I really liked the writing and the plot. Definitely one of my best reads this year.

Blurb:

Tuscany, 1096 AD. Luca, young heir to the title of Conte de Falconi, sees demons. Since no one else can see them, Luca must keep quiet about what he sees.

Luca also has dreams—dreams that sometimes predict the future. Luca sees his father murdered in one such dream and vows to stop it coming true. Even if he has to go against his father’s wishes and follow him on the great pilgrimage to capture the Holy Lands.

When Luca is given an ancient book that holds some inscrutable power, he knows he’s been thrown into an adventure that will lead to places beyond his understanding. But with the help of Suzan, the beautiful girl he rescues from the desert, he will realise his true quest: to defeat the forces of man and demon that wish to destroy the world.

Cover Review: 

The cover looks simple, yet enchanting and would've made me pick the book right off the shelf! ❤️

Review:

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book! 😃

I didn't know a lot about the crusades, so this book has left me shell-shocked! 

The characters of Luca and Suzan, and the romance they share are all the sweetest things possible in the mayhem of the demons and all the evil that surrounds the pilgrims to Jerusalem. 

There was history and there was fiction, there was comedy and there was romance. There was suspense and there was sarcasm. 

So all in all, The Book Of Whispers was a power-packed, utterly interesting and awesome read!

A refreshingly original and gripping novel.


Writing a book set in this particular time period and making sure that some demon action happens as well is something I never came across in YA literature. Being innovative though means taking risks and expecting some high hopes from your readers. I can't say I was completely mind-blown by this novel but I can't say I did not enjoy it either because that would be an outright lie. This book was a pleasant adventure!
 

However, if I had to evaluate this book merely based on the setting, my rating would not be that high. The Book of Whispers is a plot-and-character driven novel and sometimes, there isn't enough historical background to accompany the story. The plot itself is based on history but the details are what make a historical novel good. The clothing, the architecture could be described and focused on a bit more. That way, the book would engage the reader's imagination even better. Even so, I do believe that a lot of research went into this book.


When it comes to writing, there was a contrast to it. Occasionally, it felt too simple when other times, it was very mature. I'm not even sure to what age group I would recommend this book to. It does feel middle-gradish but the characters are in their late teens and there are some brutal scenes that are probably inappropriate for a younger audience. 



Generally speaking, I liked the characters. Not all of them are well-developed but some of them grew on me, that's true.
Luca seemed a little spoiled but I won't elaborate too much on that since he is a man of power with a future title on his shoulders. Although spoiled, he was kind-hearted and likeable. The one thing that bothered me was him constantly acting on a whim. Luca would often act impulsively. 


This book is an easy, relaxing and fun read that could be enjoyed by anyone whose expectations aren't too high!

Sadly, I did not enjoy The Book of Whispers nearly as much as I'd wanted to. Not only is the cover absolutely BEAUTIFUL (and let's be honest, that always makes me want to read a book more lol), but once I read the synopsis I was completely and totally pulled in. It just sounded SO COOL! But overall I was disappointed. :(

I believe the only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one was because of the characters. I SO enjoyed the characters, and they were most definitely my favorite part of the story. Luca and Suzan were great.

I suppose there actually is one other thing that I liked besides the characters, and that was that it's set in Tuscany. I love Italy and I've been wanting to read more books that are set in it.

But the other part of the setting, the time, I wasn't a big fan of. The book takes place in 1096 A.D., and though I really do tend to like historical fiction, I prefer for the time to be around three hundred or so years ago at the most. I think books that are in the B.C./A.D. times are just not for me.

Also, the plot in general ended up really falling flat for me. It just dragged on and on and then suddenly the ending came and I was like, "Um. Okay." Like it really just didn't do much for me which is sad as I wanted to like it so much.

Moving on to the WRITING. The writing was so boring for me. I enjoy straightforward writing and all, but this was...too straightforward, you know? Also a little repetitive. Overall, not a fan of it.

All in all, I sadly did not very much like The Book of Whispers, though I wish I had. I, personally, would not recommend it, but if the book sounds like your thing then go right ahead.

This is one of the best books I have read this year, it is written impeccably, I love this type of plots that gets you  completely immerse in it, to the point of making the reader think that there is a serious possibility that the story has actually happened that way, is so well framed in the time of the crusades and real facts but keeps open a whole spectrum of possibilities to another world that I fell in love with. I would highly recommend this book, is a must read in fiction for me.

Again, I won't be posting a full review of this, because I honestly just found it pretty boring. 

I suppose I'll start with the characters. This is a fairly neutral element of the book. I didn't exactly hate or love any of the leads. I have to admit that I wasn't much a fan of Luca. His carelessness did put me off quite a lot - I've never liked when characters are awkward for plot reasons, and some of his actions were bordering on idiotic. 

What took this down for me was the lack of history involved. I suppose I wanted some big grand meditation on the history of war and religion. I didn't feel Book of Whispers achieved that goal. Maybe that''s not the book's fault, but it was definitely a source of disappointment for me. 

And then comes my big complaint. My biggest complaint of all. The lack of excitement. I really just. did. not. care. I couldn't bring myself to care about anything. It was flat, it was dry, it was boring, and I just couldn't care. I felt bad because I wanted to!!

The first 100 pages were the biggest struggle for me - from then to around page 200, I actually enjoyed the book a fair amount. This section allowed the author's style to flourish and made me anticipate some future goodness. But then the two main characters met, and somehow the book immediately went back downhill for me. I'm not quite sure why. But either way, I never did feel that spark. The ending was cool, but this was nothing really special in my eyes.

