[ARC Review] The Hunting Moon (The Luminaries, #2) by Susan Dennard

Hi readers! How are you?

Here I am again with another review for a book I really care about. And I really want to thank Daphe Press for the free book. The release day is close, so I'm very excited to be able to talk to you in advance about The Hunting Moon, the sequel of The Luminaries, the new ya series of Susan Dennard, author of my beloved The Witchlands series.

Title: The Hunting Moon
Author: Susan Dennard
Publishing Date: November,7th
Publisher:  Daphne Press (for UK edition)
Pages: 305 (kindle edition)
Price: 16,95 (Uk paperback)

Plot: The highly anticipated sequel to The Luminaries by New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard.

Winnie Wednesday has gotten everything she thought she wanted. She passed the deadly hunter trials, her family has been welcomed back into the Luminaries, and overnight, she has become a local celebrity.
The Girl Who Jumped. The Girl Who Got Bitten.
Unfortunately, it all feels wrong. For one, nobody will believe her about the new nightmare called the Whisperer that's killing hunters each night. Everyone blames the werewolf, even though Winnie is certain the wolf is innocent.
On top of that, following her dad's convoluted clues about the Dianas, their magic, and what happened in Hemlock Falls four years ago is leaving her with more questions than answers.
Then to complicate it all, there is still only one person who can help her: Jay Friday, the boy with plenty of problems all his own.
As bodies and secrets pile up around town, Winnie finds herself questioning what it means to be a true Wednesday and a true Luminary—and also where her fierce-hearted loyalties might ultimately have to lie.

 Review: 

Rate: 5 stars! ⭐

I really have to thank Daphne Press because I couldn't expect a more perfect gift for October than reading one of the books I was waiting the most for this last part of the year.

During the lasts months I considered several times if my struggle with fantasy is due to their target. Maybe I'm too "old" for young adults? Could it be the reason I don't feel the urge to read them or find them immediately appealing when I start reading them than it was before?

It could be an answer, of course. The other one is that the market is full of releases and perhaps the uniqueness and the originality we could find once has withered. Or it's a combination of both, who knows. In short, the truth is I became very picky regarding fantasy AND young adult books. 

Thanks heaven, Susan Dennard remains one of my beacons in the night and it was effortless to dive into The Luminaries's story and loving every single page. Why is that?
I tried to came up with a list related to what I think are the winning point of this series, confirmed by my reading of The Hunting Moon:

- an interesting urban setting with lots of original elements;

- a protagonist that is witty but also funny to read;

- a mystery you have to unravel with Winnie;

- a perfect writing style that makes you smile but also empathize with the story.

Hemlock Falls with its deadly wood is the perfect setting for this mysterios story. I adored the fact that the supernatural element blends perfectly with everyday life, and if we take away the fantasy element the structure created by Susan Dennard is able to sustain itself. We have a real town, with its gossips, its whispers and dynamics you can see in any other one. It makes this story beliavable and concrete, like you can really expect that there could be some places in the world with a dark wood that could allure people by night, where dangerous creatures appear to hunt them.

I also adored since the very beginning the idea to divide the Luminaries' families with surnames derived by the days of the weeks. Every one of them has some peculiar trait, a personal crest and usually a determined role in the Luminaries' society. Plus, I also liked so much the fact that school too is slightly different from the "normal" one, with are lessons dedicated to train the best possible generation of Luminaries.

But they're not alone. There are also the Dianas, hidden somewhere but maybe too close than the reader (and maybe Winnie) thinks, and I'm dying to know more about them! In this second volume, the plot starts to show more elements of conjunctions between the two groups and I can't wait to see further and serious interactions between them. One thing for now is crystal clear: they're not very keen to interact with each other in a friendly way!😱

Back to the setting, I really appreciated how the wood seems to be a living being, and how Winnie interacts with it and its creatures (there's a scene that broke my heart... it was sod moving! I'm sure you'll understand what I'm talking about when you read it), but also the atmosphere that surrounds the entire story.
It's like being constantly surrounded by fog. It could be lighter, or thicker, but you're not completely able to see what or who is around you. And that is a sort of protection sometimes, but it also keeps you on your toes because danger can arrive when you least expect it. 

As Jay says, you just have to trust the wood or not.

This kind of mood fits perfectly with the mystery related to (but not only) Winnie's father being accused to be part of the Dianas, and it was interesting to read all the doubts our protagonist has regarding him being framed. Is that true? Or is it a trap that will destroy the only chance Winnie's family gained to be readmitted in The Luminaries' strick society?

