The Unicorn Chronicles #3: Dark Whispers [Hardcover]

Bruce Coville (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: The Unicorn Chronicl

At last--the long-awaited third volume of Bruce Coville's best-selling series, The Unicorn Chronicles!

This is a tale of two quests: Cara Diana Hunter's search for an ancient story that may unravel the secret of the long enmity between the unicorns and the delvers, and her father's journey to free Cara's mother from the Rainbow Prison. Cara's journey leads her through the strange underground world of the delvers to the court of the centaur king, while her father must travel from mysterious India to the depths of the Rainbow Prison itself. This multi-stranded story will intrigue and delight the legion of fans who have been clamoring for the next tale in this beloved series.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The long-awaited third volume in the Unicorn Chronicles series is longer, darker, and more complex than the previous stories. Cara’s father, Ian, and two unlikely companions are searching for Cara’s mother, who has been hidden in the Rainbow Prison by Beloved, archenemy of the unicorns. Cara embarks on her own dangerous mission to seek the truth about the mysterious Whisperer and to possibly prevent Beloved from invading Luster. The pacing is furious as Coville propels his multiple plotlines to a riveting cliff-hanging conclusion. Readers will scream for book four. Grades 5-8. --Chris Sherman

About the Author

Bruce Coville has received more than a dozen Children's Choice Awards, and has written more than ninety books, including My Teacher Is An Alien, The Monster's Ring, and the Unicorn Chronicles series. He lives in New York.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590459511
• ISBN-13: 978-0590459518
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1950. His family lived in farm territory, about twenty miles north of Syracuse. Bruce grew up around the corner from his grandparents' dairy farm, where he spent a great deal of time as a child, dodging cows and chores to the best of his ability. As a young reader he loved Mary Poppins and Dr. Dolittle, and still has fond memories of rising ahead of the rest of his family so he could huddle in a chair and read THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE. He also read lots of things that people consider junk (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and zillions of comic books). His only real regret is the time he spent watching television, when he could have been reading instead. (A mind is a terrible thing to waste!)

His first book, THE FOOLISH GIANT, was published in 1978. It was illustrated by his wife, Katherine, whom he had married in 1969. This was followed in 1979 by SARAH'S UNICORN, also illustrated by Katherine. After a long period of working separately, the Covilles began collaborating again with SPACE BRAT and GOBLINS IN THE CASTLE, both published in 1992.

Before getting published Bruce earned his living as a toymaker, a gravedigger, a cookware salesman, an assembly line worker, and finally as an elementary school teacher (second and fourth grades). He left teaching in 1981 to devote himself to becoming a full time writer - though it took another five years to achieve that goal!)

Bruce has published nearly 100 books, which have appeared in over a dozen countries around the world and sold more than sixteen million copies. Among his most popular titles are MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN, INTO THE LAND OF THE UNICORNS, and THE MONSTER'S RING. In 2001 he founded Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company dedicated to creating unabridged, full cast recordings of the best in children's and young adult literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last,it's Here!, July 14, 2008

By 

Gwen O' Connell "dragon lover" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unicorn Chronicles #3: Dark Whispers (Hardcover)

Well,after years and years of waiting,book three in the Unicorn Chronicles is HERE!!!!Praise the Lord!And I am delighted to say that it is worth the wait.I literally could not put this book down until I was done reading it.A danger to the unicorns has been discovered. All mention of it has been blotted out of the unicorn chronicles except for its name-the Whisperer.The new Queen of the Unicorns sends Cara,Lightfoot,Belle,and Finder to the Valley of the Centaurs to see if they can find out what the Whisperer is.But they are split up when delvers attack them,and Cara is captured.With the help of some old friends,however(and a new ally)she is able to escape.Can they find out the identity of the Whisperer before the Blood Moon,when Beloved will begin the last hunt? Meanwhile,Ian Hunter,Cara's father,is searching for a way into the Rainbow Prison so that he can free his wife.He finds two new friends-Rajiv,a cocky young street urchin,and Fallon,a mysterious man who also has someone he cares about in the Rainbow Prison.With their help, Ian makes it into the Prison before Beloved's hunters catch him.But when they get there,Rajiv discovers that there is no food or water in the Rainbow Prison.In a race against the clock,can Ian find his wife in time? Dark Whispers is a wonderful book,and the fact that it is told from other POVs beside Cara's gives the story more depth.This is a suspenseful story.There is a tragic death.There is a deadly enemy who is the cause of all the unicorn's woes.There is a betrayal by one of Cara's dear friends.And the exciting cliffhanger ending will leave readers desperate for book four.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth 9 years, August 9, 2008

By 

Sarah Ashleigh Walter "SAW" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Unicorn Chronicles #3: Dark Whispers (Hardcover)

Okay, so I haven't actually been waiting nine years for this book. But I think it was well worth the time I did spend waiting for it. In this story, Cara Diana Hunter, daughter of a trained unicorn slayer and granddaughter of the unicorn queen Amalia Flickerfoot (which is one heck of a family tree), must travel with her cousin, the unicorn Lightfoot, and friends from past journeys (Grimwold, M'Gama, Finder, and Belle) to unearth the story that has the potential to uncover the secret between the eminity between the unicorns and the vicious monsters called the delvers. Meanwhile, in India, Cara's father, Ian Hunter, starts off on a dangerous quest to free his wife from the red shaft of the Rainbow Prison with the help of a mysterious man called Fallon, who is seeking a friend, and a street urchin called Rajiv, an eager tagalong who keeps things interesting and proves himself to be very important on their mission. The ending was a cliffhanger, it's true, but if you read the tags, it says it's about Cara's journey to find the story about the delvers (which is only part of the story, actually) and I thought that the ending was nicely constructed to leave you wanting more. Honestly, the other books aren't that long. An 800-page book would really blow it out of proportion, and we just get the next part of the story that much quicker. But you can make your own decision about that. In short, I found that the long-awaited third book of the Unicorn Chronicles was worth the time that it took to come out, and I will be among the first to grab my copy of Book Four when it's available.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fantasy for Any Age, July 31, 2008

By 

AlyE - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unicorn Chronicles #3: Dark Whispers (Hardcover)

I first started reading The Unicorn Chronicles about 12 years ago (when I was 10). I enjoy reading them as much now as I did back then. This series is dark at times, and full of imagination and a terrific history that keeps readers enthralled. This latest book is terrific, and I couldn't put it down.