The blurb on the back of The Twistrose Key spoke of everything I like: a Chosen Child uses a mysterious key to slip through a door to another world that is filled with anthropomorphic friendly animals and mythological creatures, and because of a prophecy must go on a quest to perform some important task and save that world. It was inevitable that I would love this book, and I did.

The allusions to other beloved children's fantasy books are plentiful and obvious, but handled so well that they do not detract from the story. Chosen ones and mysterious keys to magical doors that lead to fantasy worlds are so plentiful I don't have to give you any examples. The frozen land of Sylver with its talking animals is obviously Narnia, while the Snow Queen and Puss in Boots make appearances. There are more references, but I won't list them all so you can be surprised when you read it. It's not 'done' or derivative, however; it just feels familiar in the best way.

This book was so good! I'm definitely going to get my hands on everything Tone Almhjell writes. I think The Twistrose Key is the first in a series, and I am so excited to read the rest! ( )

Fantastisk nydelig bok! ( )

Fantastisk nydelig bok! ( )

I was drawn to the beautiful cover on this book and found the premise intriguing. I actually started reading this out loud with my 11 year old son. He thought it was “creepy and boring” and wanted to stop reading it after the first few chapters. I ended up finishing it on my own and have to agree; the story moved slow and was boring.

Additionally I struggled with the characters; they didn’t have much personality and didn’t really engage me as a reader. I thought the fact that the main animal (Lin’s lost pet) was a red backed vole was weird and hard to relate to. The story was very predictable as well.

It wasn’t all bad. There is some beautiful description throughout but this was strangely offset by a very simplistic writing structure. The story does a dark fairy tale feel to it which I kind of enjoyed. However, this dark fairy tale vibe is coupled with life size pets, which feels a bit contradictory at times Neither me or my son liked the fact that the cats in here are portrayed as evil (we are big cat fans in my household).

Overall this was okay but not great. I don’t plan on reading more by Almhjell. The story just moved too slowly, was too predictable, and was full of characters that were bland and uninspiring. ( )

The Twistrose Key is an adorable middle grade fantasy adventure story that has many elements children will love. It will be especially charming for animal lovers as most of the characters are anthropomorphized beloved pets or wild animals. A tale of a young girl traveling to a magical land of winter inhabited with talking animals will draw inevitable comparisons with The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: though this novel is not as sophisticated as The Chronicles of Narnia, it also lacks any whiff of religious allegory. It's allowed to be what just it is: a magical adventure story featuring a brave young girl, her pet vole/best friend, and a quest.

There are many charming elements to the novel: the bunny who works as a tailor and worries how her human girl is doing without her, the bear who attempts to make a living painting china, the waffle restaurant. The friendship between Lin and Rufus lies at the heart of the novel and will be touching for anyone who has ever loved a pet. With all that said, I personally did not find myself fully engaged with the novel. In my opinion there wasn't enough conflict or struggle in the story to give it stakes. To make another comparison: Coraline by Neil Gaiman starts with Coraline feeling ignored and neglected by her parents, as well as adjusting to a new home. She then has to use her brain to get out of some scary situations. Lin of The Twistrose Key is sad to be living in the city rather than her old farm, but clearly has parents that are bending over backwards to make the adjustment easier for her. Lin is also an intelligent girl, but a lot of her problem solving is attributed to happy coincidences or magical powers that are conveniently bestowed upon her. The story isn't as interesting as a result.

Of course, I am not the target audience for this novel so those in the 8-10 range will probably find more to entertain them. Personally I give this novel 3 Stars, 4 Stars for how children will likely receive it, averaging: ( )