The Twisted Tree: An Amazon Kindle Bestseller: 'A creepy and evocative fantasy' The Sunday Times

Product Information

The pacing – while I really enjoyed this book I did feel like the scene setting and getting Martha to the Island and getting to the cabin and essentially the story itself took too long. The ‘events’ of the story then felt rushed a little bit. We begin by meeting Martha as she travels to visit her grandmother. Martha is blind in one eye after a terrible accident involving the tree at her grandmother's house. When Martha arrives at her Grandmother's she discovers a strange boy inside and that her grandmother has died.

Part ghost story, part Nordic mystery – a creepy and chilling tale steeped in Norse myth, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Michelle Paver’s DARK MATTER. I know I'm not the target audience, but I love a ya fantasy, and was really looking forward to this! It felt very young ya/middle grade to me, and the writing was very immature. I have been looking for a YA book that sets in Norway that is written in English, since my Norwegian is not advance yet. Then I came across this book, and have to request the ARC. Then I got it and I’m truly truly happy! Thank you so much to the author & publisher for sending me this book.There are some scenes that is way too creepy it gives me a goosebumps and made my heartbeat race!! Like I didn’t know that it would be that creepy?!!!! Rachel has always been drawn to the macabre. As a child, she would write stories and draw pictures that her mum would take away because they gave her nightmares. Stig and Martha – I really liked both of these characters, I felt like the author went outside the box for them. They were different, unique, had an interesting story and it was nice to see someone who was slightly alternative without being ‘OMG THEY ARE A GOTH’ The fact that this is a debut novel. I know that’s not really a positive about the book itself but I feel like this author has a real point of view and it excites me that there could be more to come. 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.

This is a Hot Key Books publication which means it is aimed at a Young Adult (I loathe that term SO much) audience. However, do not be misled this a creepy and tense novel that will give an inordinate amount of pleasure to anyone who enjoys a good old-fashioned tale of the supernatural. It has everything - ghosts, demons, ancient Gods and a promise made a millennia ago that cannot be broken - DELICIOUS! I received a free ebook version of this from Netgalley. Thankyou to both the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this. My review is still honest! Ah this had such a great premise! I liked the Norse mythology and the family history,I found that really interesting. I appreciated the strong female characters. I loved the atmospheric setting in a cabin by the woods in rural Norway. The story had some really creepy moments,whete you could feel the isolation, and the threat. But that was about it.. We meet Martha who is desperately unhappy after an accident left her blind in one eye and with a scar on her face. A bizarre result of this accident was that she can ‘read’ people from touching their clothes. She can sense feelings and memories and see a part of them when she connects with their clothes. I think where this book really excels is in the creepy elements. Burge really has a gift for atmosphere and creating a scene which you can visualise so fully. I would love to see a pure horror novel from her actually, as few authors can scare and give me chills as much as this one did. I liked the incorporation of mythology, particularly aspects that I hadn't seen included in a book before. I enjoyed the character development that the main character went through, as she learned to be happy with herself, and I liked that a romance wasn't the reason that she did so. It was a cute little romance too, with a different love interest. I think that's overall what I can say about this-it was different. It's a YA book that feels set apart from a lot of the ones I've read lately.And then there's the plot itself. As I said, there were elements to it that were pretty intriguing, but they just weren't developed enough. So there's more to this twisted tree in the garden that meets the eye. Ok, fine. But why? There's a link to Norse mythology, which was really fascinating, but it's just surface level stuff, and if you don't know Norse mythology, like me, then you'll be left with even more questions starting with "why?" And other questions like, what is the creature in the woods? Ok, it's X, but what is that? What does it mean? How and why did Mormor die? Because she seemed to know she would die, but there's no explanation as to why, or what happened. Why Martha's family, specifically? And what happened before they were given this task? There were just so many things that were underdeveloped, world building that wasn't fleshed out enough. I have read a lot of fantasy, and so I'm used to in depth explanations and world building that has an answer to every possible question. It feels to me that Burge didn't put enough effort into fleshing out her world building, and so I feel a little cheated.

This was a NetGalley book that I was approved for. As with previous books, I was given a digital review copy of this in exchange for a fair and honest review. This was a wonderful and relatively short fantasy/reality story. Martha was a great heroine and I loved the combination of fantasy, Norse mythology, creepiness and romance. That doesn't sound like it would work but it really did! The only reason for not giving this 5 stars? I felt there was a lot of unfinished business with Stig. At the end of the novel I had more questions than answers with regards to his past and personality and I felt more could have been done to tie up these loose ends. Released as a YA book, I think it definitely hits the target audience and the romantic tension between Martha and Stig is very well done.The insta-love was so cringey and unnecessary, but it's YA so has to have romance right?! Also, the love interest was called Stig, which just made me think of the book, Stig of the dump Every. Single. Time. 😂😂