Blog Tour Review - The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard

 Blog Tour Review - The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard

Winnie Wednesday has gotten everything she thought she wanted. She passed the deadly hunter trials, her family has been welcomed back into the Luminaries, and overnight, she has become a local celebrity.

The Girl Who Jumped. The Girl Who Got Bitten.

Unfortunately, it all feels wrong. For one, nobody will believe her about the new nightmare called the Whisperer that’s killing hunters each night. Everyone blames the werewolf, even though Winnie is certain the wolf is innocent.

On top of that, following her dad’s convoluted clues about the Dianas, their magic, and what happened in Hemlock Falls four years ago is leaving her with more questions than answers.

Then to complicate it all, there is still only one person who can help her: Jay Friday, the boy with plenty of problems all his own.

As bodies and secrets pile up around town, Winnie finds herself questioning what it means to be a true Wednesday and a true Luminary—and also where her fierce-hearted loyalties might ultimately have to lie.

After really enjoying The Luminaries, I was really looking forward to The Hunting Moon. Susan Dennard has created quite a fascinating world, this little town tucked far away from anywhere completely devoted to a nightly ritual of hunting and killing monsters and a morning ritual of tidying up the bodies. 

With the heavy lifting for the world building already having been done in book one, book two is able to get straight into the underlying mystery behind this new monster Winnie saw, the Whisperer. The one no one believes is real. Most of the town are focused on hunting a werewolf, and ignoring her pleas to look elsewhere. There is also the ongoing mystery of Winnie's father and the potential presence of witches, or Dianas, in Hemlock Falls. 

These two mysteries unfold really well. There are hints and clues given out, and we, along with Winnie, get to learn more about this strange, magical world, particularly with the witches. I like the treasure hunt element, and it's really cool seeing new and different takes on mythological creatures in the forest. There were some pretty blatant clues I totally missed on my first read through too!

One of the strengths of this series is the non-monster hunting parts, the normal, every day life of someone who is absolutely not living a normal, every day life! This was really good in The Hunting Moon, as there is a lot in there about Winnie's friendships and her attitude towards the different relationships in her life. I loved seeing her learn to rely on her friends after four years of isolation, and how that isolation has affected the older friendships she had. Her family's status within the structure was a nice little note of domestic drama too.

The Hunting Moon is another really satisfying and fun monster hunter YA novel. There's mystery, intrigue, friendship and possibly a bit of romance. It's not too deep or too heavy, but what it does, it does really well.

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The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard is published by Daphne Press and is out now.

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