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A review by candlelights
Whispers and the Roars by K. Webster
1.0
For those who are being told to go in blind, take this as a note: tw: racist language, slight homophobic language towards the end, sexual scenes with a child, incest
Honestly, i went in blind due to the goodreads reviews and tiktok recommendations, but even at the few spoiler free reviews i saw everyone said it was great.
Tldr; didn’t like it, only finished because it was short
Firstly, the main characters are one dimensional - Kady, our main female lead, is someone who is suffering from sever mental health problems that slowly reveals as the book progresses. I will talk about my problems with how the writer handles her specific illness at the end of the review in case you don’t want to be spoiled, but even from the very get go the book begins to insinuate that all of Kady’s problems can be solved by simply being with Yeo and being loved by him- kinda annoying and frankly not realistic in the slightest. I don’t really have much else to say about Kady, because other than her love for Yeo the rest of the time spent in her perspective is her reliving her sexual trauma with her father, which i honestly don’t feel bad spoiling because god knows i didn’t start reading this book to hear about violent incest and spousal abuse, so take this as a warning. I don’t have too many problems with how her trauma is written, as I can see many people possibly suffering the same way Kady does (which is why I feel the warnings are valid) however what I couldn’t seem to understand was why, while still suffering from her repeated and violent sexual trauma through her dad, does Kady not have even a hint of reproach regarding having sex with Yeo. It wouldn’t have bothered me if the two weren’t literally going at it every single chapter from about chapter 6 onwards (maybe earlier, and even if it turns out to be not every chapter it sure felt like it). Kady is described as being very fragile, the slightest trigger will pull her away from the present and into her trauma, but nothing sexual triggers her at all after her sexual trauma? I’m not so much asking for the trauma, moreso wondering why the sex scenes were so frequently included when it was a core part of her childhood violence? And I couldn’t even justify it to myself that she’s healed past those specific issues because so many other little things triggered her, and sure maybe her and Yeo worked past it when they were younger, but it wasn’t even brought up once that there was even a conversation about it.
Speaking of Yeo, who is our male protagonist, who I will firstly say is constantly the butt of a lot of ‘casual racism’. He is described as being half korean, with another character, Bones, constantly and frequently calling him ‘Kitty Muncher’ both when they’re alone and in front of Yeo’s family which nobody has a problem with at all. In fact, theres a scene where Bones actually calls Yeo by name, and Yeo’s response is to think “Oh, he must be really mad because he never calls me by name” like what? He gets made fun of for the traditional korean food he enjoys, as well as a part of the book where Bones tells him he stinks - “Fucking kimchi” all of this is put in the light as being ‘endearing’ when the whole time I was so frustrated listening to it all. I would say this man spends about 60% of the book at half chub, which would be fine if the book wasn’t supposed to be about Kady’s mental anguish, but it is, so I found it weird how he was constantly wanting to bone down. Yeo’s whole personality fails to deviate from ‘I love Kady’ to a ‘i will die for you’ level of intensity, with him going to college and coming back i thought there would at least be a little push and pull between the two considering Kady had been avoiding him the whole time he was studying. Nope, they’re together by maybe chapter 4 or 5.
The writing? Kinda average, not the worst I’ve read but honestly nothing really stuck out to me. Around half to 3/4 of the way into the book, the author seems to discover that they haven’t mentioned ‘whispers’ or ‘roars’ into the writing yet. The first time it was done, i felt like it had a little bit of impact. By about the 10th ‘I love whispers’ and the 7th ‘But i love roars even more’ I was rolling my eyes. The characters are described as being in their late 20’s, yet they inner monologue like an edgy 15 year old teen.
Warning: Big spoilers ahead
My biggest problem with Yeo was the way he handles Kady’s mental illness. Considering when the book was published, I’m not sure if it’s just a sign of the times or maybe a lack of research/talking with those who have the same diagnosis. Kady is eventually revealed to be suffering from DID (dissociative identity disorder), and to be honest i think the writing was actually quite good at hiding that from the reader while also leaving enough breadcrumbs to eventually start to catch on, and I’ll admit I did have an ‘Aha!’ Moment a chapter or so before it was revealed, which I think shows good foreshadowing. However, Yeo is very convinced there are ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ alters, which in itself is quite problematic. From what I’ve researched myself, there is a lot of discussion about how dividing alters up in such a way can be very troubling for the Host and the alters who are labelled as such, most of the time those alters behave in such a way because they carry a lot of trauma and pain that the brain has fragmented between the personalities to protect itself. The book writes as though they are evil for the sake of being evil, going so far as Yeo asking Bones to help him destroy these personalities so only the ‘Good’ ones remain. By the end of the book, Yeo puts Kady into therapy, where the therapist eventually talks with Bones and the like, straight up telling them they’re not real. I’m not a therapist and I don’t know psychology, but something about this just kinda rubbed me the wrong way. They are real, and they have been for a while, it’s just that they’re fragments of Kady’s personality split off to handle different parts of her life as to protect the psyche from any more hurt.
