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Review: The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard

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The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard

The Whispering Night (The Luminaries #3)
Susan Dennard
Tor Teen
Published November 19, 2024

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About The Whispering Night

The forest is more dangerous than ever in this highly-anticipated, pulse-pounding, and swoon-worthy conclusion to the bestselling Luminaries trilogy.

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?

My Review

I’ve followed this series from the beginning, and wow, has it been a wild ride. I love Winnie Wednesday so much. She’s smart and artistic and deeply loves her family. The tension between her and Jay– so fun.

I wasn’t really sure at the end of the second book how the author was going to pull all the loose threads of the series together in this last book, but I think everything came together nicely. Through the whole series, there has been this fear of and undercurrent of a Diana plot, but I don’t think we really get to see that explode across the page until this final installment.

I was so ready. Or, at least, I thought I was. I had ideas about where the story would go, and I was right about a few things. But there were a lot of elements that surprised me, too. I like the way that Winnie’s community connections, even those she has felt distanced from, matter in the way that things play out. Her town feels like a small, close-knit community with rivalries, agendas, and politics. Those tensions feel very real. The loyalty beneath those tensions feels real, too.

I’m glad I stuck with this series all the way to the end. It was a lot of fun. Though the story is pretty high-stakes and serious, there’s a lot of humor between the lines or in the ways the characters relate to one another. I love that.

This is a great series for people who like a fantasy story that’s anchored in the real world with the addition of magic and monsters. Think, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (but minus the are-they-or-arent-they-related component).

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. Winnie has a diverse group of friends.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of swearing, including a few F-bombs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. Magical monsters spawn at night in the mist of the forest near where Winnie lives. Someone transforms into a werewolf. Someone casts a curse on Winnie, so she can’t speak about certain topics.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battles with monsters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Darkness and Demon Song by M. R. Fournet

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Darkness and Demon Song (Marius Grey #2)
M. R. Fournet
Feiwel & Friends
Published June 18, 2024

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About Darkness and Demon Song

A cemetery-boy-turned-monster-hunter must race against time to save his recently-resurrected mother in Darkness and Demon Song, M.R. Fournet’s eerie middle grade follow up to Brick Dust and Bones.

Marius Grey’s mom is back from the dead. After hunting monsters and performing forbidden spells, Marius is just happy she’s there, helping him to take care of their Louisiana cemetery again.

But it soon becomes clear that something has gone wrong. Marius’s mother is growing more distant and strange things start happening around her. Worse yet, sometimes it feels like she’s a completely different person–one who definitely isn’t his mom.

If Marius wants to save her, he’s going to need help. Serious help. Good thing he has a flesh-eating mermaid for a best friend and a classmate with extra strong magic. Add in mysterious clues for new hunts, graveyard hopping from Louisiana to Texas, and a tough ex-hunter he doesn’t know if he can trust, and it’s clear that Marius has his work cut out for him.

My Review

The first book in this series took me completely by surprise last year. I received a copy from the publisher and really didn’t know anything about the book itself before opening it up. I’m not a big horror reader, so that also gave me pause. I couldn’t figure out how horror would work in middle grade.

Once I started reading the book, though, I totally got how it could work. It’s definitely not something I would have been able to read in elementary school myself. I have always been something of a sensitive reader. But now, reading the book, I felt like I couldn’t put it down.

Marius is such a compelling character. He’s doing everything he can do to make the world a safer place and take care of the people counting on him, from his mom to the ghosts in the cemetery in their care.

In the first book, Marius does a lot on his own or with only the help of his best friend, Rhiannon, the flesh-eating mermaid. In this second installment in the series, a community develops around Marius. Partly, this happens because his mom is back, and people try to reconnect with her as well. Partly, it happens because things go sideways, and Marius needs help.

The book focuses on some really cool relationships. Of course, we learn more about the friendship between Marius and Rhiannon. But Marius also makes a new friend his age who harbors her own secrets. He also learns to take risks by trusting a few adults in his life who have helped him in the past.

All in all, I enjoyed this second adventure into the dark, scary world of New Orleans, complete with fishing in the swamp, a Texas entrance to Hell, and an exploration of what truly makes someone a monster. I’ll be eager to see what M.R. Fournet writes next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Marius is described as being basically shades of gray rather than a member of a specific race. Minor characters are POC.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
A magic book captures monsters through a recited spell. Marius visits various magical shops and encounters other magical creatures and people who possess magic, like witches. His family is responsible for the care of the ghosts in the graveyard where he lives. Some humans open themselves up to possession by a demon through bargains gone wrong or other circumstances.

Violent Content
Situations of peril and scary imagery, such as monsters trying to attack a child. One character relives another’s memories in Hell. Characters fight demons and other monsters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.