for this book because the premise sounded really fun and like perfect fall read but did it live up to my expectations?

Sadly not. And I’m not exactly sure if its a book problem or a me problem but some things just weren’t working for me.

While I liked the characters and writing style a lot, the plot just fell a bit flat for me and maybe also the world building, though I’m not sure if the latter isn’t only because it’s the first book in a series. But nonetheless - I just wanted *****more*****.

Don’t get me wrong, the book is exactly what the synopsis says it is. Monsters, outcasts and three trials and the book is nothing more and nothing less. In other words - I was a bit bored. I found the beginning pretty exciting but somewhere around the middle I began to feel a bit meh about the book. And while I liked Winnie, the characters weren’t carrying the book enough for me to oversee being bored by the plot. Because just everything that happens was either already in the synopsis or just very very predictable. There’s a bit of an mystery with the weird monster - or more like two mysteries because what exactly happened with Winnies dad? - but at least in this book it’s not really going anywhere. And especially the thing with Winnies father is where I wish there was a bit more world building, a bit more explanations. The Dianas are the bad guys and Winnies father betrayed the Luminaries but either I missed it or there really wasn’t any explanation why the bad guys are the bad guys. What are they doing? Who are they? Why are they the enemies? No idea. And I get that that’s probably something that will be relevant in later books but it also still made this first book a lot less exciting because why should I care about the Luminaries and their enemies when I barely know anything about them?

Overall I just would have liked more explanations and a less straight forward plot. There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily but it just wasn’t doing anything more me either.

This read is a fast paced YA supernatural mystery with a hint of romance! I really wanted more romance as I was loving those bits of the book.
The world building is unique and there’s plenty of intrigue to find out more, not a lot is revealed in the book but I’m sure that’s to come as the plot develops!
The creatures and images of them were great and the best part for me, there was definite peril and action.
Thank you to NetGallery and the author for this E-ARC for an honest review! Can’t wait for the next instalment.

thank you netgalley for an ARC of this book! this book was so entertaining! a fun, beautifully written book. SHORT CHAPTERS OMG YES. this book is a quick & will leave you wanting more, i definitely wanted more after the ending. id definitely recommend!

Headlines:
Outcasts
Creepy forests and creatures
Reading ease

I found The Luminaries incredibly easy to get into and stay connected through. This was an world that was understandable and a main character that was engaging and that I felt on side with. Alongside all this was some delicious creepy forest with some less delicious chilling creatures.

Winnie and her family as outcasts seemed to have been given a hard and unfair ride thanks to the actions of her father. Her mum was an interesting character and somewhat weak considering she was supposed to be a renowned hunter; that didn't quite add up even at the end of this first book. Her brother I liked and Jay also had me intrigued.

Winnie's friends however...nope; I'm here not to forgive and forget. I loved the trials (not over extended build up or delivery) and any hunting practice or action. The nightmares lived up to their names on the whole.

I can't finish this review without making reference to the fact that I felt a Vampire Academy vibe all the way through this book. I mean that as a complement rather than a criticism.

Thank you to Tor UK/Panmacmillan for the eARC.

This was a really good book. and I think it could be a great series too! So many questions left unanswered, so many ongoing plots that need to continue. I hope that when the second one comes out I will get to read that one too.

This book is about Winnie Wednesday, who wants nothing more than to join The Luminaries - the ancient order that protects Winnie's town from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest every night. But ever since her father was exposed as a traitor and a witch, her family has been shunned. On her 16th birthday she can take the first luminary trial to prove herself true and loyal - or die trying.

Admittedly this book was a bit slow, and I feel like it was all a set up for the later books that will come. We know that Winnie has to complete 3 trials to become a Luminary hunter. I thought that the trials were going to be a small part of the book and then the larger plots would become more important. However, it wasn't structured like that. It was structured so that the whole of this book is about the trials, so I assume that the bigger plots will be involved more in the subsequent books.

I liked Winnie as a main character, although she was a pretty terrible hunter most of the time. She was kicked out of hunter training 4 years ago when her dad was outed as a traitor, so it makes sense that she is behind. And yet, even though these monsters are insanely dangerous and kill fully trained adults, she somehow managed to survive in the forest many times. Jay is an interesting character and I feel like I will like him more when we get to see him again in the second book. He's very mysterious - I feel like he's hiding something. A nice surprise were the side characters of the twins - Bretta and Emma. They were so lovely! The only people to be nice to Winnie while she was still an outcast.

