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A review by shimauchiha
The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge
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.