The Whispering Dark

by Kelly Andrew

First of all, a big thank you to Scholastic Press for giving me my first Edelweiss e-ARC request approval!  I’m so, so excited for this book, and my little kid heart is so happy that my first Edelweiss approval came from Scholastic! [Those Scholastic Book Fairs, anyone?  Talk about little kid book lover heaven!]  Second, a huge disclaimer, right up front: I am not Deaf, nor am I in any way part of the Deaf Community.  I have had Deaf friends, and I studied sign language, including history and more in-depth knowledge of the diverse Deaf community beyond just learning the language, multiple times in my life [I’m still, proudly, fluent in the alphabet, though I’ve lost most of everything else at this point], but that’s my extent of knowledge.  I did try to be as critical of that as I could while reading, but I will try to keep my opinions in that regard to myself as much as possible, as I don’t want to share incorrect knowledge and/or opinions.

That said, I also want to try something a little different for this review.  Normally, I consume a book straight, like a normal reader would, to give what I felt was a, “normal reader experience” – basically, if I consumed this book like a normal reader, what would my thoughts and opinions be?  Rather than how I imagine most reviewers write their reviews – who take notes throughout the book, and comment on those things in their reviews.

Well, ladies and gentleman, those in-between and besides, I’ve decided that’s what I’ll do with this review.  So, here are my thoughts and notes, which have been reviewed, refined, and rewritten [edited, basically] to become this final review.

Before diving into my opinion, though, I wanted to give you an opportunity to read the Goodreads summary, if you want to read that before deciding, too.

Alright, opinion time!

Recommendation:  While I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough to tell you whether this is good rep for the Deaf, I will say that I adored this book.  It’s perfect for this time of year, it’s a phenomenal read for me as a reader, and I never wanted to put it down.  In short, if you’re considering this read, go for it.  There’s great visuals, an incredible [and original!] magic system [if you can call it that?], and just generally wonderfully written.  I loved every second of it, and I genuinely hope anyone reading this seriously considers picking it up.

Reference books: I’m going to try to include “this book is like these, so if you like these, you’ll probably like this” into my reviews, and I have to say, with this one – they compare it to The Raven Boys and Ninth House. I’ve only read one, but it definitely felt like a YA Ninth House in a lot of ways. It has that college setting, the dark vibes, and the not-pretty contents that Ninth House has – just really, really toned down. While I might hesitate to recommend Ninth House to everyone because of those “not-pretty” contents, I likely won’t hesitate recommending The Whispering Dark to everyone. It reminds me of another book, but I’m drawing a blank. If I remember what it is, I’ll come back and edit it in.

All that out of the way, I’m so excited for this to be formally published and in my hands.  A physical copy of this book is going to be amazing to own.

I absolutely love how Kelly Andrew writes about Delaney and the darkness.  I love her word choice, I love her prose, all of it.  I was hooked by page 5, though I wasn’t honestly paying attention to when my brain screamed, YES, MORE, PLEASE, so it could have honestly been page 2.  I was too sucked in at that point to even remember page numbers were a thing.

I love that Delaney works as both the strong MC as well as the audience surrogate.  She doesn’t know a lot, so that leaves the reader feeling like they’re learning alongside the MC.  And, while that’s not always a great, original way to teach the reader, it worked for me with her.  I love the joined journey in learning and navigating this world.  While there are definitely moments I want to grab her and shake some sense into her [mainly with her being stubborn with sharing personal things when I think she should], I totally understand why she doesn’t.  I may not be Deaf, but I’ve been in a few situations where, if I had been upfront about stuff about me, I would have had an easier time, but didn’t.  So, I get it, I do.  But I can’t help feeling a little frustrated.

My only real critique: I feel like maybe too much of the secrets and mystery are held throughout the book.  We do get little bits here and there, but it began to feel more like the reader is being kept from these secrets so the big reveal has more of a packed punch, a bigger wow factor, but I think it would be better served if there were more tidbits given away before it – largely because I don’t think the big reveal is going to “make up for” this feeling of being intentionally kept in the dark.  For example, little tidbits of hiding that the MC is secretly the lost princess of her country is one thing.  But only giving little tidbits when it turns out she’s the savior of the whole world when, not only was that never really established as a possibility, the biggest thing hanging in the balance was, say, just being accepted by her peers as an equal, falls a little short of being enjoyably realistic.  This book dances on the edge of, “You didn’t give me enough breadcrumbs to figure it out on my own, so I feel disconnected”.  I’ve heard many people complain about something similar in books, and I’ve generally stayed away from books that even remotely made people feel that way.  This would be my first.  Luckily, I don’t think it falls into that category but, if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, it’s something to keep in mind.

Ultimately, I’m so excited for this book, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. [I know, I know – I keep saying that, but it’s honestly true.  I knew I’d love this book, and I’m still this excited for it, post-read.]

**SPOILER ALERT!  LOVING THIS BOOK MEANS ALL THE SPOILERS, SO YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!  TURN BACK NOW, GO READ THE BOOK, AND COME BACK, IF YOU’D LIKE!**

I love Delaney, and I love Colton.  They frustrated me, on occasion, but I think, on a reread, I’d love them just fine.  I’m sad that a reread might be the only way to avoid being occasionally annoyed at them, but, again, it’s so minor.

I love that Delaney sort of comes into her own as the book progresses, as she learns that she has this control, this power, this command of the dead.  She definitely worked her way into my heart to the point where I was constantly rooting for her and worried about her.  She felt like a real person to me, and that’s fantastic for a fictional character!

I’m still trying to wrap my head around Colton’s creation.  I get what the book is saying, but I have a hard time believing that Colton was so drawn to her that he crawled back specifically for her.  I could maybe see that he was still trying to claw his way back to life in general and used her “command” when she found his dead body to bridge that last gap he otherwise couldn’t, but she hasn’t been able to drag anyone else back from death.  That tells me there’s something different about Colton and his return, but I find it hard to believe it’s only her and not somehow related to her power.  [Which it totally could be, but he sells it as being her, that he’s in love with her, and has been since he came back, basically.  Or, at least, that’s what I inferred.  It just feels like a bit of a stretch for who Colton is, and feels a little too insta-love-y.]

I guessed the Apostle was Laney’s professor from the beginning.  It wasn’t really surprising to me, and it was sort of obvious from the get.  But the only problem that really caused was just a sort of frustrated sigh that stuck with every section where there were attempts made to make it seem like the Apostle’s identity was a mystery.  That said, I don’t know if exposing him for being the Apostle from the beginning would have made a difference.  I think there’s a potential that it would have created a different sort of tension [rather than the identity being a mystery to the reader, it would have been a mystery to Laney and her friends only], but I think that might have been the better way to go here.

I also think maybe more could have been done with the darkness.  I get that, as a small child, it probably would have traumatized more than I’m giving it credit for, but I just don’t see how it would have created a life-long [into adulthood] fear of the dark.  And I also find it a little hard to believe she didn’t realize she had some command over these things that were terrifying her.  Wouldn’t that have been one of the first things, as a child, she would have tried?  At a minimum, I feel like she would have learned she could tell the moving shadows to leave her alone, more than the one time she mentions doing it?

All that said, I consumed this in two days because I didn’t want to put it down. [It might have been a single day if I didn’t have to do other “life stuff” in-between.]

I really need to start paying closer attention to Fall Release books because this is my season in basically every sense, which apparently includes books.  I’m obsessed with so many fall releases – another of which I’m hoping to share a review on soon!

But, as always, stay safe, be kind, and read on!