Darkwhispers by Vashti Hardy | Book Review

Children’s books are all time favourite genre for us here at Thikerviews. Writing imaginative stories for young minds that also provide edutainment is a tricky treat to make and we are always exploring for new authors and adventures in this arena.

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Recently, we came across the Brightstorm series by author Vashti Hardy that features young twins who live in a world full of adventures and explorations. We have reviewed the first book of this series:

• Brightstorm

And here are our views and reviews on the second book of the series.

Book Cover:

Let us take a look at the cover page of this book.

The cover page of this book is designed to convey the adventurous spirit of the book. In bright colours that will appeal to young readers, we see a sky-ship – sort of a floating ship that has an enormous balloon at top to help it fly…

The sky-ship is hovering over the vast seas and a coastline filled with tropical looking trees and insects. But the sky-ship itself appears to be under attack by creatures called… Darkwhispers

An attractive cover page that will catch an eye of any browser.

Storyline:

Twins Arthur and Maudie are a pair of bright, intelligent children who have inherited their parents’ love for exploration. In the first book they were able to solve the mystery of their father’s disappearance. But it appears that they already have another on their mind. When we meet them at the opening of this book, they are following a stranger…

All the adventurers in Lontown are called to explore towards the stars of the ocean or the islands known as Stella Oceanus, when the geological society announces a mission to find a lost member called Ermitage Wrigglesworth who has gone missing in the Eastern Isles.

The crew of Aurora sails on this journey at the same time as all other exploring ships. This time, they have all been given a part of the mission, and Eudora Vane is right there in the center of it all. Before they leave, the twins visited a lady called Octavie who presented them with a mystery ring. Since then, Arthur has been busy reading through the family histories of the Lontown explorers, while Maudie continues to learn and excel in Engineering duties with Harriet.

But then, they seem to have a hit a dead end. Except, Arty thinks there is more to the matter. As Arty and Maudie have an argument and leave each other alone for a few hours, they could have hardly imagined that they will get separated like this. Eudora vane steals Aurora away with Arthur hiding on the ship while Maudie is stuck on the island with Harriet and others.

Through their separate journeys, both twins land onto the hitherto unknown Fourth Continent. Except that there is a reason why it has remained unknown. They must get past the Darkwhisper which feed on electricity and destroy memories of everyone they come across.

Will the twins find each other and their way back home again?

Views and Reviews:

As the first book introduced us to the world of sky-ships travelling to cold cold South Polaris, this book will take you to a journey through the seas and to the world of water. Filled with gentle races and engineering ingenuity, these islands invite the explorers from Lontown and it is good to see the twins go on an adventure with the crew that has become their family.

On a positive note, the author shows how the Contients have been renamed to recognise what they are called by their inhabitants, and we see Welby and Harriet encouraging Arty to take more responsibilities. While Maudie is the studious one, Arty enjoys reading histories and solving mysteries, but it is important to invest the time in studying if you expect to do your job well.

In order to achieve your dreams, sometimes you have to learn things that may seem difficult and irrelevant at first, but they end up playing a part. The most fruitful learning often comes with a bit of hardship.

In this book, the author starts to also show us the hardships of journey of exploration and sacrifices that may be required by such crews in order to discover new worlds. It is not all sailing in sunshine..

The initial rush of adventure petered away as the land disappeared behind them and the sea below become endless and flat. The skies turned a uniform grey of cloud that neither let the sun in nor brought rain, as though the day was quite bored with itself.

The author intricately builds the water world of the islands and how the twins find their way in it. Maudie builds a sky-ak which saves her life. But the twins also face a difficult decision during their journey, where they try to do what they think is the right thing but end up with completely unseen consequences. They lose another loved one but also gain more friends and extended family.

As they continue to follow their father’s words and choose adventure over comfort, they have to remember:

Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. You can be comfortable or courageous – never both at once.

Summary:

A book taking us on another adventurous journey of twins searching for a lost explorer and discovering a lot more than what they were looking for…

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - Darkwhispers by Vashti Hardy - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - Darkwhispers by Vashti Hardy - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - Darkwhispers by Vashti Hardy - Audiobook - Amazon IN
• Buy - Darkwhispers by Vashti Hardy - Paperback - Amazon US
• Buy - Darkwhispers by Vashti Hardy - Audiobook - Amazon US

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