I think that Susan Dennard, as I've already noticed in The Witchlands series, cleverly uses this situation to make the main character (and the reader) question herself about her entire society. Are the Luminaries always right in their believes? Is everything solely devided into right or wrong?
It's amazing how a novel sometimes make us consider the complexity of reality, and seeing the current geopolitical situation, I think this is a very actual theme.
Are we able to properly judge what happens around us, especially when other inflences come into the equation? I don't think so. I believe that the difference is always to question ourselves and not only consider true what others tell us is.
Winnie embodies that, with her tenacity, her strenght, her rage about what happened to her family in the past and what they had to deal for all those years. You can feel her sadness, the betrayal she felt and also the difficulty she has trusting others, even if she wants to. At the same time, I really appreciated the confrontation she had with Jay's aunt. I think it's good to have someone that reminds us we're not always the centre of the world, and even when we're hurt, we should not forget to consider who is around us. 

Finally, the writing style. Even if I could recognize Susan Dennard was behind those pages, I found the prose a little bit different from The Witchlands series. It was more concise, but certainly not poor, and it had an ironical way of telling the story that makes it unique. It didn't only make me smile but, at the same time, I think it helped to get attached to the story and the main characters ( and Jay is a cupcake and I love him so much 💙).

In the end, I think that even if it wasn't entirely a transition book, is true that here Susan planted more than one seed that we'll have to discover properly in the next novel. So, I'm SO curious about what happened to more than one characters and I need to have a date for the third book's release. Give me news!!😭

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoyed this review and please, read this amazing work and then let me know what you think about it! I need to talk about it with someone!

Chiara

 

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[ARC Review] Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

Hello readers! 

How are you?

It's been a while I've written something for the English section of the blog, so I had to make amends and what better occasion than talking about one of my most anticipated 2023 books?! Less than two weeks from now the conclusion of this amazing duology will be released and I'm so excited to finally have it in my hands! That's why I'm honored that Little Brown Book group gave me the chance to read this book in advance (and thanks to Netgalley too of course) so I can present it to you.

Title: Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King,#2)
Author: Rachel Gilling
Publishing Date: 19 Oct 2023
Publisher:  Orbit (Little Brown Book group)
Pages: 368 (paperback)
Price: 17,09$ (*according to Amazon.com)

Plot: **Since it's a sequel, be aware there will be spoilers related to the previous book**

In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she's wrought - perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson's The Year of the Witching.

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.

Review: 

5 stars! ⭐

To anyone who's every felt lost in a wood. There is a strange sort of findings in losing.

As I've already mentioned above, Two Twisted Crowns was one of my most expected books of 2023 after falling in love with One Dark Window last year, so I shuddered to read it after THAT final cliffhanger (because this author is a master at endings and breaking hearts).

I have to say that this novel was everything I needed from this series and even more. I missed the One Dark Window's characters SO much and, even if an year has passed, it was easy to come back to their stories, magistrally woven together by Rachel Gillig's poetic writing style. It was like entering in a dark, gothic story, where you can feel that cold sensation of danger surrounded by shadows that could hit you in every moment. I love think kind of atmosphere, when the story comes alive and you just live it with the characters (and deeply suffer with them, thank you for that too, Rachel).

 

Just when I think you're getting torelable, you go and open your mouth.

 

Anyway, this is not an easy book to face, but that was already clear with One Dark Window for the themes treated and the violence portraited, but I really appreciated the sensibility with which the author wrote certain scenes. It's sad to see how low people value human's life, especially if it isn't theirs, and Rachel Gillig showed it so well in her stories, where in the end everyone got what they deserved.

My heart broke multiple times for Elm and Ione, not to mention Elspeth and Ravyn who, together with the Nightmare, still hold my soul in their hands. What an unexpected and "funny" triangle they were! They drew me a smile multiple times. I really appreciated how the Shepherd King interacted with Ravyn and the others, along with his affection for Elspeth. 

That said, it's true that the main characters of the first book left a good amount of space to two "new ones", and even if I understand Rachel's choice, because it's useful to the story, I missed my Captain of the Destriers and the Girl with a monster inside her as primal protagonists and also together! 😢 They have one of the most beautiful relationship I've ever read. But, I repeat myself, it's an understandlable decision and it makes sense once you arrive at the end, because multiple knots had to be unraveled, and the readers already know Elspeth and Ravyn's love is truth. They didn't have to prove it more than they already did, they just had to stay alive so they could be reunited.

 

Clever man died on their own terms. And if they were wary, clever, and good, they perhaps died in piece. He, apparently, was none of the three.

However, it was impossible not to be dragged in that grim and dark atmosphere that accompanies the quest for the search of The Twins Alders card and the resistance of who stays "behind", dotted with entertaining moments and lovely ones that made me smile. They created a good rhythm with revelations and bigger events, that I personally found irresistible.
Praise also to the fact that finally there is a book with a proper ending, that gives the ultimate confrontation with the villain its space to unravel. I couldn't ask for more and I think this has just become one of my favorite duologies ever. Now, the problem is: how can I image not to read about those characters anymore? (so if Rachel will gave us in the future some extra scenes I will love her until the end of times).

 

I hope you enjoyed this review and please, read this duology!
I can't wait to read what you think about it.

To the next review!
Chiara

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