Whisper by Lynette Noni
Whisper book 1, Pantera Press, 2018. ISBN: 9781925700992.
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. 2019
Gold Inky Award Winner. Themes: Dystopian fiction, Psychic
ability. Winning Australia's only YA award completely selected by
teenagers, gives a good idea of the appeal of Whisper not
just to teens but to anyone who enjoys a fast paced dystopian story
with a great heroine at its heart. 'For two years, six months,
fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject
Six-Eight-Four - 'Jane Doe' - has been locked away and experimented
on, without uttering a single word.' (Publisher). Then she is given
to Landon Ward, a young compassionate man, for evaluation and things
begin to change as she gradually meets more people in Lengard and
begins to understand what is happening in this cold forbidding
underground fortress.
The reader's attention is immediately grabbed right from the first
page as the plight of 'Jane Doe' is described in a first person
narrative and this raises questions of why she has been silent for
so long and why she believes she is a monster. The fact that she is
in a cramped cell and has been tortured also leaves the reader
wondering just what she has done to deserve this fate. However as
the story develops the reader begins to empathise with her and hope
that her relationship with Ward will be a fruitful one and that she
can break her silence.
The setting of Lengard under Centre Point Tower in Sydney and the
descriptions of catacombs under Taronga Park Zoo and the streets of
Sydney make for an atmospheric background to the story. A scary evil
genius, a group of Resistance fighters who have amazing powers,
wonderful moments of female friendship as well as some unexpected
plot twists and action make for a very exciting read which I had to
finish in one sitting.
The cliff-hanger at its conclusion will ensure that readers pick up
the next in this thrilling read and they may want to visit the Medoran
chronicles, with the first in the series, Arkarnae,
reviewed on ReadPlus.
Pat Pledger