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A review by betwixt_the_pages
The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell
5.0
With blood on her thorns she must creep through the wall.
When the last hope is lost, a Twistrose is called.
---
There are books with young characters that are awkward, stilted, and suffocated...and then, there's The Twistrose Key. From page one, the prose is beautiful and lilting--an almost lullaby whispered across the mind of the reader. The story opens with Lindelin Rosenquist, alone next to a rosebush, missing her friend Rufus. As the novel progresses, Lin is granted entry to a world that children who've lost pets wish existed--a world where their beloved friends, as Petlings, live on, free and untroubled.
Except something lurks just outside the walls of this new world--a league of nightmares, hoping to crash through the wall and take over. The last Winterfyrst--a child of ice with magic to keep the world of Sylveros intact and whole--has disappeared days before the charm is meant to be rekindled. And someone--a Petling--is helping the nightmares--and something much more sinister--achieve chaos and the destruction of the world. Lin, as the Twistrose (a child called to this world in a time of great need) must face fears, disappointments, and heartaches; must fight with her own form of strength, lent by magic mirrors, to find the missing boy and bring peace back to Sylveros.
The awe and wonder I felt while reading this is reminiscent of that I felt as a child, reading Matilda or Harry Potter for the first time. At times whimsical and funny, this novel also has a darker, more desperate tone: What would you do to see a lost friend just once more? What would you give up to keep them safe, even away from you? And how far would you go to save them?
The characters are gorgeously written; their arcs are well-thought out and leave little room for doubt in readers' minds. With a few harrowing twists and many heart-stopping moments, this book takes readers on a journey they've never before imagined into a world where the souls of lost pets live on....and nightmares lurk just outside.
I highly recommend the read to anyone who loves Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Bridge to Terabithia, or Matilda!
When the last hope is lost, a Twistrose is called.
---
There are books with young characters that are awkward, stilted, and suffocated...and then, there's The Twistrose Key. From page one, the prose is beautiful and lilting--an almost lullaby whispered across the mind of the reader. The story opens with Lindelin Rosenquist, alone next to a rosebush, missing her friend Rufus. As the novel progresses, Lin is granted entry to a world that children who've lost pets wish existed--a world where their beloved friends, as Petlings, live on, free and untroubled.
Except something lurks just outside the walls of this new world--a league of nightmares, hoping to crash through the wall and take over. The last Winterfyrst--a child of ice with magic to keep the world of Sylveros intact and whole--has disappeared days before the charm is meant to be rekindled. And someone--a Petling--is helping the nightmares--and something much more sinister--achieve chaos and the destruction of the world. Lin, as the Twistrose (a child called to this world in a time of great need) must face fears, disappointments, and heartaches; must fight with her own form of strength, lent by magic mirrors, to find the missing boy and bring peace back to Sylveros.
The awe and wonder I felt while reading this is reminiscent of that I felt as a child, reading Matilda or Harry Potter for the first time. At times whimsical and funny, this novel also has a darker, more desperate tone: What would you do to see a lost friend just once more? What would you give up to keep them safe, even away from you? And how far would you go to save them?
The characters are gorgeously written; their arcs are well-thought out and leave little room for doubt in readers' minds. With a few harrowing twists and many heart-stopping moments, this book takes readers on a journey they've never before imagined into a world where the souls of lost pets live on....and nightmares lurk just outside.
I highly recommend the read to anyone who loves Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Bridge to Terabithia, or Matilda!