The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew: Book Review

When I picked up The Whispering Dark, I didn’t know what to expect. The cover was gorgeous, and the book design intriguing, but it wasn’t a book I had picked for myself. I received it as part of Illumicrate’s monthly subscription box, but after reading the summary on the back cover, I got genuinely excited. We got a deaf protagonist in a dark academia setting, jumping parallel worlds to save us all from an other-worldly danger. Hard to swing and miss, right?

And yet… for me, it never quite came together.

Out of nearly seventy books I’ve read this year, this one will likely fade fastest from memory - not because it’s terrible (it’s not), but because it feels like a great idea caught between drafts, struggling to decide what kind of story it wants to be.

So let’s dig into the good, the not so good, and whether it’s worth your time.

A strong concept that never finds its rhythm

Andrew’s premise is genuinely captivating. We follow Delaney Meyers-Petrov (a mouthful of a name that we hear a LOT during the course of the book), a Deaf college student who’s been admitted to the elite and mysterious Godbole University - an institution rumoured to study communication between worlds. There’s an immediate pull: a young woman whose life has always existed in silence stepping into a place obsessed with the sounds beyond the veil.

That juxtaposition - silence versus the supernatural - could have been electric. And at moments, it is. The book’s sensory writing shines when Delaney’s deafness shapes her perception; the way she reads the world is often more vivid than any explosion of magic. Representation like this is rare and meaningful, and it’s clear Andrew writes from a place of authenticity.

But where the concept invites immersion, the execution holds readers at arm’s length. The plot never settles into a clear rhythm; its world-building remains foggy, its rules barely sketched. Godbole University feels like a stage set rather than a world that breathes.

Romance that doesn’t quite spark

Much of the book’s emotional core revolves around Delaney’s connection to Colton Price, her enigmatic classmate with a dark history and an even darker secret. On paper, it’s the perfect BookTok-friendly romantasy book setup: mysterious boy, forbidden connection, destiny humming underneath.

In practice, the chemistry feels muted. The power dynamic of an older, more experienced Colton guiding Delaney through a world she doesn’t yet understand, creates an unease the narrative never fully confronts. The romance feels like something we’re told exists rather than something we believe in and get to see gradually evolve.

It’s a shame, because Andrew’s writing hints at emotional depth. There’s pain, fear, and longing, but the beats arrive slightly out of tune. Where Lies We Sing to the Sea (one of my favorites from earlier this year) wrapped myth and emotion seamlessly, The Whispering Dark never achieves that same harmony between theme and feeling.

The atmosphere works… until it doesn’t

To give credit where it’s due, this novel nails its aesthetic. If you’re here for dark academia vibes and want to immerse yourself in stone corridors, candlelight, a hum of the forbidden, then you’ll find plenty to love. The prose is lyrical and often beautiful, leaning into that gothic sense of yearning and decay.

But prose alone can’t carry a story as we’ve seen many times before. Around the halfway mark, the atmosphere starts to feel repetitive and the plot meandering. Scenes that should feel tense instead dissolve into confusion. I often found myself rereading passages not because they were profound, but because I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened.

It’s that lack of narrative clarity (and definitely not a lack of talent) that makes The Whispering Dark feel like an unfinished symphony. You sense what the author wanted to compose; you can even hear the faint melody. But the crescendos never arrive.

The verdict: ambitious, atmospheric… but not unforgettable

I admire what Kelly Andrew set out to do. I truly do, even if my review might seem harsh at first glance. Few fantasy authors are brave enough to make a Deaf heroine the centre of their story, and even fewer write about silence as both limitation and power. There’s sincerity in every chapter, and readers who connect with mood and introspection more than plot might find something very relatable here.

But for me, The Whispering Dark belongs to that quiet category of books that are easier to respect than to love. It’s an admirable debut with flashes of brilliance, but once I finished with it I didn’t get a sense of bittersweet longing for a good story that has come to its natural end. It was an ambitious effort, but it left much to be desired.

Would I recommend it? Perhaps, but selectively:

• If you love dark academia for its vibe rather than its logic.

• If you want a fantasy that foregrounds Deaf representation.

• If you’re in the mood for melancholy more than momentum.

If, however, you’re chasing your next Fourth Wing-style obsession or the emotional payoff of Divine Rivals, this won’t scratch that itch.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)

Not every book has to be unforgettable, but for a story built on the power of voice, this one never quite finds its own.

Read Next

If you’re craving romantasy books or myth-tinged fantasies that do stick the landing, try my recent review of Lies We Sing to the Sea — similar atmosphere, but with far more resonance. Or, if you want to see how dark academia can soar when world-building and emotion align, revisit my Top 10 Romantasy Books According to BookTok! roundup for your next immersive pick.