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scoutfinch75's review
5.0
I absolutely adore The Twisted Tree. Norse mythology combined with a ghost story and I was hooked from the opening sentence:
It started the day I fell from the tree at Mormor's cabin in Norway. The day I became blind in one eye.
Martha arrives in Norway to find out the truth about her ability, she can read people just by touching their clothing. The only person she believes can help her is her grandmother, but Mormor is dead, and hiding in her house is a strange boy called Stig. The mythology weaves perfectly in and out of the story, building the anticipation as evil draws ever closer.
Martha has to decide whether she is going to embrace the fantastical truth or ignore her grandmother's final wish and forget the stories, the tree and the destiny her Mormor believes to be hers. I love how the relationship between Martha and her mother plays out in the last few chapters, as they uncover their family heritage.
A dark and thrilling story with a brave and vulnerable protagonist. The Twisted tree is a must read!
It started the day I fell from the tree at Mormor's cabin in Norway. The day I became blind in one eye.
Martha arrives in Norway to find out the truth about her ability, she can read people just by touching their clothing. The only person she believes can help her is her grandmother, but Mormor is dead, and hiding in her house is a strange boy called Stig. The mythology weaves perfectly in and out of the story, building the anticipation as evil draws ever closer.
Martha has to decide whether she is going to embrace the fantastical truth or ignore her grandmother's final wish and forget the stories, the tree and the destiny her Mormor believes to be hers. I love how the relationship between Martha and her mother plays out in the last few chapters, as they uncover their family heritage.
A dark and thrilling story with a brave and vulnerable protagonist. The Twisted tree is a must read!
hex_girl_13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
mina_reads612's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
fieldofhats's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“The story of you is not yet written. You will find these voices in your head also. You will tell yourself how you are a poor victim. Pay no heed and instead look to your soul, for that is where you originate. You write the story of you every day with your thoughts, words, and deeds. You create yourself. You get to decide your story. No one else. You.”
Read for my independent study over Norse Mythology in young adult literature.
This book has all the qualities of an amazing novel, but the execution is far from it. The story weaves mythology into the modern world so beautifully through Martha’s simple, interesting ability. There are some incredible themes of life & death, fate & free will, and love & loss.
I especially love how the goddess Hel was portrayed. So often in modern Norse fantasy media Hel is portrayed as evil because she shares a name with the christian afterlife and she’s the daughter of Loki, but Rachel Burge portrays her much more accurately and with much more reverence. There’s no mythological evidence to say that Hel is evil, in fact quite the opposite. So portraying her as a force of nature and someone with an immense amount of wisdom makes a lot more sense and it’s so refreshing to see.
What I didn’t like was that the story took so long to get going. The inciting incident for the actual plot happens about three hours in, and the action of the plot doesn’t start until four hours in, by which point the book is two thirds done. The slow pace in the beginning really drags, and the characters aren’t interesting enough to justify it. I ended up speeding the narration up so I could get through it faster. I’m glad I finished it, but it wasn’t a very exciting read.
Speaking of the characters, they weren’t developed as much as I would have liked. I didn’t think either Martha or Stig had much chemistry, and I think it’s because neither had much individual development. It’s hard to believe a love story if I don’t know the characters very well.
Overall, it had a lot of fantastic ideas which were utilized well, but only in the last few hours. The good ideas didn’t have much time to develop, and neither did the characters. It’s good, but it’s not great.
Read for my independent study over Norse Mythology in young adult literature.
This book has all the qualities of an amazing novel, but the execution is far from it. The story weaves mythology into the modern world so beautifully through Martha’s simple, interesting ability. There are some incredible themes of life & death, fate & free will, and love & loss.
I especially love how the goddess Hel was portrayed. So often in modern Norse fantasy media Hel is portrayed as evil because she shares a name with the christian afterlife and she’s the daughter of Loki, but Rachel Burge portrays her much more accurately and with much more reverence. There’s no mythological evidence to say that Hel is evil, in fact quite the opposite. So portraying her as a force of nature and someone with an immense amount of wisdom makes a lot more sense and it’s so refreshing to see.
What I didn’t like was that the story took so long to get going. The inciting incident for the actual plot happens about three hours in, and the action of the plot doesn’t start until four hours in, by which point the book is two thirds done. The slow pace in the beginning really drags, and the characters aren’t interesting enough to justify it. I ended up speeding the narration up so I could get through it faster. I’m glad I finished it, but it wasn’t a very exciting read.
