Oh, the Luminaries series, my beloved. I have been feral, waiting for the release of The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard, the final (for now?) installment in her paranormal YA series. So much was happening at all times and we learned more about the world, along with some extra background building. This was so close to perfect, stumbling just a little toward the end.
With how spread out each book is, it’s hard to remember that all of this is taking place within a 1-3 month period. I know I didn’t remember until Winnie mentioned it at one point. And damn, that’s just so much to have to deal with in such a short period of time as a barely 16 year old. This is basically just a Winnie struggle book. Struggling to balance school and life and luminary responsibilities. Struggling to find peace between her boyfriend and her former best friend. Struggling with being the only one to know about The Whisperer. I think, because of these struggles, book out of the three is the one that felt the most YA to me. Juveniles will relate to this need to solve everything on their own and having to figure out how to live life, solve problems, while having the troubles of maintaining a school presence. All I could think was forget school, tell an adult!
The relationships were interesting. I love that we get Jay and Winnie comfortable with each other, with being affectionate and together. But, here’s the thing. The friendship between Winnie and Erica, I just couldn’t see what was worth salvaging. Especially as we get further into the book, it left me thinking Winnie deserved so much better. Sometimes, friendships aren’t meant to be forever. Sometimes, the hurt is too deep and you need to stand up for yourself. Erica dropped Winnie so easily, unlike Jay who struggled with it and had a valid reason. And Winnie simply shrugs it off and welcomes her back. And continues to welcome her back no matter how many times she’s hurt by it. Winnie’s brother also made my list. Winnie took it upon herself to do anything she could to bring her family back into good standing but Darian is content to put his family on the back burner, put Winnie through trauma and troubles so long as he keeps his entry level assistant job. It feels like so many people in this book let Winnie down (except Jay, you keep staying the shining star you are Jay Friday.) But it makes me sad because it’s framed that Winnie’s loyalty is such a great thing but it feels like it just ends up hurting her when the loyalty isn’t repaid. The loyalty should have been toward Britta and Emma and Fatima, who were by Winnie’s side even during her banishment.
Plot wise, it feels like there are so many strands working against and with one another. It makes everything feel chaotic and frenetic, but ultimately satisfying. Most things (that I can recall at least) are answered or resolved. But, it’s one of these resolutions that resulted in such a heavy disappointment to me that I had to knock a half star off the review. It felt like a cop out – not what happened but how it was written, how it was described (or not described more like.) Winnie may not have had the words for it, but we still should have gotten them.
All of that to say, The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard is an enjoyable conclusion to her Luminaries trilogy. I didn’t think this review would be so long, but I guess I had a lot of thoughts and though it sounds negative, it’s only because I feel so strongly protective over Winnie and this series. I’m glad it ended here, simply because the realities of Winnie and Jay remaining happily ever after into adulthood seems farfetched. Not because of them, but because of how life tends to be. It would be interesting to see if we get a new book in this universe, who it focuses on and what more we’ll learn and see.