Review: The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard

The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an audio ARC of this book via Netgally, all opinions are my own.

This book picks up right where The Luminaries left off. You are going to want to read that first or you will be completely lost reading this. Book 1 sets up the entire backstory of The Luminary society and how we got to this point in the storyline. The Hunting Moon continues on with major plotlines that were introduced in the first book.

This does end with a bit of a cliffhanger. I'm not sure if this is a trilogy or there will be more than three books in the series. There is obviously another book planned as this ends with several open plotlines and sets us up for more excitement in book 3.

This book has more of a scavenger hunt feel to it and doesn't focus as much on the monsters and world building that we saw in book 1. The world building is still great, but this book does expect that you have read the first installment and builds on that knowledge. Winnie is trying to unravel the clues her dad left her claiming he was framed by the Dianas, the witches that are the enemies of the Luminaries. She is also trying to help reclaim Luminary status for her mom and brother by becoming a hunter. After getting bitten by a werewolf she is a bit of a celebrity, but no one else has seen the new nightmare she has deemed The Whisperer. She is determined to unravel the clues her dad left and figure out what this new nightmare. As her quest continues she finds herself teaming up with her former best friend Jay. Jay has his own secrets that Winnie would like to figure out. Turns out all of the secrets and clues are much more related than Winnie could have ever imagined.

This is action packed and fast paced. There are times that Winnie acts very immature and holds grudges. She doesn't want anyone to know what she is up to and that she is having a bit of PTSD from her experiences. Eventually she starts to let Jay in on her feelings but it takes her quite some time to get there. There are alot of secrets being kept in this installment and there were a few times I wanted to yell at the teenagers too knock it off. Having teenagers myself who want to solve all of their own problems and don't want any of the advice they ask for, they were acting fairly accurately.

As with the first book this is perfect for the YA reader. It deals with your typical teenager stuff like going to school, family drama, and figuring out what to wear while also dealing with their secret monster hunting society stuff. This has a bit of a romance plot. Winnie is dealing with alot and at times is a bit reckless, but she acts like a teenager faced with big problems. She also looks for a trusted person to help but also knows that it may put her family in jeopardy and has to weigh the consequences. I am anxiously anticipating the next book in the series as there are so many unanswered questions that need to be answered.

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