Speaking of the characters, they weren’t developed as much as I would have liked. I didn’t think either Martha or Stig had much chemistry, and I think it’s because neither had much individual development. It’s hard to believe a love story if I don’t know the characters very well.
Overall, it had a lot of fantastic ideas which were utilized well, but only in the last few hours. The good ideas didn’t have much time to develop, and neither did the characters. It’s good, but it’s not great.
geovanachi's review against another edition
4.0
Really!! An IMPLICIT ENDING!!
But it’s okay I like it very much
And here’s the best quote ....
“No one can tell the story of you, but you.
Some people are gifted with a gilded tongue.
They will tell you who you are with such conviction that you may actually believe them, but this is a reflection, not the truth, for the story of you is not yet written.’ She leans back.
‘You will find these voices in your head also. You will tell yourself how you are a poor victim.
Pay no heed and instead look to your soul, for that is where you originate.
You write the story of you every day with your thoughts, words and deeds.
You create yourself. You get to decide your story. No one else. You.”
❤️❤️
But it’s okay I like it very much
And here’s the best quote ....
“No one can tell the story of you, but you.
Some people are gifted with a gilded tongue.
They will tell you who you are with such conviction that you may actually believe them, but this is a reflection, not the truth, for the story of you is not yet written.’ She leans back.
‘You will find these voices in your head also. You will tell yourself how you are a poor victim.
Pay no heed and instead look to your soul, for that is where you originate.
You write the story of you every day with your thoughts, words and deeds.
You create yourself. You get to decide your story. No one else. You.”
❤️❤️
shimauchiha's review
4.0
Read this for:
-Norse myth inspiration
-Atmospheric Norweigian Cabin feels
-A short, relatively fast-paced story.
-Punk-type love interest.
Do not read this if you don't want:
-A typical YA type story.
-Insta (ish) romance.
-Protagonist judging herself for her disability.
Very short summary:
17-year-old Martha flies to Norway with the hopes that her grandmother can help her understand why she can read others' emotions in their clothes. Except, instead of her grandma, she finds the boy who's been squatting in her cabin, and has to figure out what's been happening to her by herself.
My thoughts:
This is a perfectly fine, better-than-average YA story. It's not unnecessarily long or flowery. It has a new unique setting and I love the Norse mythology inspirations. I've seen reviewers being bothered by Martha's negative self-talk surrounding her disability; Where because of her scarred face and loss of sight in one eye, she views herself as undesirable. However, I personally didn't view it as ablism since her character-arc is about her coming to understand and accept herself for her strengths. But you might still want to skip this one if that's not the type of story you want to read.
Other than that, the book has no major flaws. It's true that the character's relationship progresses pretty rapidly, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it insta-love, and besides the book is so short that it's less jarring. It's certainly not something that many YA books haven't done much worse of before, and in many many more pages. The fact that so many of those books blow up, while ones like this, which are at least more interesting in atmosphere and plot remain obscure just shows the impact of marketing on the book industry.
-Norse myth inspiration
-Atmospheric Norweigian Cabin feels
-A short, relatively fast-paced story.
-Punk-type love interest.
Do not read this if you don't want:
-A typical YA type story.
-Insta (ish) romance.
-Protagonist judging herself for her disability.
Very short summary:
17-year-old Martha flies to Norway with the hopes that her grandmother can help her understand why she can read others' emotions in their clothes. Except, instead of her grandma, she finds the boy who's been squatting in her cabin, and has to figure out what's been happening to her by herself.
My thoughts:
This is a perfectly fine, better-than-average YA story. It's not unnecessarily long or flowery. It has a new unique setting and I love the Norse mythology inspirations. I've seen reviewers being bothered by Martha's negative self-talk surrounding her disability; Where because of her scarred face and loss of sight in one eye, she views herself as undesirable. However, I personally didn't view it as ablism since her character-arc is about her coming to understand and accept herself for her strengths. But you might still want to skip this one if that's not the type of story you want to read.
Other than that, the book has no major flaws. It's true that the character's relationship progresses pretty rapidly, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it insta-love, and besides the book is so short that it's less jarring. It's certainly not something that many YA books haven't done much worse of before, and in many many more pages. The fact that so many of those books blow up, while ones like this, which are at least more interesting in atmosphere and plot remain obscure just shows the impact of marketing on the book industry.
elliecaitlin16's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sammymus's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75