'The Luminaries' Book Club Readalong Day 7!

Welcome back to the final day of our book club readalong for OwlCrate's November book, The Luminaries by Susan Dennard!

Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 36 to the end of The Luminaries, so make sure you read are finished before continuing.

Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCTheLuminaries for another chance to win! I will be selecting winners on Thursday, January 18th!

The story concludes...

Chapter 36:
They join the party, The Forgotten (Jay’s band), starting to play. Winnie spots Emma, with a flash of teeth, away from the crowd. Something seems very wrong. Winnie follows as Emma runs into the forest. The mist has already risen, and not knowing what else to do Winnie pulls up one of the perimeter stakes and follows.

Chapter 37:
Winnie cannot catch up to Emma, and before long she encounters a basilisk. She does her best to avoid its notice, but when she hears Emma scream for help she stakes its tale. It immediately goes to strike her, and Winnie makes eye contact, which turns her glasses to stone. She manages to kill the nightmare, but not before getting her arms covered in venom.

Winnie has lost track of Emma, and then sees a herd of ghost dear - ghost dear that are being destroyed by the Whisperer. She doesn’t understand why no hunters have appeared. She keeps running.

Chapter 38:
She hears Emma scream again and catches up to her, the werewolf lingering over. Winnie throws her stake at it, and it turns and careens her to the ground. Not knowing what else to do, Winnie takes her gold locket and slams it against the wolf. It works, the werewolf reacts and runs away.

Emma is hurt, badly, her leg mauled by what she says was a harpy. She tells Winnie that this was their final trial. Winnie uses the banshee claw from Emma’s necklace to put her into a coma and runs for help.

Winnie is chased by manticores and kelpies as she maneouvers through the forest. She grabs one of Lizzy’s cameras and yells into it, asking for help for Emma. She encounters the werewolf again, but it goes for the manticore behind her. Emma keeps on running until she is surrounded by the Whisperer, and seeing no other options, she jumps off the water fall.

Chapter 39:
Winnie falls into the water, unable to make her way out as it drags her into unconsciousness. She has a brief recollection of teeth and white fur pulling her. 

Chapter 40:
Winnie wakes in the hospital several hours later - she will heal just fine, Emma too. At home Aunt Rachel visits and when Winnie confesses everything, her Aunt tells her she already knew. It was her loyalty and dedication that allowed her to pass the trials. She gives Winnie back her locket which was found in the woods, explaining that it belonged to her paternal grandmother. The moon and stars image isn’t that of the Luminaries. When Aunt Rachel leaves Winnie jumps out of bed, sketching the drawing she saw in the library and adding in the image of the locket. It becomes a map to a location in the forest, and the rest of the codes in her father’s card reveals the message “I was framed.”

Chapter 41:
Once her mother stops hovering Winnie goes to see Erica, asking for them to make peace, and then heads to Jay’s, where she says he no longer needs to train her. Jay insists they keep up it, and together they head into the forest.

 Questions:

1. The end! First of all, did you enjoy the book? Are you excited for book two?

2. If Winnie's dad isn't truly part of the Dianas, where do you think he is?
3. What do you think her dad's map will lead to?
4. Do you think one of the Luminiaries framed Winnie's dad? If so, why?

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