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This book follows Adora, a young designer working in a remodeling business with her brother. Adora frequents a coffee shop most mornings and when she runs into Zane, spilling scalding coffee all over him in the process, her life abruptly changes. Zane is a mysterious young man, enlisting Adora’s fascination and bringing many questions to the surface, especially why he sustained no lasting damage from the scalding coffee being spilled on the bare skin of his arm. When Zane decides to tell Adora the truth about himself (and others like him), her life is placed in grave danger and thus truly begins the fantastic story that is, “Whisper Independence”.
Patterson does a first-rate job of forging realistic dialogue between all of the characters. Whether Adora was speaking to her brother, someone she knows well, or Zane, someone she had just met; her dialogue was incredibly believable. It’s easy to imagine the conversations as ones that actually occurred as the author wrote them with such an authentic feeling. Along with the dialogue being realistic, the conversations are also really easy to read and keep track of. There wasn’t a point in the story where I was confused as to who was speaking; everything was so clear and easy to follow.
The characters in this book, in general, are enjoyable to read about. All of the characters, including those that aren’t exactly human, are realistic and authentic. The characters, especially Adora, all act in a manner that I would expect from real people placed in the same situations. It’s easy to imagine the characters as real people, and so makes it easy to relate to each character. I also felt that the characters were really well developed. Throughout the story noticeable growth occurred throughout Adora, as well as good character buildup.
The plot in this book was relatively fast paced. While I can’t say that I was bored during the beginning of the story, the big mystery doesn’t unfold until about 8% of the way through the book. Once the mystery is unfurled, the action begins and doesn’t slow down until the very end of the story. I don’t want to give anything away, but just know that the plot of this book is really interesting and exciting to read.
Somewhat relating to the plot, I really enjoyed the science fiction in this book. “Whisper Independence” is a true science fiction story, dealing with fictional (although barely, it seemed) scientific elements. Genetic engineering was a huge aspect of this science fiction, which I found absolutely fascinating. I’ve always been leery about genetic engineering, even in regards to my food, and this book took my apprehensions and brought them to light in a mysterious and terrifying manner.
Although there are science fiction elements in this book, things that are obviously fiction; Patterson does a fantastic job of keeping everything realistic and believable. The science fiction elements, aliens and genetic engineering, are so realistic that I was almost able to believe what she was writing about was actually happening. It’s obvious while reading that the author has looked into the possibilities of these things actually occurring, researching the science behind what it would take to make everything occur, making this book a convincing read.
There are also some unique stylistic elements in this book that Patterson executes very well. At certain times throughout the story Zane talks to himself when Adora is nowhere around. Zane’s conversations with himself, really just a few sentences, added a lot to the story. His comments give the reader glimpses into the mystery and dangers that Adora isn’t privy to, allowing the reader to follow clearly what is going on in the story while still retaining an element of secrecy.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars owing to the wonderful writing, exciting storyline, and realistic characters. “Whisper Independence” by T.J. Patterson is definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in science fiction stories with really well developed characters. I would also recommend this book to anyone fascinating with genetic engineering and aliens, this book does a fantastic job of blending fantasy with science, making this book one that many would enjoy.
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