I loved the plot of this, and the descriptions of the forest were really beautiful. I loved the knowledge of all of the nightmares and how different they all were, and the book included some pages that were formatted as if they came from 'the compendium' which is the hunters guidebook of nightmares. These pages were really cool, I think they would look better in the physical book than in my ebook.

Overall, this was an interesting and unique story that I would like to read more of. It was very YA and a bit slow at times, but the world of nightmares kept me hooked anyway and I want to find out what happens next!

This story follows Winnie Wednesday and her family who have become outcasts because of her father, who did something thought to be evil, They live a hard life and are shunned by everyone, which is very difficult for a family of hunters. They are surrounded by a forest which is full of nightmare monsters that every night The Luminaries go to and kill to protect everyone. Winnie wants to start taking the hunter trials on her 16th birthday and hopefully bring some pride back to her family.

I would say that in my opinion it would be most suited to young teens. It gave me teen Wolf/twilight vibes and I think that I would have enjoyed it a lot more as a teenager. If you enjoy monsters, werewolves, mystery then this has it all.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review,

"Culture runs deeper than blood. ”
Might well be, but this book was an uncultured mess…

I genuinely hate giving any book a one-star rating, but especially so when it’s an ARC and hasn’t even been released yet. However, with The Luminaries I cannot justify any other rating. This is the most superficial, bland and pointless book I’ve read in a long time.

Synopsis (as paraphrased from the backflap):
We follow 16-year old Winnie Wednesday, who lives in a mysterious, reclusive town, surrounded by monster-infested-woods and plagued by ancient family feuds and prejudices (think Four Paths from The Devouring Gray). Winnie wants to join the Luminaries, the ancient order of monster-hunters that protects humanity from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest every night. In order to do so, she must complete three deadly trials to prove her worth. Her competitor is a broodingly handsome bad-boy. They team up and a hate-to-love-romance ensues.

Have you read that synopsis? Great! You’ve read the entire book. Literally nothing else of interest happens and no more depth is reached within the following 300 pages.
Story: thin as a leaf.
Characters: flat as a doormat.
Worldbuilding: entirely unoriginal.
Romance: Twilight levels of cringe.

I’m reaching for something positive to mention within this review, but I’m stumped. I guess the book is visually beautiful. It has an eye-catching cover, beautiful character-headings and includes some illustrated compendium-pages depicting the monsters that roam the woods. Those were pretty cool. Other than that, I have little to say. I don’t expect a YA-paranormal fantasy to be a literary masterpiece, but this was offensively low-effort. This is my strongest DO-NOT-RECOMMEND out of any ARC I’ve read in a long time.

Many thanks regardless to Daphne Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Luminaries Review

I was incredibly intrigued by this book, the supernatural world Dennard has created is absolutely full of every monster and creature imaginable. Myths and legends all trapped within one nightmare forest, where hunters battle each night to keep the world safe.

I especially enjoyed the trials, how hard Winnie fights to take part and regain her place as a hunter and her struggles between everything she has always wanted and the reality of actually getting it.

Winnie relationship with the nightmares was especially interesting, she has studied them for years. Learnt all their quirks from the Compendium. And yet seeing them in real life she realises just how different they are. She is almost in awe of them, while having such an awareness of their emotions. So different to what she expected and thought she knew. Much like with the forest itself, it’s almost sentient nature calls to Winnie and the captivating way it’s described brings it completely to life.

“You either trust the forest or you don’t, Winnie”

This story really gripped me, especially after the half way mark, I couldn’t put it down after that. The sense of urgency that Winnie experiences really translates to the reader, I found myself completely emerged in the chase through the forest, hunted by nightmare monsters. Winnie’s fear and reactions felt so real, and so relatable.

I really enjoyed the tiny bud of a romance, while oh so tentative and fragile it is a really lovely addition to the storyline and I’m looking forward to seeing it blossom!

