This BARELY squeaked a 3-star rating for me. Unfortunately, I just found myself mostly bored. The concept is great, but I struggled with the execution.

The world-building was mildly interesting, but seemed to get a little bit convoluted and I started not to care as much when I got confused. Instead of fully explaining the world and how the magic worked (why do the Luminaries exist??) in a way that gripped me, there felt like a lot of textbook entries and quick quips of information. I found the mythological setup for the background really interesting and liked this basis for the world, I just wish it had been delivered a little bit better.

The protagonist and the writing both came off a bit whiny for my liking. Winnie has a strong backstory, but there is a LOT of repetition about how she feels like an outcast and it just makes her feel like a weak character rather than one who is overcoming the crap hand she was dealt. She wound up being a fairly bland character when she really could have been a diamond in the rough. Disappointing. Meanwhile, the writing felt a bit childish for a young adult read and there were several moments where the narrative felt much more like a middle grade novel. I expected more subtlety and more sophistication than I got. This was incredibly sad given that I have heard so much about how great Susan Dennard's books are and now I'm just not certain she's for me.

I nearly DNFd this read, but held out to see if things would pick up and give me something to root for. As the first in a series, I wanted to give a little wiggle room since sometimes world-building can really blight the story to begin with. Unfortunately, I was not rewarded for my patience. The ending is a bit abrupt and things were highly unresolved, which felt more like a ploy to create a series than a naturally progressing story that warrants multiple novels. There is definitely a lot that can be done in this world, but there was not enough resolution present in this book to make it feel like a satisfying read.

Maybe if I had waited and read the whole series back-to-back after it is finished I would feel differently, but right now I walked away just feeling frustrated and likely will not continue with the series unless I hear fantastic things about the remaining books. Either way, I will not be jumping to the next read until the entire series has been released.