The Whispering Night

• Author: Susan Dennard
• Genre: YA Fantasy
• Publication Date: November 19, 2024
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Series: The Luminaries #3

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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?

Although I have been moving away from YA fiction, I have been so invested in this series since the first book, and couldn’t possibly miss out on the conclusion to this trilogy. The first two books were riveting, and this book is even more so. I received a copy of the audiobook, which was perfect since I was just finishing an audiobook reread of the first two. Caitlin Davies is a wonderful narrator, and she did a fantastic job with not just this book, but the entire series. 

Winnie is a character that has some strong character traits, but I appreciated them and how she made them work for her. She’s smart, but seems to deal with some level of anxiety, as evidenced by her clicking her teeth when she’s stressed or anxious. She has stayed true to a clan that ostracized them, and her only goals had been to be a hunter like her mother was, and to restore her family’s standing in the community of Hemlock Falls, a Luminary community. Loyalty is another admirable trait of hers, and we can see her staying true to the friends that she has developed over the course of the series, as well as rekindling tentative friendships with the two best friends she grew up with. When it comes to Jay, Winnie is happy with where she fits into his life. But he’s not in this book nearly as much as we’ve become used to, and I really missed him. Finally, Winnie is stubborn, another trait that I can identify with. Even while they were shunned, Winnie never gave up on her dream, which had the potential to restore her family to the status they enjoyed before Winnie’s father was revealed as a Diana (witch). There’s also something about her sarcastic sense of humor that always makes me laugh, like this zinger from when she was facing a crisis that was beyond her ability to get out of:

“The time is basically panic o’clock.”

It becomes clear that Winnie and the other Luminaries are in trouble during the preparation for the Nightmare Masquerade. Winnie encounters a masked Diana and is given a task that she can’t possibly complete without endangering every aspect of her life, including her relationships. However, we also get to see a few chapters outside of Winnie’s perspective, getting a peek into ‘the werewolf’ and ‘the witch’ involved in the conclusion of this trilogy. I enjoyed learning more about the witches and the whole Diana organization, and it was part of the expansion of the world-building involved in this book. We get more of a view of Luminary society as well as actually getting to learn more about the Dianas, who we haven’t really gotten to see firsthand until now. 

This book moves even faster than the first two. There’s a lot of action, and it occurs throughout the book. I know a lot of books claim to be unputdownable, but this one seriously was. And the closer to the end that I got, the more intense the story became. That type of book is like the human version of catnip for me—I am a sucker for a book that races at breakneck speed to a conclusion that I’m not expecting. Speaking of not expecting, there were quite a few plot twists that had me absolutely floored. I love a book that surprises me!

Overall, I think this was the best book out of the trilogy. I personally love when a conclusion answers all the questions I have stored up while reading earlier books. I had so many questions stored up throughout the series, and this book answered all of them: what the Whisperer actually is, what really happened with Winnie’s dad, and what actually killed Erica’s sister, to name the questions I was most concerned with having answered. But I can say that this book, and the series overall, is everything that YA fantasy reading should be—immersive, intriguing, fun, and featuring realistic characters. Don’t miss this one if you like stories with a lot of action, urban fantasy (okay, this is more like suburban fantasy? But still), slow-burn romance, and satisfying endings.

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