Honestly, i went in blind due to the goodreads reviews and tiktok recommendations, but even at the few spoiler free reviews i saw everyone said it was great.
Tldr; didn’t like it, only finished because it was short
Firstly, the main characters are one dimensional - Kady, our main female lead, is someone who is suffering from sever mental health problems that slowly reveals as the book progresses. I will talk about my problems with how the writer handles her specific illness at the end of the review in case you don’t want to be spoiled, but even from the very get go the book begins to insinuate that all of Kady’s problems can be solved by simply being with Yeo and being loved by him- kinda annoying and frankly not realistic in the slightest. I don’t really have much else to say about Kady, because other than her love for Yeo the rest of the time spent in her perspective is her reliving her sexual trauma with her father, which i honestly don’t feel bad spoiling because god knows i didn’t start reading this book to hear about violent incest and spousal abuse, so take this as a warning. I don’t have too many problems with how her trauma is written, as I can see many people possibly suffering the same way Kady does (which is why I feel the warnings are valid) however what I couldn’t seem to understand was why, while still suffering from her repeated and violent sexual trauma through her dad, does Kady not have even a hint of reproach regarding having sex with Yeo. It wouldn’t have bothered me if the two weren’t literally going at it every single chapter from about chapter 6 onwards (maybe earlier, and even if it turns out to be not every chapter it sure felt like it). Kady is described as being very fragile, the slightest trigger will pull her away from the present and into her trauma, but nothing sexual triggers her at all after her sexual trauma? I’m not so much asking for the trauma, moreso wondering why the sex scenes were so frequently included when it was a core part of her childhood violence? And I couldn’t even justify it to myself that she’s healed past those specific issues because so many other little things triggered her, and sure maybe her and Yeo worked past it when they were younger, but it wasn’t even brought up once that there was even a conversation about it.
Speaking of Yeo, who is our male protagonist, who I will firstly say is constantly the butt of a lot of ‘casual racism’. He is described as being half korean, with another character, Bones, constantly and frequently calling him ‘Kitty Muncher’ both when they’re alone and in front of Yeo’s family which nobody has a problem with at all. In fact, theres a scene where Bones actually calls Yeo by name, and Yeo’s response is to think “Oh, he must be really mad because he never calls me by name” like what? He gets made fun of for the traditional korean food he enjoys, as well as a part of the book where Bones tells him he stinks - “Fucking kimchi” all of this is put in the light as being ‘endearing’ when the whole time I was so frustrated listening to it all. I would say this man spends about 60% of the book at half chub, which would be fine if the book wasn’t supposed to be about Kady’s mental anguish, but it is, so I found it weird how he was constantly wanting to bone down. Yeo’s whole personality fails to deviate from ‘I love Kady’ to a ‘i will die for you’ level of intensity, with him going to college and coming back i thought there would at least be a little push and pull between the two considering Kady had been avoiding him the whole time he was studying. Nope, they’re together by maybe chapter 4 or 5.
The writing? Kinda average, not the worst I’ve read but honestly nothing really stuck out to me. Around half to 3/4 of the way into the book, the author seems to discover that they haven’t mentioned ‘whispers’ or ‘roars’ into the writing yet. The first time it was done, i felt like it had a little bit of impact. By about the 10th ‘I love whispers’ and the 7th ‘But i love roars even more’ I was rolling my eyes. The characters are described as being in their late 20’s, yet they inner monologue like an edgy 15 year old teen.
Warning: Big spoilers ahead
My biggest problem with Yeo was the way he handles Kady’s mental illness. Considering when the book was published, I’m not sure if it’s just a sign of the times or maybe a lack of research/talking with those who have the same diagnosis. Kady is eventually revealed to be suffering from DID (dissociative identity disorder), and to be honest i think the writing was actually quite good at hiding that from the reader while also leaving enough breadcrumbs to eventually start to catch on, and I’ll admit I did have an ‘Aha!’ Moment a chapter or so before it was revealed, which I think shows good foreshadowing. However, Yeo is very convinced there are ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ alters, which in itself is quite problematic. From what I’ve researched myself, there is a lot of discussion about how dividing alters up in such a way can be very troubling for the Host and the alters who are labelled as such, most of the time those alters behave in such a way because they carry a lot of trauma and pain that the brain has fragmented between the personalities to protect itself. The book writes as though they are evil for the sake of being evil, going so far as Yeo asking Bones to help him destroy these personalities so only the ‘Good’ ones remain. By the end of the book, Yeo puts Kady into therapy, where the therapist eventually talks with Bones and the like, straight up telling them they’re not real. I’m not a therapist and I don’t know psychology, but something about this just kinda rubbed me the wrong way. They are real, and they have been for a while, it’s just that they’re fragments of Kady’s personality split off to handle different parts of her life as to protect the psyche from any more hurt.