Dark Whispers by Bruce Coville

For a long time I had only read books 1 and 2 of The Unicorn Chronicles. And by a long time, I mean that I remember my mom reading book 1 to me before bedtime. So finally, as I was plugging some empty holes in my collections, I searched for book 3 of the series, Dark Whispers.

What a thrill to rediscover characters I probably haven't read about for a decade! Young, brave Cara, who can travel from Earth to Luster, haven of the unicorns, in the blink of an eye; finicky, reluctant Lightfoot, Cara's distant unicorn cousin and potential heir to the unicorn throne; sage Grimwold, who is the keeper of the chronicles; THE SQUIJUM!; and the poor, lonely Dimblethum!

Cara and her friends are sent on a quest by her grandmother, now Queen of the unicorns, to find out the story of the Whisperer and bring it back in time to thwart Beloved opening a gate bridging the worlds and bringing the Hunt to Luster.

I have to say, there are some things that are slightly less impressive than I remember. Some of the adult dialogue and thoughts just read too simple for their supposed maturity as well as the complex situations in which they find themselves.

But the overall plot development is wonderful and Cara and her friends form complex characters with very distinct personalities. Coville is not afraid to kill his characters, either, which I think is important when you make a large group embark on a quest--sooner or later, someone's bound to be killed and your story will read insincere if they aren't! Best of all, this book ends--as I believe the previous ones did--on a cliffhanger, so you are pretty much forced to search for the next installment.

I will not rest until I know the unicorns are safe!!!

~7/10~