Review – The Whispering Night (The Luminaries, Book 3) by Susan Dennard (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher:‎ Tor Teen
Release Date: November 19, 2024
ASIN: B0CQHM9NSG
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in The Luminaries trilogy
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for review
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Winnie Wednesday’s future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.

With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive. Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task—one that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.

As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won’t stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.

What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same? “

Series Info/Source: This is the 3rd (and final) book in The Luminaries trilogy. I got this on ebook from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This book had a lot of the same issues as the second book in the series. The beginning is slow, and then there is almost too much action in the second half. I don’t think I fully understood what happened at the end, and it left me feeling fairly unsatisfied. I guess it wrapped the story up fine but the pacing was just so all over the place.

Winnie and Hemlock Falls are looking forward to the Midnight Masquerade, a celebratios that will have Luminaries world-wide visiting Hemlock Falls. However, Winnie is getting pulled into more and more secrets around the battle between the Luminaries and the Dianas. Some of these secrets are leading back to the disappearance of her father.

The first half of this book is flat out boring. Winnie is getting pulled into a number of responsibilities for the Midnight Masquerade that have her attending different random events. To add to this, she is re-starting her hunter training. There is a whole lot of things going nowhere for the first half of the book. Then, for the second half, Winnie starts to uncover from more secrets around the Dianas and things get very fast-paced.

I almost stopped reading this about 30% of the way in, I was just so bored with it. A lot of people complimented the amazing ending, so I decided to stick with it. The ending was incredibly action-packed but it also felt so action-packed that it was scattered. The ending ties up the series fine, but overall I could have done without reading this book. I am still not sure I completely understand what happened and why despite reading some of the chapters over multiple times. It all seemed a bit forced and contrived to me.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this wrapped up the series but I didn’t really enjoy the journey. The pacing of this final book was incredibly slow to start and then too fast and contrived at the ending. Dennard has been very hit and miss for me lately. I loved her Something Strange and Deadly series. I started reading Witchlands and thought the first couple books were okay but then started to find them very boring. Same with this series; I loved the first book but then started to lose interest in the second book. I guess if you loved the second book in the series, you will probably love this one as well. I plan to take a break from Dennard for now.