Roughly a year ago I read and reviewed the ARC for The Luminaries by Susan Dennard which was provided by NetGalley and Daphne Press (which you can read here). Even if you don't want to read that review, I can tell you now that I enjoyed it. So, when I saw that the sequel was available on NetGalley, I was ecstatic! I had so many questions after reading the first novel I was ready to dive into the second novel.
Before I start my review, I want to thank NetGalley and Daphne Press for giving me an ARC of this novel to review.
So, here's my highly anticipated review:
Culture runs thicker than blood
The Luminaries motto, p. 7/313
Image taken from GoodReads.
Winnie Wednesday has passed the deadly hunter trails and her family has been welcomed back into the Luminaries.
Unfortunately, her success feels wrong. Nobody believes that there is a new nightmare called the Whisperer that is killing all the hunters. Also, Winnie has more questions about her father's clues about the Dianas, their magic and what happened in Hemlock Falls four years ago. On top of that, the only boy who can help her, Jay Friday, has problems of his own.
Eventually, bodies and secrets pile up around the town and as things escalate, Winnie finds herself questioning her loyalties.
I enjoyed this sequel more than the first novel. I remember being so intrigued by the Dianas and the mystery surrounding Winnie's father in the first novel, that I was disappointed we didn't make any progress about it. So, I was so excited to FINALLY get more content about these two aspects in this sequel. Throughout most of this novel, Winnie is on a treasure hunt of sorts, trying to figure this out.
However, most of the novel felt slow-paced while all the good action and development occurred near the end. We had a lot of content in the beginning which just did not interest me. Some of it is definitely relevant to the overall development of the characters (mainly Winnie and Jay), but I felt like a lot of it wasn't that important.
There was also A LOT of repetition throughout this novel as well. This repetition was mainly in regard to the PTSD and mental health aspects of the storyline. Winnie is clearly suffering from PTSD and this is highlighted through repetition of certain details. While I absolutely LOVE the mental health representation, I think there was just a little bit too much repetition of this detail. Ultimately, this aspect isn't something I'm incredibly annoyed about and while it didn't affect my overall rating, I still thought it was worth mentioning.
Now, I did enjoy Winnie and Jay's relationship development. It's a slow burn and they're teenagers and I think their relationship is handled very appropriately. There's a lot of cuteness in their blossoming relationship; which, for YA, I think is perfectly awkward and sweet. The personal development Jay experienced throughout the novel was great to read about too (although I won't talk about this too much because it could be a spoiler).
Overall, I did enjoy this sequel and I am invested in this story. While I still have some critiques for this series, I am ultimately loving this series and am interested in where the plot is going. So, I can't wait for the final novel in the trilogy.
That's it for my review! Thank you so much for reading this review and I hope you all have a lovely day.
No comments:
Post a Comment