Book Review: Dark Whispers, by Bruce Coville

Dark Whispers by Bruce Coville
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dark Whispers (The Unicorn Chronicles #3), by Bruce Coville
★★★

Synopsis: At last--the long-awaited third volume of Bruce Coville's best-selling series, The Unicorn Chronicles!
This is a tale of two quests: Cara Diana Hunter's search for an ancient story that may unravel the secret of the long enmity between the unicorns and the delvers, and her father's journey to free Cara's mother from the Rainbow Prison. Cara's journey leads her through the strange underground world of the delvers to the court of the centaur king, while her father must travel from mysterious India to the depths of the Rainbow Prison itself. This multi-stranded story will intrigue and delight the legion of fans who have been clamoring for the next tale in this beloved series.
In A Sentence: Finally read this, not sure about whether or not I should have waited so long.

My Thoughts: Considering how long I’ve waited for this book, I’m a little underwhelmed. It’s a middle book, and I never like middle books, so it’s no surprise that I’m feeling this way.
The plot felt a little slow and childish to me, first off. I started off reading this book in printed form, but eventually switched to an audiobook instead because I simply couldn’t get into the story. Even the audiobook couldn’t get me to read it any faster.
Perhaps the plot was slow because the writing was too simple. I’ve matured in my reading quite a bit from when I was a child. I’m less driven by plot, and more driven by writing style. A book needs to have a bit of a voice, a storyteller who can make the words come to life. This book felt a bit flat to me.
The characters were a little 2-dimensional as well. If I was still a kid while reading this, I probably would have liked the characters more, but as an adult I wasn’t all that impressed.
Honestly, I’m a little annoyed with Bruce Coville. He visited my school once around the time I was super into his Unicorn Chronicles, and I thought he was amazing. But he took too long to publish this third book! I know J.R.R. Tolkien took a long time to publish The Return Of The King, but Coville shouldn’t have waited so long. It’s a kid’s book, and by the time he published this story, his targeted audience had long since grown up. I was 20 when this book was published, and therefor too old to fully enjoy it. I would have liked it better if I was half the age I am now. The reason Harry Potter was so successful was because Rowling didn’t take too long to publish each installment, thus allowing her audience to grow up with our favorite hero and his friends. Coville didn’t follow Rowling’s example, therefore I’m annoyed with him.
I couldn’t have read this when I was 13, but should I have read this at 20? I don’t know. I might have enjoyed it a little bit more, but this story truly is for children. Maybe some other adults would enjoy this novel, but I think young girls would love this book best. Strongly recommended for your daughters who love fantasy, and beautiful unicorns.


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