The whispering night by Susan Dennard

The Whispering Night concludes the gripping Luminaries trilogy, following The Luminaries and The hunting moon. Winnie Wednesday is beginning to feel happier - she and Ericia Thursday are talking again, and Jay Friday is no longer being hunted as a werewolf. They join as a group, trying to collect clues about the disappearance of Winnie’s father and Erica’s late sister Jenna. Winnie is no longer ostracized, instead she is welcomed by her peer group and her romance with Jay is growing. This all falls apart when she is confronted by a formidable Diana who gives her a short deadline to perform an impossible task, one that threatens not only the people she loves but all of Hemlock Falls.

Readers are brought up to speed about events in the previous two books by Dennard with some non-intrusive background facts and the often-dark narrative is broken up with cultural references, memos about the Midnight Masquerade and fasinating illustrations of the monsters of the forest. While there is nonstop action and suspense that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, it is Winnie’s wonderful character that kept the story alive for me. She is a nerd, curious and determined, desperately wanting to find out what happened to her father and a person who finds it hard to overcome the guilt she suffers because of the deaths in The hunting moon. Her inner monologue is often humorous and lightens some of the darker episodes as she fights age old enemies from the forest.

The trilogy is brought to a heart-stopping and satisfying conclusion with troubling questions answered and friendships renewed. I look forward to more books by Dennard, while older readers may like to try The Witchlands series by this talented author.

Themes: Fantasy, Monsters, Coming of age, Friendship.

Pat Pledger