3.91 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have beyond loved this series of books, and I will officially recommend it to anyone who asks for a good book. I wasn’t expecting all of the twists and turns which is always appreciated. Some I definitely anticipated, but this didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed the plot and the book in general. The character development and arc was really interesting, exploring the impact of past actions and feelings on people and relationships. I’m so glad I finally got around to this trilogy!
mysterious medium-paced
adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
Loveable characters: Yes

I’m sorta of two minds about The Whispering Night. As a book in isolation, it’s pretty fun—a classic sort of contemporary fantasy with some interesting twists. But as the finale to the Luminaries trilogy, it feels like it doesn’t entirely hit the mark. 

The Whispering Night loses a lot of the duality between normal teenage shenanigans and monster hunting that characterized the earlier books in the series. There’s still a bit of the friendship drama with Winnie, Jay, and Erica—but for the most part, the focus is pretty firmly on the forest with its nightmares and the business with the Dianas.  

There, too, I’m left with the impression of ‘fun, but not quite right’. I like a lot of the lore The Whispering Night delivers, a lot of the twists and turns with the Dianas and their structure and prevalence—but too much of it feels like it comes out of nowhere rather than being a culmination of the books that came before it. 

The Whispering Night also feels…light on the resolution it offers. I think it does more or less resolve the major threads from the first two books, but there are so many new threads and ideas and pieces of lore that get raised in The Whispering Night that are kinda just left hanging. It feels a bit like it’s setting the stage for a spinoff or a sequel series, but it comes a bit at the expense of a sense of closure for Winnie and the Luminaries trilogy. 

That said, I’d totally be down to return to the world of the Luminaries in future books.  

The Whispering Night: 3.75 stars
The Luminaries trilogy: 4 stars

4 stars
Solid ending to a solid series, will be thinking about these books for a while. Feels almost bittersweet to be done with this.
adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have both too much to say about this infuriating book and also nothing at all.

This book felt like an acid trip. I finish this series more confused and frustrated than when I started it and it all was, increasingly a colossal waste of time.

Winnie Wednesday has got to be the most unlikable character I have ever read and she somehow gets WORSE every book.

Winnie, the most awkward, unpleasant person in Hemlock Falls is chosen to be basically prom queen, and also hilariously “the face of the city” because apparently a bunch of foreign dignitaries are visiting for their festival. This book felt easily the most juvenile of the entire series (which is really saying something) and then tried to make up for it by randomly throwing in out of context vocabulary words. (bathypelagic, anyone?)

Jays entire purpose in this book is to make out with Winnie (a pursuit that apparently can make his voice scratchy?)

There are Dianas EVERYWHERE, in hiding, in her friend group, teaching at the school in multiple faculty positions. But what do Dianas DO?! We never find out. Except arrow spells. Burning hot arrows of light. And turning into crows- which is so redundant that it becomes confusing. Do they guard the forest? Protect the nightmares? Kill Luminaries? Why do they exist? Why are they mortal enemies of the Luminaries?

We will never know.

Are the nightmares bad? Are they the spirits of dead ancestors? What happens if they unleash the spirit of the forest?

We will never know.

The good news is Winnie definitely gets to go to prom with all her friends and Jays band plays before they make out on the dance floor. Also her glasses break and she can’t get new ones so she has contacts now- because contacts are cheaper and more easily accessible than glasses naturally
dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Hmmm…. i don’t know… I expected the ending but it felt like it was rushed in a way?
adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix