Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Release Date: November 1, 2022
Publisher: Tor Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Contemporary
A brand new contemporary fantasy world from the New York Times bestselling author of the Witchlands series, Susan Dennard.
Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. It’s not on a map, cell phones
don’t work there, and you might find a ghost-deer grazing at midnight.
It’s also inhabited by the Luminaries, an ancient order charged with
guarding the nearby forest. Each night, when nightmares rise, only the
Luminaries stand between humanity and these monsters bent on
devastation—one clan for each night of the week. Fourteen orders around
the globe.
Winnie (of the Wednesday clan) desperately wants to
reclaim her family’s standing within the Luminaries. In the four years
since her dad was caught as a witch, her family has lived as outcasts.
Winnie’s solution? Pass the hunter trials. Then her family will be
welcomed in again.
During the first trial, however, Winnie is
severely outmatched by the forest’s nightmares. So when a new, unknown
monster slaughters a banshee and everyone assumes Winnie did the
slaughtering, she doesn’t correct them. Realizing she will never survive
the final two trials, Winnie seeks help from her gorgeous ex-friend,
Jay Friday, who is no longer a baby-faced boy but the best hunter in
Hemlock Falls.
As Winnie’s lies start to pile up around her and
bodies start to pile up from the new nightmare, she must protect Hemlock
Falls, protect her family’s new status, and protect her heart from a
former friend with brutal secrets of his own.
Susan Dennard's The Luminaries is the beginning of a brand new contemporary fantasy series set in a place called Hemlock Falls. Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. It’s not on a map, cell phones don’t work there, and you might find a ghost-deer grazing at midnight. It’s also inhabited by the Luminaries, an ancient order charged with guarding the nearby forest. Each night, when nightmares rise, only the Luminaries stand between humanity and these monsters bent on devastation—one clan for each night of the week.
The main character in this book is Winnie Wednesday who is just turning 16. 4 years ago, her father was charged with being one of the hated witches called Diana's which in turn destroyed her mothers role as lead hunter, and made the family outcasts. He hasn't been seen since. Winnie is about ready to change that choice by participating in 3 levels of hunter training. If she passes, her family might be able to regain their reputation. Since nobody is supposed to support her or help her family, Winnie has been training by herself for 4 years to pass the Hunter trials.
She knows that there is no rule against an outcast participating as long as they follow the rules. Not even her Aunt Rachel, who is now lead hunter for the Wednesday clan, can stop her. In this world, there are things called living nightmares, and it is up to the Luminaries aka Hunters to track them down and eliminate them. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it, and that someone may one day be Winnie if she survives. Things don't go as planned for Winnie on her first night after being told to go home. Winnie encounters a new, unknown monster that slaughters a banshee and everyone assumes Winnie did the slaughtering.
She doesn’t correct them. But she does reach out to certain people still friends to find out what the new threat is. Winnie finally accepts help from Jay Friday, the boy from the smallest group of Luminaries and the best hunter in Hemlock Falls. When Winnie encounters the same mysterious threat on her second trial which requires you to remain over night alone and without help, things seem to be turning for Winnie and her family. But the question remains, why does it seem that both a werewolf, and something dangerous always seems to be around whenever she's on the hunt?
The thing I must address is how people turn on a dime when Winnie shows them the error of their ways by successfully completing each part of the trial. People who used to scorn her, or pick on her, or ignore her, now want to be friends with her including a couple rookie hunters. I can't address the issue with Winnie's father because there's a whole lot that has to be revealed, and I hate spoilers. I do know that nothing is going to stop Winnie from finding the truth. Not her Aunt Rachel. Not her former lead hunter mother, and especially not her brother.
I am not one to start a series, and then abandoned it, especially one of Susan Dennard's books, so yes, I will be looking forward to the sequel releasing to find out what happens next.
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