Dark Whispers + Ginger Peach Tea

I have been waiting for this book for a long time. Over a decade, to be exact.

When I was in grade school, I was obsessed with unicorns. My best friend at the time shared this passion, and we were always sharing unicorn themed books and playing make-believe unicorn games. There’s a surprising lack of unicorn-related books in the book world, and one of our favorites was The Unicorn Chronicles, by Bruce Coville. We read the first two fairly quickly (review here), and then prepared to wait for the third installment. It never came.

I distinctly remember asking about it every time I went to Barnes and Noble. But eventually, I grew up and forgot.

Over ten years later, I looked up the series on a whim. To my surprise, it was complete. Coville, it turns out, put out not one, but two more books. Since the entire series is out of print, however, they are rather difficult to find. The fourth and final book, fittingly titled The Last Hunt, generally sells for around a hundred dollars (and sometimes more) on eBay!

It may be ten more years before I can track down a copy of book four, but, for what it’s worth, here’s what I thought of the long awaited book three, Dark Whispers.

Genre: Children’s Fantasy

Synopsis: In the much-anticipated third volume of the Unicorn Chronicles, Cara Diana Hunter journeys to the Valley of the Centaurs in quest of a mysterious lost story that could hold the key to the survival of the unicorns. But the price for that story may prove to be more than her heart can bear.

Dark Whispers Review

The Good

Besides the nostalgia factor — which was clearly strong — this book was really quite charming. Dark Whispers is significantly darker than its predecessors, but as an adult reader, I found this refreshing.

The book itself dealt with a lot of really interesting concepts, though it is hard to go into any depth without giving away HUGE plot points. Suffice it to say that I loved the way it dealt with the motifs of pride, greed, and temptation — and the idea that even the purest and good can falter. There were also a few awesome twists — some that I saw coming and some that I didn’t — as well as a few moments that gave me the chills.

The Bad

The biggest critique I have of Dark Whispers is pretty obvious. I have no place to complain — I’ve yet to release book two of my own series, and it has been almost 3 years — but ten years? Seriously? TEN years?

This long hiatus caused more problems than simply testing my patience. Perhaps Game of Thrones can get away with it, with readers who are already in adulthood, but waiting so long between books is tricky when your target audience is between the ages of 9 and 12. The problem is this: While I enjoyed Dark Whispers, I wasn’t nearly as captivated by it as I was with the first two books in this series. The reason for this is simple — I’ve outgrown the book’s target audience by over a decade.

This doesn’t mean I didn’t think Dark Whispers was a good book. It doesn’t even mean that I wouldn’t recommend it to an older audience. Dark Whispers was charming and nostalgic. It dealt with some rather complex topics with startlingly beautiful depth, but it still felt like a children’s novel, and its readers — for the most part — are no longer children.

That aside, the only real complaint I have with the book is more a preference than an actual defect. This book followed several groups of characters, and as a result, jumped between their adventures frequently. And I HATE it when books do that. I get it, most books that are not written in first person (don’t even get me started on when first person books do this) almost necessitate the use of this tactic. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put down a book for weeks — even months — because I didn’t want to read the random side quest that Character B was on. Especially when Character A’s chapter had just ended in a spectacular cliff hanger!

That point aside, I don’t have very many negative things to say about Dark Whispers. It was charming, well written, and perfect for an easy, Saturday morning read.

Morality Report

Since Dark Whispers is a children’s book, there wasn’t really anything objectionable about it in the morality department — though I suppose you can never be sure of that these days. It was a bit darker than the first two books in the series, but nothing the targeted age group can’t handle. There were also a few character deaths (and slightly gruesome ones at that), so if you are a younger reader, or want to recommend this book to your kids, that is something I would be aware of.

There is another, minor event near the end of the book that treads some grey water in the morality department. The moment isn’t actually immoral when taken within the context of the situation, but it does bring up some questions that might be difficult for younger or unformed readers. Since addressing this issue means revealing some spoilers, I will be dealing with it in the discussion section of this post (below).

Dark Whispers Discussion (Contains Spoilers)

Let’s talk about the ending, shall we?

In Dark Whispers, the main character, Cara, goes on a journey to uncover a story that could reveal the origins of an ancient war. After quite a few mishaps, Cara eventually arrives at her destination — the home of the centaurs. The centaur king, called the Chiron, supposedly knows the secret that Cara is searching for. She meets with him, and he agrees to share the story — for a price. That price is his life. You see, the Chiron’s life-force exists inside of an egg. In exchange for the story, he wants Cara to break that egg.

“As long as my vital essence is in that egg, which is stored in a miraculous wooden chest, I could not be killed, nor could I die. Even my aging was slowed. Slowed, but not stopped. As you can see all too clearly, age did creep over me as the centuries crawled by. But no matter how I aged, death could not take me. Only by breaking the egg could I be killed. But who was to break the egg? I could not do so myself; the very spell that placed my life force in that egg prevents it.”

This whole scenario brings about a whole plethora of fascinating (and tricky) questions. First off, there’s the most obvious question of assisted suicide. As a Catholic, I am strongly against assisted suicide. But is it wrong to take the life of someone who literally cannot die otherwise? Is it okay for Cara to break the egg? Is she showing the Chiron mercy by heeding his request and ending his suffering, or is she committing murder?

Personally, I don’t think that Cara’s choice was immoral, and I think this for two specific reasons. The first, is that the Chiron’s long (practically eternal) life was not natural. He was suffering because of a break from the natural order, because mortal things are not meant to live forever (so magic).

The second, and more applicable reason, is this: Cara was not directly ending the Chiron’s life. The Chiron’s death is only a secondary effect to the breaking of the egg. In this situation, Cara is merely removing an object which is unnaturally extending the Chiron’s life, and allowing nature to take its course from there. The fact that the Chiron ultimately dies is an unintended side-effect, not a direct action from Cara herself.

Now, if Cara were to take her sword and literally run the Chiron through (setting aside the fact that in this situation, that would not actually kill him), her action would be nothing short of murder — regardless of the Chiron’s request.

This situation is akin to taking away the life support from a coma patient who is never anticipated to make a full recovery. According to Catholic teaching, removing life support is considered morally licit because it not a natural means of sustaining life. While we are morally obligated to do everything possible to care for a patient through ordinary means (i.e.: bathing, giving food and water, etc.), using extraordinary means (such as using technology to extend the life of a comatose patient) is not morally obligatory. Removing life support does not directly kill the patient.  That patient’s death is, as in the Chiron’s case, an unintended but natural side-effect.

Cara stood in silence for a long time, feeling as if her own heart were an egg being crushed in the palm of destiny. She knew that death was natural, and must come to all things. But to be the agent of that death …

Yet it was what the Chiron longed for.

Would this be murder? Or would she simply be restoring the natural order?

“Please,” murmured the Chiron.

She closed her eyes, trying to sort through this in her mind. She knew that if she did as the Chiron asked, it would weigh on her soul for all her days.

But if she did not …

She opened her eyes and looked at the Chiron again.

He stretched his hands toward her in supplication.

Feeling as if her heart had been encased in lead, she said softly, “Tell me the story, O Chiron. Then I shall do as you have asked.”

Understanding the distinction here is important — especially for people who may be struggling with the morality of assisted suicide, or are uninformed on the matter. If you have more questions, you can check out my post on Assisted Suicide, or click over to the Morality Index section of this blog.

Did you enjoy this post? Check out my novel, Caladrius Dreams, or my newest writing project, Sunlit Stories! You can also find out more about my writing and editing services here.