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

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This book has everything - a great plot with twists you don’t see coming, interesting and well-rounded characters that you care about, beautiful writing. And the Norse myth and Norwegian language made it even more special. I can't really fault this story. It was an enjoyable read. It has interesting characters who are well worked. The pace/tension/spooky ness are very good. My rating of 4.5/5 I am more than happy to round up to 5. I'd like to read this author's next book. Martha is one of my all time favourite heroines. She is so strong and yet so full of self loathing and doubt. She is beautiful and scarred. She is dealing with so much: her accident, her mum's betrayal, the death of her grandmother, the sudden onset of her abilities and then everything that happens once she gets to Norway. But she is incredible. She takes it all in, and yes she is sceptical and it takes her some time to come to terms with it but damn does she pull through. She absolutely owns her ability and her legacy. I just love her, I love everything about her. It is a strange mixture of mythologies - you have the Three Fates from Greek/Roman myth contrasted with Odin, Hel and the fearsome Draugr from Nordic myth. This led me to some minor mind wanderings whilst reading - having recently watched Thor:Ragnarok I couldn't help but see Cate Blanchett as Hel and Anthony Hopkins as Odin couple that with trying to remember the Greek Names for the fates (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos) via Stephen King's book Insomnia I did have a lot of mental distraction.

I loved the Norse mythology used as a basis for this story. It's so rich, with so many creepy possibilities but also this strong sense of family loyalty that seems to have bound generations of Martha's family to hold their ancestors agreement. This book is well written and well thought. Every characters, stories, the pace, the setting, and every detail are carefully weaved and knitted into one wonderful and magical story. I love this book SO MUCH! It gripped me from the very beginning and I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. Plus we get to meet Hel and she was bloody awesome. Oh and the Norns, the three women that weave fate...perfect. Just perfect. Oh and Ysra, this powerful, strong, bear like woman that I would have loved to see more of. She had so much presence in her scenes and I was so sad when her and her husband, Olav, were killed. I was SO impressed this was a debut and that when I chatted with the author on TheBookTrail, she told me she’s never been to Norway! How to get the tone and setting this right without going is genius. Imagine where she will take us next!The Twisted Tree combines Nordic Mythology, a contemporary setting and a ghost story together in what is a twisted tale that involves romance, secrets and lies, the underworld and a remote island in Norway! I just loved the strong female characters in this book. All of Martha's ancestors have looked after the tree to guard the world of the dead and stop things like the Draugr walking our earth. They have done this since Odin hung from the tree to gain wisdom from the Well of Urd. They have all been women and all of them have had the ability to read clothing, to see people's thoughts, feelings, motives and dreams. It's just such a magical concept and I love it. So this one hsowed up on the newly added section of NetGalley last week and I was intrigued. The cover looked similar to the Frances Hardinge books that I keep seeing everywhere: Also, I was really uncomfortable with how Martha being blind in one eye was handled. Martha falling out of the tree and becoming blind in one eye was her destiny, and there's a purpose behind her half-blindness. Being half-blind is a tool that will help her (again, not fully explained to my satisfaction). It just doesn't seem right to me to purposely decide a character will be half-blind, she'll be half-blind for a reason, and there's something "magical" about her being half-blind. It just feels really insensitive to me, using people's disability as a magical means to an end. Martha isn't half-blind for purposes of representation or diversity, she's half-blind because it helps the plot. I really enjoyed this. The atmosphere that was created was absolutely brilliant and had me on the edge of me seat. The pacing was not too or fast but just right and the suspense created added to the intrigue. The plotline was interesting and went in a direction which I didn't really expect but really enjoyed.

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. The writing style- This is linked to both of the above points. The way that the author pulls all of this together is done in such a natural way that it really draws you in Martha has a rather strange ability which awakened after her accident and she has gone to her grandmother for answers.

Reviews

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. The tree needs to be watered and the souls need to be kept safe, and the monster needs to be killed. This tense and gripping story has it all and at just the right amounts too. I enjoyed the flow of the books, the characters, and the interweaving of Norwegian. The old folklore is wonderful too. I wanted to know what the mystery was surrounding the tree and Martha and her grandmother the whole way through the book and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The characters are wonderfully written and have wonderfully complex layers to them. Martha with her newly found talent for "reading" clothing and struggling to come to terms with her facial deformity that seems to have led to the ability forming. Stig, running from an unhappy home life and battling with a burgeoning addiction to alcohol (judging from the amount of Brandy he seems to drink). Both of them brought together by the shared grief of losing a family member - Martha's Mormor and Stig's father. 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! This is a book not to be missed. I read it in a couple of sittings as I didn’t want to put it down. Ms. Burge’s writing and her plot had me gripped the whole way through and whilst I love a good thriller even I felt uneasy in places – Just like the author wanted.