Overall this book has so many of my favourite things, mystery, romance and an abundance of lore. This first instalment has definitely caught my interest, I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next! It really was an excellent coming of age YA novel, I highly recommend.

3.5 stars

The Luminaries is a fun and fast-paced YA paranormal fantasy filled with family, monsters, mysteries and a dash of romance!

Winnie Wednesday is a Luminary, meaning that she is part of a secret group of monster hunters tasked with protecting humanity from the Nightmares manifested by the spirits of the forest. However, her father was discovered to be in league with the enemy of the Luminaries, which has caused Winnie’s entire family to be stamped as outcasts. To win back her place in the Luminary society, Winnie is determined to complete the Hunter trials, no matter the cost.

After loving the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard, I was very eager to give this new book a go. It’s definitely very different in both tone and writing, but it still had a lot of the same strengths as in her first series, just to a lesser extent. The worldbuilding is super cool and obviously well-thought out, but I feel like there could have been some more explanations and answers. And because the pacing is so relentlessly fast, I feel like the character and relationship development was a bit lacking. All of these characters are fine on the surface, but there’s not too much depth and personality to them.

The plot itself is just wildly entertaining and incredibly engaging though, so that kept me glued to the page. I liked the suspense around the mystery element and thought that there were some fun twists and turns.
Also, the romance was quite endearing and I was totally on-board, which is not something I was expecting. I liked that they were already familiar with each other because of their strong friendship when they were younger, that definitely helped me believe in their quick connection.

Overall, I think this was a really entertaining read, though it could use a couple of extra pages to flesh out the world and characters more. The ending was definitely a bit abrupt and leaves you yearning for book 2, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on the type of reader you are.
Recommend this if you like fast-paced YA paranormal fantasy, monster-hunting, family drama, slight dark academia vibes and a dash of friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance ;)

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

*DNF'd at 20%

This YA fantasy is the first book published by illumicrate (the book box subscription service, yes) new publishing house Daphne Press. As I am a subscriber & was aware of this new venture I was very intrigued about this title.

Unfortunately this book reads VERY young and I may have enjoyed this in my early teens but at 27 this is definitely NOT for me and won't be for anyone older than 15 or 16 I reckon. And you may say "but it's supposed to be YA" well let me tell you, I've just finished Tracy Deonn's Legendborn cycle book 2 (a YA fantasy series) and the calibre of the writing in that book is phenomenal! Faultless.

This book feels poorly planned out, poorly written and unfortunately..boring. the idea of this book was interesting but the execution fell flat. There was foreshadowing in the small amount of the book I read & there was so much telling and not showing like the author doesn't trust the reader to be able to pick up on the tension without being told numerous times what is happening.

Extremely disappointed.

A promising start.

I read a few reviews which said this was quite teen, but actually, that's what I really liked about the book. It was simple and therefore flowed nicely. The characters tent too complicated and yet the ideas were quite unique.

I was a little apprehensive when I saw the lead character was called Wednesday, but I figured out why and it was actually a nice little feature.

The plot is pretty simple and yes to an extent, predictable, but again this works in it's favour as you find yourself wanting to read more to find out if your right and picking out little clues along the way. I think there is a lot more to be told here and good foundations have been laid. I'm excited to read the next installment a d let's face it, see another fab front cover.

There’s not much to add to this is if you’ve read the blurb as the back of the book tells the story. Hunters belonging to clans fight monsters, there’s an unusual and undocumented monster. The protagonist must face trials in order to become a hunter. There’s mysteries and questions, but no answers in this book, and the sudden end without tying up any threads makes me think that book two is coming!

I gave 3 stars as the dad storyline kept me reading, and that was semi-resolved. I assume in book two we’ll be told what the new monster is, what Dianas are, what happened to dad, if anything comes of the love interest and what teeth-clicking is.

A thing I did like: the intermittent pages documenting monsters as they appeared in the text. I’m the physical book I think these will be superb.

I read that the book was written based on a series of twitter polls which would explain the absence of world building and the character focus.

All in all this was an entertaining read, I just wish more questions had been answered.

