The Whispering Dark

By: Kelly Andrew

Narrated by: Nora Hunter

Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2022 Kelly Andrew (P)2022 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.

Incredible!

The story, the prose, the character development, and everything in between was incredible! I loved this story and can’t wait to read for from Kelly Andrew in the future!

Wow

I loved this book. This is one of those books that won’t be for everyone but wow was it amazing for me. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and I couldn’t stop once I’d started. You feel lost some of the time but by the end of the book everything is made clear. I’m sad it’s over.

Delightfully eerie and thought-provoking!

The suspense was fantastic and I constantly wanted to know more about what was going on as the story unraveled before my eyes. I don't typically read horror, but it was written so beautifully that I didn't mind the haunting imagery that played in my mind and the timing and buildup was always perfect. Every part of this book was really well done! :)
As a Deaf Ed teacher, I was also happy to read a book with a deaf protagonist. I think it showcased the spectrum of deafness well.
1. Not all deaf people are fluent in sign language.
2. Advocating for yourself is difficult when you're not sure what services would best meet your needs.
3. Deaf people often feel lost or left out in conversations where there is a lot of other background noise happening.
I was also super happy that her parents signed. Around 85% of hearing parents who have a deaf child do not learn to sign. So, I was grateful when both of her parents signed with her. It was also sweet that Colton had been going out of his way behind the scenes to learn some signs to communicate with her.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a beautifully written story with plenty of eerie and tense undertones that all tie together for a larger picture in the end.

Wow! Just wow!!

Awesome Deaf rep and a lovely cast of fleshed out characters. Loved IT!! unique and inventive storyline. As HoH myself, I connected so deeply with Lane and the way she moved through the world. The way I taste the air long before I hear it. The way some sounds are painful. The absolute silence where the outside world isn't intruding.
The way I take a few moments to connect the words and laugh a whole beat after a joke has made everyone else laugh.
But Lane isn't just a little glass girl. She's amazing, and her disability isn't magically cured or inspirational. She exists as a Deaf person and it's so refreshing to just have an adventure for us, by us. I recommend this book to everyone. It's got a very Wednesday horror vibe, and lots of twists and turns.
I'm about to read it again it was so good.

Of Personal Journeys and Transformations

Vividly imaginative, descriptively creative, emotionally evocative, and thoroughly captivating. The Whispering Dark is a story of the battles that we face - both in and outside of ourselves. How our internal demons, that voice of doubt inside our heads, is often either a product of our own making or something that gets placed inside us by others - whether intentionally or unintentionally. And our struggles to change that perception we have of ourselves, of learning to speak up or let go, can often lead to personal deaths and new beginnings. With hints of classic mythology and poetry (Hades/Persephone, Dante’s Divine Comedy) woven intricately in - dark romance, fast friendships, demons, deities, and nameless ancient things - The Whispering Dark is a modern day fairy tale filled with journeys and transformations you won’t soon forget.

Kudos to Nora Hunter and her excellent narration of the characters and of Kelly Andrew’s literary vision.

Great story and performance!

I was hesitant to get this audiobook based on some other reviews mentioning confusing jumps in time/setting. So first, let me say that there were none of those - except for a period of time in the book where it's part of the story and it makes sense to be losing time. I feel like the readers (listeners?) who left those reviews weren't paying close enough attention while listening to the story and missed things.

As an attentive and avid reader, I found the story very enjoyable with a relatively satisfying ending. Kelly, the author, has a very eloquent, fluid, and beautiful writing style. However, there were a few repeated phrases/words that began to stick out after a while, such as "winnow." It's a great word and was used correctly, but it was used too often.

The varied POVs were also enjoyable, and I'm often dissatisfied with books that switch POVs.

The afterward from Kelly was insightful and, as a writer myself, I particularly appreciated hearing about her unique writing process.

Now onto the cons - and some minor spoilers:

There could have been more exposition of Lane's daily life after the beginning. About 3/4 of the way through, it was unclear if Lane and Colton were even still attending classes at Godbole. Toward the end, it became clear that Lane, at least, was. How did that work exactly, given her circumstances at the time?

Aside from the first one with Whitehall, we never saw what the classes actually looked like. What were they learning? We only, briefly, saw Lane's interactions before and after classes.

The identity of the Apostle was so obvious from the beginning that it seemed silly it was treated like a big reveal/twist.

The part toward the end with Colton coming to get Lane could've been explained better. How exactly did he take her back home?

There also could've been a LOT more explanation about hell/purgatory and how it all works.

There are a lot of questions that are unanswered for me, but they're all more world building more than plot holes. It felt like there were things the author knew while writing that got missed/glossed over. But, again, nothing huge or plot-breaking.

Overall, if you enjoy dark, YA romance with urban fantasy elements, then GET. THIS. BOOK.

hauntingly beautiful dark academia

THIS. BOOK. IS. GORGEOUS.

Absolutely devoured this book. I've been waiting for it to come out and absolutely had to snag it with my Audible credit for the month. I couldn't stop listening. And I just ordered the stunning owlcrate special edition and cannot WAIT for it to arrive <3

Lane is such a charming character - determined to stand out, to live her life to the fullest, despite the difficulties she faced in her childhood and the way that the darkness seems to talk to her. The Deaf rep is great; I appreciated seeing her struggle with her classes, but the teachers not understanding and accommodating her, and her not knowing to advocate for herself (because she's 18).

Colton is everything <3 The damaged, broken boy who doesn't think he deserves love is always my favorite trope. He knows he shouldn't talk to her, knows it is dangerous for both of them, and it's the last thing he should do. Yet how can he resist the girl with the purple hair, the colorful outfits, and the wide eyes?

But what is the secret of this prestigious academy? What is lurking in the darkness? Why isn't Colton supposed to talk to Delaney? And what will happen when they can't resist the pull to be near each other? You are gonna wanna dive right into this lovely dark academia mystery!

Loved it!

This book made take my time. Which doesn’t happen quite often. So Thank you for this amazing book that made me slow down and think.

Complex characters. Unique without being too weird

Will definitely look for more from this author. Loved the way she developed the story dropping bread crumbs and keeping you wanting more. Another review said if you liked Raven Boys and Ninth House this was a great fit— couldn’t agree more.

badly edited and lost of missing scenes/context

I was really hoping this would be a good book. The premise was interesting as was the supernatural aspect. BUT. Then I started listening, and while I think the narrator did a great job with what she was given, there were just so many jumps happening that left me lost. we would be in one place with Lane thinking one thing, and then all of a sudden we would be somewhere completely different and a week would have gone by and I don't know where the shift happened (and this was before Lane started losing time). So I got the physical book to see if I was just missing things, but no! it was the same way in the book. and I don't necessarily blame the author, I think this was an editing failure. Someone should have seen that the jumps happening were not good for the flow of the book, and then worked to fix it. It was a struggle to finish this book. I was constantly confused. And the romance made no sense. The same thing would be repeated multiple times or Lane would think "I think this all the time" but I have literally never heard those phrases before. Honestly, this just isn't worth the read unless you like weird time jumps and inconsistent writing.