The Luminaries by Susan Dennard [Book #1]

Content Tags: Fear, Minimal Blood and Gore, Nightmares, Fantasy, Anxiety 

FOR THE SCIENCE!!!!

My sister read this book and was also involved in the Sooz Your Own Adventure creation of it. And she had the following to share:

"While I loved the story and thought it was incredible, one thing I am curious about is if there's enough backstory and connecting information for someone who didn't participate in the adventure. [...] Would The Luminaries be as enjoyable for someone who doesn't have the additional background that came from Sooz Your Own Adventure? Or would it leave them pleased but mildly confused at times? (Taking volunteers to determine this, for science!)"

So, naturally, I volunteered, for the science. You can read her full review to see the synopsis along with her thoughts on the book.

Without having the same background knowledge, the beginning of the book was a tad confusing and then a lot of information to process and keep track of. But, in all honesty, that's something that I seem to struggle with in most books, especially fantasy. It's a whole lot of world-building and it can either be piled on upfront or slowly explained. I didn't mind the pace Susan Dennard took in introducing and expanding the various elements. It did result in a couple moments of confusion when later in the book something was explained more fully and I couldn't remember if it'd been introduced yet. (It had, I just forgot. lol)

The story was a kind of slow burn for the first half while Winnie Wednesday, over the course of not even a week, works to overcome 4 years of delays and missed trainings as a result of her family being shunned because her father was exposed as a traitor. But the pace steadily picked up and up and up until I literally could not put the book down last night until I finished the last 1/4 of the book. I had to know what happened!!

I may have appreciated the story and how it came to life more if I'd been a part of Sooz Your Own Adventure, but I still think the book held up without it. It was a solid book 1 and I am very excited for what's the come in the 2nd book. Also, I recommend after you finish the book to go back and re-read the first page labeled "The Nightmare" (that is, if your memory is like mine and you forgot what the first page even said by the time you hit chapter 2).

The couple of critiques I did have of the book were that the description of characters were ones I found strange (though I wouldn't doubt others wouldn't struggle with these descriptors as much as me) and there was not a lot of accessibility even though there were multiple disabled characters. The color descriptions in particular were confusing and odd choices to me, but not uncommon word choices. Just ones I don't prefer. And literally none of the buildings referenced sounded particularly accessible even though the town itself was pretty small and community based (and seemingly wealthy for at least a large portion of the Luminaries). 

Book Club Questions Time

Which scene has stuck with you the most?

This is such a silly scene to stick with me, but it's one where Winnie and Jay are training together and Winnie is describing seeing Jay in loose fitting shorts and how it draws attention to something... then the next line is about his thigh muscles. Like... I don't really think that's what was drawing her attention. 

Would you ever consider re-reading it? Why or why not?

Depending on how long it is before the next book is released I will very likely re-read it. Mostly because, as mentioned before, my memory is hot garbage and I'll want a refresher before book 2. But even without a book 2, I'd consider re-reading it to catch more details and stuff that maybe I missed on the first read.