Twisted Tree Book Review
The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge
From Goodreads: Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma’s cabin and became blind in one eye.
Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor – only to discover Mormor is dead, a peculiar boy is in her cabin and a terrifying creature is on the loose.
Then the spinning wheel starts creaking, books move around and terror creeps in . . .
Thanks to Hot Key Books for sending me a copy if this book in exchange for an honest review.
When I picked up this book at the start of January, I was really hoping for a creepy, haunting YA story. The Twisted Tree absolutely delivered on this. From the very beginning there’s a lot of tiny niggling details that kept my attention and made me eager to turn the pages. Martha’s ability to read clothes was something I haven’t read too much of before, so it was good to have that, but I also know it added a nice layer of unease to the beginning of the novel.
There’s also the fact that Martha has just set off to go visit her Mormor, alone. It might not seem like a big deal, especially in a world where YA heroines are always off on adventures, but it just again carries with it this dreadful sense of foreboding. Of course, as the blurb says, she turns up to find her Mormor has died, but I didn’t actually look at the synopsis before diving right in. Nevertheless, these tiny little shivers I kept getting while reading the opening chapters is a sign that the author knew what she was doing. Horror takes a deft touch.
The characters are pretty awesome. I liked that Martha is dealing with so much and how complex her character became. She was never someone who took a back seat during the terrifying scenes, and I liked how she fought to work her way towards the answers that might solve the problems she was facing. In order to do this, she has to come to terms with her own abilities and weaknesses.
Stig too, was a reasonably interesting character. There’s also a lot going on with him, and it was interesting seeing how bits of his character were unearthed as the narrative continued. My only gripe with him is that, while he was quite interesting as a person, I wasn’t sold on him as a love interest. Martha’s POV explains how he was attractive and charming and things, but I just never quite saw that for myself. I think this was maybe one of those rare moments where a YA book might have been complete for me without a good dash of romance.
Perhaps my favourite element of the book is how it ties to Norse mythology in some very clever ways. Last year, I was invited to the promo party for the book, which involved Tarot card reading and was themed around the whole Norse mythology element to it. And, although I never managed to attend the event, I practically ate this whole theme up in The Twisted Tree. It’s just really cool how it all ties in and all the clever little nods.
Overall, I’m giving The Twisted Tree a 7 stars out of 10. I thought it was a delightfully quick and chilling read, and I liked the characters and mythology links, but the romance didn’t quite work for me. It has got a very Coraline feel to it, which I really appreciated, but while I enjoyed it, I didn’t totally fall in love.
Has anyone else read this book or plans to? What did you all think of it (no spoilers please)!
Until next time, guys <3