The premise of this book immediately intrigued me, and my expectations were not let down. The story is set in Italy and Turkey in the eleventh century, and the historical aspects might have been my favorite part. The author really builds an atmosphere and the setting is like another character. There is a good blend of magic interwoven into the story and the characters grabbed my attention. My only issue was that it moved fairly slowly in the beginning, though I am definitely glad I stuck with it, because the middle and ending really held my attention.

This was a pretty good book.  There were some points where the plot moved a little slowly, but there were other points where I could barely put it down.  I think it might have been nice if it had been a little clearer just who the Saracens are.  I had to look it up.

Set in Tuscany, 1096 AD., Luca, heir to the title of Conte de Falconi,  must use a mysterious book to save the world from the ruinous powers of man and demons.  With the help of Suzan, an equally mysterious girl he rescues in the desert as she flees the convent she was raised within, they use a combination of talents and wit to overcome the power of evil.

This book was set during the crusades and not something I have a lot of experience reading in a fictional context.  I walked away with both more knowledge of the crusades and a different perspective than I had previously held.  The story made the gruesome violence of the crusades very real but in a way that could be accessed by young adult readers.  The undertones of ethnic cleansing in this book resonate with real-world events today and could be an excellent tie in text for discussion of historical or current political events.  

I found that this story took some energy to get into, but once in, I couldn't put it down.  It is definitely worth the effort to acclimate oneself to the characters and their dialogue in order to take in the storyline once Luca and Suzan become acquainted and the action in the story hits its high notes.

Fun YA read about the Crusades. It has suspense and history which I really enjoy when they are together. I think it's quite apropos to learn about a religious war especially with the world today. It helps everyone understand the past better.  Adventure and magic just together make for a great time and read!

DNF. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get into this story. I'm sure it's just me, as the premise really sounds great. I just couldn't get past the third chapter.

DNF @ 61%

There's a distinct oddness to this book. It's a YA book set during the crusades. We have a lead gal and guy from very different walks of life. I was really enjoying the demons and stories of our characters right up until they met each other (45% in). And then all of a sudden the magic was gone. Yet ironically the introduction of a lot of convenient magic shortly after that is what turned me off in the end. 

I love fantasy, but magic needs to be used so as not to just set-up convenient ways to travel, time to change, items to only work for some, etc. It's like every magical thing that happens in this book is very convenient. As this is one of my biggest pet peeves ever I decided I was done with The Book of Whispers. 

It may very well have an amazing and profound ending but getting there just got too difficult. The last couple days I've thought to read this book my response is very dull. Like I'm not really interested. Once I'm reading that improves but it's almost like this book is a slump in and of itself. 

I am giving it two stars, even though I didn't finish it. 
I have a few reasons for still liking much of it: 
1) the writing is quite good. I would look forward to and read a future book by Kimberley Starr. 
2) our two main characters are interesting people. They could use a bit more depth and emotion during their POV scenes but overall I didn't dislike either of them. 
3) the demon concept is interesting and ties in very well to the time period. The crusades were a time of massive superstition, religious war and all around distrust. The setting is well chosen. 

The main things that need improving: 
1) as discussed above, not using magic as a convenient excuse for plot to happen
2) the adults surrounding our two teens need to have a bit more development to really add depth to the story. 
3) historical facts are pretty few and far between in this. If you're going to use a famous time in history it's best to make sure you really understand why it happened. 
4) there is excitement missing from this book. Lots of exciting things happen but somehow I didn't get excited during them. A great writer makes you feel what your characters feel and puts you in the scene and story. 

Overall if you are very intrigued by the book blurb then check it out. But if you have hundreds of other books to read I'd skip this one. That said I would still read Starr again in the hopes that her writing improves. I think there is real potential for her and I hope to see more from her.

It had a very interesting premise, but I think this book may have just been not for me... I found the characters a bit naive and unconvincing and just didn't become emotionally invested at all. The writing was fine but something about it just didn't connect for me.

This book is steeped in Crusader history, starting off in Tuscany. The lead characters Luca and Suzan are brave and righteous as heroes should be, and together they fight against demons and corrupt priests on the path to Jerusalem. The author has done her research in regards to the Crusades and the bloody battles that ensued, and I thought it was an interesting concept to attach demons to relics and the seven deadly sins. I'd like to see whether there's another story to be told with Luca and Suzan, as this one was easy to read, knowledgeable and kept my interest throughout.

This is a piece of historical and magical fiction.  It's about a boy named Luca who is the son of an Italian nobleman in the time of Crusades.  Luca has apparently had issues with seeing demons and although he has told everyone around him that he's put all that behind him, he's still seeing demons and trying to figure out what to do about it.  The story is pretty exciting, there is a romantic interest for him and a thrilling chase to try to cast out the most evil demon of all.  I think this one would have some big followers in YA section of the library, particularly if it's part of a series.

Much more juvenile than I anticipated. I would categorize this as middle grade rather than Young adult. Still a good story and a great Into to the fantasy genre in general. I would recommend this for my older kids.

The premise was very interesting, I will say. A knight from the crusades and an “ugly nun” who have to find a way to stop the terrorizing demons poisoning the minds of people everywhere. Add in a magic book and you have me hooked. Yet there are various elements of the book and the style itself that just did not sit well with me. It could have been great, but I found it just okay. It was very entertaining and some points, where as it dragged on in others.. I was hoping for a more epic ending, however it fell flat to me. The setting in the time of the Crusades was fantastic though!