For me this book wasn't one of those you cannot put down, but one of those you don't want to finish. I read it quietly without anxiously wanting to know what happens next but at the same time reticent to the book ending cause it felt perfectly homie.
The characters are so lovely and layered they go trought a lot and you understand their anxiety and pain but most of the pain is off page historical and don't make your heart compressed it was the perfect read for me in this moment on time. There is a lot happening various near death experiences but somehow it wasn't agonising.
I have to say there are some mysteries in the book, that are not really such misteries as you can figure them out quite easily and I thought by the end our MC would have figure them out too, but they don't. and even though as a reader this things are obvious I can understand if I were the character I would probably be completely oblivious to them too. So I cannot complain about it and I just want the next book asap because i really want to know how the MC will react to this revelations. I wish at least one of them would have been revealed in this first book though, I was really looking forward to it and I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't discovered, and instead left for the next one.

It was a great read, and I can imagine myself obsessing over the world and characters very easily. Well I am lying here I am already already obsessing over them 🙃

Sometimes there aren't good enough words to read a book. Suffice to say, I cannot wait to read the sequel. I am yearning for it even though it may be years. I need more and I need answers.

Thanks to NetGalley for this new addiction in exchange for a fair review.

4⭐️

This is my first read by this author I think and on the whole I enjoyed it! I do feel like ages are a little off or maybe just the writing, I’m not sure, because sometimes the MC feels too mature for a 16YO and other times she seems closer to 12YO, so it mostly just made me wish this was aged up to avoid that odd conflict.

I thought the story was interesting and I have a lot of suspicions about what’s going to happen next. I did feel like we didn’t really get many answers considering how much intrigue is piled on to the reader.

The vibes were cool for this book, and the descriptions of the nightmares were really well done and imaginative. I think if you enjoyed One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig then you’ll enjoy this book too.

BOOK REVIEW: The Luminaries by @stdennard

4 Stars

I was looking forward to reading this book as I adore Susan Dennard's Truthwitch series. Although I didn't enjoy this quite as much as that series I still really enjoyed this read!

The Luminaries features around a society of hunters that hunt nightmares in a forest. These nightmares are loads of different creatures that really caught my imagination like basilisks, mantidores and werewolves. The story is about 16 year old Winnie who desperately wants to be a hunter but is an outcast due to her Dad being a traitor to the Luminaries.
The story was really interesting and had me hooked pretty quickly. I will say that it felt quite young in parts and I wish the characters had been 18 rather than 16. That being said the story got better and better as the book continued, although I would have liked a little more worldbuilding. I thought the imagination from Susan Dennard was excellent and I loved the magical aspects.
The characters were really well done and I loved Winnie and her bravery. I also love the rather mysterious Jay and hope he plays a bigger role in the next book.
I definitely have a lot of theories in what is to come and cannot wait for the next book. I think it will be even better than this one now the premise is set up. I am not a fan of cliffhanger endings which this one has in many ways but it definitely has me wanting the next book more!

I highly recommend this book if you love brave female protagonists, a decent amount of action and many magical creatures.

Please note that I was #gifted this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Luminaries is a whimsical, fast-paced YA fantasy that ticks all the boxes for lovers of this genre. I was instantly sucked into the rich world Dennard has created, and thought the Days of the Week system was really fascinating and unique. This story reminds me of all the YA fantasy novels I used to read when I was younger (in a good way!), so it felt very comforting and cozy to me. That being said, I particularly liked that Winnie’s character acts as an antithesis to the stereotypical ‘Chosen One’ protagonist often found in these books, which made her character and the development she goes through within the novel all the more enjoyable and satisfying.

My only complaints are that the writing could be incredibly repetitive. After the ninth or tenth time of reading about Winnie’s teeth clicking or Jay’s scent, it no longer felt like a small character quirk but rather was just frustrating to have to read about it again. Also, whilst I understand this book verges on the magical realism side and takes place in modern day, using colloquialisms like ‘girl boss’ was simply cringe-worthy and felt very out of place and off-putting. It was near the end of the novel so I luckily knew the rest of the book was worth it, but if I had read this early on, I would have DNF’d.

As any first book in a fantasy series, we are left with more questions than we have answers, but I found the ending satisfying enough for now, and look forward to continuing with this series.

Thank you to NetGalley. Daphne Press, and Susan Dennard for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.