The Whispering Trees by J.A. White

yalitreader

Dec 26

Summary: Kara and Taff have escaped into the Thickety, but the worst of their problems are still to come. There are enemies lurking behind every tree and unbelievable magic in every bush. Kara and Taff must rely on each other, and some new friends (or enemies?), in order to make it out of the Thickety and stop Sordyr.

Review: Overall, this book was pretty good. I wouldn't say it was fantastic, but I liked it more than I anticipated going in. I had kind of forgotten the events of the first book by the time I went into this sequel, but the author did a good job of pulling me back up to speed. However, the plot was a bit overdone at points. It was conflict after conflict in the Thickety, and it seems like it could've maybe been 100 pages shorter.

In saying that, despite some of the excess of the book, there were still some other parts that were hard to follow due to the weird imagery being used. For example, when they were crawling THROUGH the Niersook, I was completely lost. I couldn't visually track them in my mind, and I had to basically read the words without legitimately comprehending what was happening in detail. I got the gist, just not every aspect that maybe the author wanted to convey.

I did find the magic easier to follow in this book, though. It was pretty simplistic, but also a lot of fun. Kara could talk to animals, and Mary had some magic toys (like the rabbit on a bicycle that guides you places). I especially enjoyed Mary's bag of toys and wish we got even more of them! Additionally, there were a lot of fun, interesting magical creatures roaming the Thickety that we got to experience and that Kara was able to utilize. The combination of these creatures mixed with the other whimsical magic of Mary made for quite an enjoyable story overall.

As for some of the characters, there were several that I really enjoyed and appreciated. Taff, for starters, was an enjoyable, lighthearted element of the book. He was kindhearted, and I appreciated that and his bond with Kara throughout the whole story. It was endearing.

I was also pretty engrossed in the whole Mary Kettle of it all. Her conflict, or rather, Kara's conflict with her, of whether she was good or bad ultimately was super interesting. I, myself, was flip-flopping back and forth on what I thought, and I really liked that I was able to do that. The author did well at setting the whole plot line up. I liked that she went from good to bad to good again, but I'm not 100% sold that she'll stay good forever.

The Safi plot line is also pretty interesting. I mean, she's 100% going to be evil in the future. That's pretty clear. However, I am curious if Kara stealing her grimier will be the reason for it, or if something else altogether will transpire to lead her down the path to villainy.

There were also some good plot twists in this story. Namely, Sordyr being "good" in the end, and finding out that Rygoth had been mind controlling him the entire time was pretty surprising to me. It really flipped the series on its head and set up the latter half of the series well, in my opinion, for some interesting conflict.

Speaking of the latter half of the series, I really need Kara to regain her magic in the next book. I think it'll become quite dull if both her and Taff are non-magical. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of the series, so I just really want that conflict to get resolved quickly and not get prolonged endlessly.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Recommended reader: Anyone who likes:

Fantasy
Sibling relationships
Magic
Magical worlds
Forests
Mythical creatures
Ambiguous villains
Plot twists

Reviews of Previous Books:

A Path Begins

Discussion Questions:

Taff believes that there are good people in the world still. Who, in this story, could be considered a good person? What do they do in the story that proves this? Are any characters seemingly both good AND bad? Who? How so?
Kara fears that her powers may turn her evil. In what evil ways could her powers be used? How is Rygoth evidence of this evil? Do you think Kara could end up as Rygoth? Why or why not?
What is the significance of the setting of this story? How does the setting pose a conflict for the characters of the story? Why would the author decide to make the setting of the story the Thickety instead of keeping it De'Noran?
Describe Mary Kettle. Why were Taff and Kara afraid of her at first? How did their opinions begin to change? In the end, was Mary Kettle still an evil witch, or had she changed? How do you know?;
Explain the conflict between Sordyr and Rygoth. What led to this conflict? How are they continuously harming one another? What plot twist was revealed about the truth of these two? How did this reveal change your perspective on the events of the story?
The prologue introduces new characters who don't appear again until chapter sixteen. Why does the author open the book with the prologue? What does it foreshadow? Describe Safi's vision and the role it plays later in the story.

Specifics of the book: