Review of 'The Whispering Dark'

Delaney Meyers-Petrov is tired of being seen as fragile just because she's Deaf. So when she's accepted into a prestigious program at Godbole University that trains students to slip between parallel worlds, she's excited for the chance to prove herself. But her semester gets off to a rocky start as she faces professors who won't accommodate her disability, and a pretentious upperclassman fascinated by Delaney's unusual talents.

Colton Price died when he was nine years old. Quite impossibly, he woke several weeks later at the feet of a green-eyed little girl. Now, twelve years later, Delaney Meyers-Petrov has stumbled back into his orbit, but Colton's been ordered to keep far away from the new girl... and the voices she hears calling to her from the shadows.

Delaney wants to keep her distance from Colton — she seems to be the only person on campus who finds him more arrogant than charming — yet after a Godbole student turns up dead, she and Colton are forced to form a tenuous alliance, plummeting down a rabbit-hole of deeply buried university secrets. But Delaney and Colton discover the cost of opening the doors between worlds when they find themselves up against something old and nameless, an enemy they need to destroy before it tears them — and their forbidden partnership — apart.

Review

The Whispering Dark had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, this book was a chaotic mess.

Poorly Written Characters

The one thing that bothered me here was the romance between Delaney and Colton. It wasn’t even that he was rude to her, but for a girl who didn’t want to be seen as weak due to her deafness, her constant need to gain his approval was bothersome.

It just didn’t sit with who her character was.

This is a girl who, at first, appears to be headstrong. She wants to live, really live. Her parents coddled her all her life and treated her like glass, but she is stronger than that and seeks to prove it.

So her desperate need to attach herself to this guy who wants nothing to do with her didn’t fit with the story or the way the character began. It just didn’t make sense.

Then there is Colton, who is a prick. Nothing about him shines off the pages. He’s just a guy. He’s a name on a page that doesn’t begin to shine until the last quarter of the book. Of course, the reader has to make it to that point.

Which leads me to the story. The Whispering Dark could not decide what it wanted to be. I generally love when authors blend genres together because it makes for a good story, provided it is done well.

Messy Blend of Genres

Unfortunately, it was poorly executed. This blends horror, supernatural, paranormal, and science fiction. I didn’t understand what the story was trying to be.

Delaney can talk to the dead. I’m also willing to bet she can bring the dead back to life. Colton can travel between universes and even bring people with him. In the space between the universes, the dead live. This is the space where Andrews makes it seem like Demons live.

All those elements are interesting. Unfortunately, the story lacks cohesion. It does not blend together the genres, instead leaving the reader confused.

The other biggest issue this novel had was the fluidity. It wasn’t always clear who was talking to whom, which was very irritating. I would go back sentences and trace who was talking just so I knew what was happening in the scene. Again, this connects to the issue with Delaney. The characters did not always sound like themselves. They sounded like entirely different characters, sometimes making following the dialogue tiresome. It ruined the flow of the story and set up a jarring pace.

Final Thoughts

There are so many things wrong with The Whispering Dark. This novel was a struggle because I could not connect to the characters, the plot, or the overall storytelling. It lacked cohesion and fluidity.

• Writing Quality : 3/10
• Character Development : 1/10
• "Couldn't Put It Down"-ness : 1/10
• Intellectual Depth: 3/10
• Originality: 5/10
• Overall Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

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About the Author

Cynthia Bujnicki graduated from Emerson College with a BA in Writing, Literature and Publishing. She has always loved to read since she was a child. A contributing writer for YA Fantasy Addicts, she is also the Editor-in-Chief for Cyn's Workshop. She lives in sunny South Florida with her husband, son and daughter and their two cats.