That night, Tal dreamt of the Whisperer in white again. She stood in the strange woods with its white grass and starless sky, and in the distance, her own voice called her name. “Talia.”

Y. R. Liu’s The Whisperer in White took me on a wild ride! In many ways, it’s a book best described simply as”fantasy,” no subgenre necessary, though it combines elements of the epic with a folkloric, textured, and rural feel. Think, “folk fantasy” compared with “folk horror.” There’s so much that I loved here, from Liu’s rich character work, to the inevitability of its storyline. Liu is in complete command of the narrative, and Whisperer is a book I struggled to put down.

As Whisperer opened I was struck by the smooth flow of the prose and the accessibility of the writing. I was also a little nervous that the story itself would be fairly predictable (young woman commits a crime against a powerful mage and becomes his prisoner, ultimately uniting with others to defeat him, etc, etc). There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that story, if done well, but it happily turned out that I needn’t have worried at all. Whisperer was nothing like I’d anticipated.

Instead of being cruel, the powerful mage is a kindly old man, and instead of trapping the protagonist (Tal) inside a dank and dastardly castle, he brings her to an inviting cottage in the woods. There, Tal serves the Whisperer (the name given to the mages) as a housekeeper and general odd-body. They’re not alone. The Whisperers (and there are thirteen of them, each living at a distance from one another), have companion animals called Voices who are able to speak and who are magically gifted in their own right. Together, the Whisperers and the Voices largely maintain their distance from regular humans, protecting and reinforcing wardstones that keep a chaotic shadowrealm from spilling monsters into the human world. It’s a role that requires great fortitude and sacrifice, since Whisperers were themselves once human and, having transformed, are cursed with immortality. Rowan, Tal’s Whisperer, has lived alone with his Voice (a cat named Morel) for some time, having watched everyone he knew gradually age and die. He’s initially cagey about his past, giving away only the smallest details to Tal, and there is one room in the house that Tal is forbidden from entering. There’s also a mysterious stone in the forest that may or may not be a grave marker or memorial of some kind.

I’ll leave the plot at that, but suffice to say, Whisperer deftly combines a textured, folkloric feel with deep and sincere character work reminiscent of Emily Tesh’s Silver in the Wood, Alexandra Rowland’s Chant series, or Premee Mohamed’s The Butcher of the Forest. For readers worried Whisperer is all vibes without substance, it’s anything but, with action, mystery, and gut-wrenching moments aplenty. I absolutely fell in love with the characters, and the sense throughout that something terrible was coming both compelled me and haunted me as I read. There’s a little of Hills of Heather and Bone, K. A. Andrews’s beautiful and lyrical SPFBO9 finalist to the tone of Whisperer–a similar sense of balance between powerful stakes, rich emotion, and textured landscapes that you want to drop into and curl up inside.

While Whisperer‘s plot ultimately incorporates some quite grand scenarios and set pieces, it’s during its smaller, more intimate moments that Liu’s skills shine brightest. At risk of going on about the character work, the intimate personal stakes are what drive the story and compel the reader. Mysteries within the narrative, such as what lies behind the aforementioned forbidden door, or whether the stone in the forest is indeed a grave marker (and, if so, whose), compel with an almost Gothic summons, one that’s rooted in their connection to Rowan’s character and backstory. Morel–as a cat in fiction–is a delight throughout, not simply a cutesy mascot but a full character in their own right, while Tal herself is believable and likeable as a young protagonist finding her feet in an unknown and increasingly hostile and confusing world.

It’s shocking to me that this one has so few reviews on Goodreads. Whisperer is more than deserving of your time and I’ll be shouting about it from the rooftops to whoever will listen as I eagerly await any future stories Liu may write set in this world.

“So where am I getting this breakfast?” “The kitchen, of course,” said the cat. “Isn’t that the usual birthplace for breakfasts?”

 

Quick Pitch:

Oops- Talia learns that successfully/accidentally shooting an immortals talking cat apparently has the consequences hard time. 

By hard time, I mean being bossed around by him and that talking cat for a year and a day on a forgotten and remote island. 

What’s the immortal do all day, anyways? He’s famous for saving the world- but he seems to only interact with her when he’s teaching a lesson in work ethic. Thanks, old man. 

But when Talia’s punishment turns into a game of trust, the question is– is this really a job interview to save the world? 

Overall Thoughts: 

I think I found a relative to Princess Doughnut dating back to the preindustrial days.

So as smooth as the pacing is, note the tone is more flippant for the potential stakes at hand.