Mundie Moms

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Book Review & Blog Tour- Luminous

Flowing from the previous stop at Electrifying Reviews, we're the next stop in our Luminous Blog Tour.


Published by Dutton
To Be Released on July 7th, 2011
Source- ARC from publisher to review/blog tour
3 stars- A unique, diverse read

As reality slips and time stands still, Consuela finds herself thrust into the world of the Flow. Removed from all she loves into this shifting world overlapping our own, Consuela quickly discovers she has the power to step out of her earthly skin and cloak herself in new ones-skins made from the world around her, crafted from water, fire, air. She is joined by other teens with extraordinary abilities, bound together to safeguard a world they can affect, but where they no longer belong.

When murder threatens to undo the Flow, the Watcher charges Consuela and elusive, attractive V to stop the killer. But the psychopath who threatens her new world may also hold the only key to Consuela's way home.

With it's unique world, interesting mythology, lore and a cast full of diverse characters who have a wide variety of paranormal abilities, Luminous is unlike any YA book I've read. I liked that Dawn doesn't hold back on her diversity in Luminous from race, to ethnicity, religion, gender, social class, and so on. One of the things I found to be unique with Luminous is the story's theme of perception and I liked how Dawn tied that into the story's rich diversity. I found this theme to be both fascinating and realistic, and she allowed me to see how the characters were perceived in both the real world and in the Flow. For example, Consuela, the story's main character is a beautiful Latina girl who in real world she perceives herself as someone who's different and doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin, but once she enters the Flow she starts to see herself for who she is.

I'll be honest, at first I was both a little creeped out and intrigued by the fact Consuela can literally shed her skin, transforming her skeletal frame into an element around her. I liked that not only does she learn to love who she really is, but he learns to become more comfortable in her own skin, literally. I liked the uniqueness of Consuela and her ability to change into the element to save someone, like transforming her skin into water to save someone from drowning. Along with Consuela is a cast of unusual, intriguing characters who all of a power that they use while in the Flow to save others. Despite that fact I liked reading about each of the characters, I felt like I didn't have any sort of connection with them, and I can't pinpoint why that is. Surprisingly that didn't hinder my ability to like the story. Each character offers a lot to the story itself.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the story is the setting, the Flow. A place set between time or life as we know it, where each character's ability is used. I liked that the character's experiences in life as well as their cultural differences/experiences defined who they are here. In the Flow each character is perceived differently than they were in life, which helped drive the story's theme on perception home. Other elements I liked about the story is Dawn's use of cultural references, and her research with a variety of those cultures, as well as cultural literature really stands out in the book.

Luminous is a very intriguing read and I commend Dawn on incorporating a variety of cultures and diversity in her debut book. I was pleasantly surprised with the flow of the story, and I didn't have a hard time following the plot or what was going on. This is a very diverse, interesting, unique read. I'd definitely recommend this book to teens and older readers who enjoy paranormal books and with a lot of diversity.
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This review on our Luminous Blog Tour was brought to you by the letter: Y. Collect all the letters along the blog tour, unscramble the puzzle, and win a secret surprise as well as an extra entry in the Luminous Grand Prize Giveaway, June 30th! Details at www.dawnmetcalf.com.

2 comments:

  1. The premise sounds intriguing. Thanks for the review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the review. I've been wondering about Luminous. I like the unique elements you mentioned.

    ReplyDelete

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