The Luminaries by Susan Dennard – Review

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.

Ah, well, this review kind of snuck up on me because I thought I had scheduled blog posts through my return from vacation (Universal/Disney adventure). So here we go with a hurriedly typed on my phone review!!

The Luminaries is honestly a surprise new favorite for a few reasons. Reason number one being that it manages to combine several themes I enjoy in a brilliant way. Winnie Wednesday (the names make want to die) and her immediate family are outcasts in the Hunter society thanks to her fathers betrayal many years ago. Winnie is determined to enter the Hunter Trials despite this in the hopes that if she succeeds, her family will no longer be shunned. I love trial/competition themes when they’re well executed, I love a good underdog main character, and boy do I adore a good secret society, especially if they are out fighting supernatural critters/beings.

The second thing I love (and I’m totally stealing this from someone else) is that this has the vibes of a YA book from circa 2010, but it’s GOOD and has some more modern aspects for sure. I think it’s a combination of the themes, the age group of the characters, and the relationship between Winnie and her friends and family. Her mom tries hard but can’t get things quite right and is definitely a bit frazzled. Her former friends are the hot, ultra talented monster Hunter dude and the equally gorgeous but snobby girl, but they’re much deeper than that. Winnie is sort of accidentally successful and halfway stumbles her way through things. I’m probably doing an awful job of explaining that, but if you’ve read it I’d love to know what you think!

I would like to point out that the supernatural aspect is actually quite cool as well! The monsters are varied and have some cool lore behind the origins. And there’s a group that sort of aids the monsters and the spirit that forms/attracts them, which are in opposition to the Hunters. It’s rather vague in the first book, but the second book is going to have more info, especially with that ending! There’s werewolves, shifters, banshees, and a new mysterious blob that has the most ridiculous descriptions ever, plus just about anything else you could think of.

Overall, I was delighted by this book and read it SO FAST. I didn’t want to put it down and never for a moment found my attention waning. I loved the characters, loved the weird, elite secret Hunter society, and I liked seeing how the author handled outcast Winnie suddenly becoming accepted again. The names were a bit silly, but after a few chapters I didn’t really notice it anymore. I can’t wait to see what the next installment holds!