Blog Tour Review - The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard

 Blog Tour Review - The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard

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?

For anyone who hasn't read any of the previous instalments in this series, The Luminaries and The Hunting Moon, this is a YA series about a small town of seven families (each named for a different day of the week) surrounded by a magical forest where nightmares and monsters rise out of the mist each night. By day the Luminaries, the townsfolk, train and by night they hunt monsters. There are also witches, or Dianas, another secret society at odds with the Luminaries, who seek to wake the sleeping monster at the heart of the forest. It's exciting and mysterious and packed full of emotional drama, love and friendship.

What an epic conclusion to a fantastic trilogy! After Winnie identified many of the moving parts of this puzzle in book two, it's time for her to put everything together, figure out the entire mystery and (hopefully) save the day and Ugh Jay. 

Of course, Hemlock Falls being the place it is, it's really not that simple. For one thing, the Nightmare Masquerade is a huge distraction and obstacle. I loved the descriptions and style of this week-long celebration of all things Luminary, and seeing Winnie going from looking forward to it to dreading it as her own role in it changes and she's forced front and centre. It's really interesting seeing how she's gone from town outcast to town hero, and how uncomfortable she is in that new role. There are definite echoes of Hunger Games too, as her popularity and image is used and manipulated for propaganda purposes. And she's not a hero to everyone in town, and it's also great seeing the friction between different families as some are much more accepting of her than others.

There's a lot of fantastic stuff in here about Winnie's personal journey as a person, and I loved the characterisation of her relationships in geometric terms, which feels very Winnie. It really gives a lot of insight into her thought processes as new connections form for and around her. I also appreciated that it wasn't just her romantic relationship, platonic friendships are probably more centred here than the romance, though that is still definitely sizzling away. 

The mystery elements unfold really well too. The story never gets too bogged down on cryptic clues, but unfolds quickly and excitingly as Winnie and Erica crack more of the code as to what is going on in town and the true and complete story slowly unfolds. Along the way there are some very exciting reveals and some bits that just seem to make sense once we see all of the pieces. 

There's so much exciting action too! The whole story builds up to a climax that just feels massive in scale, but is grounded so well in everything that came before it. The scale just keeps going up and up and up. And the best part of it is how we see it all through Winnie's perspective, and see her interpretation of events as it feels like her own mind is starting to unravel. Poems and songs keep creeping into the narrative as her mind desperately struggles to comprehend everything going on through her peculiar personal lens of monster facts and science. It really is beautifully done, lending everything a surreal feel as shit gets epic.

The Whispering Night is an exciting YA novel full of nightmarish monsters, evil witches, monster hunters, romance, friendship and fancy dress balls. I loved it!

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The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard is published by Daphne Press. It is out on 19th November 2024.

I was given a review copy in exchange for an honest review and participation in this Black Crow PR blog tour.