The Twisted Tree is the perfect atmospheric read for the depth of winter. With a chilling, modern, feel of Stranger Things this needs to be on the top of everyone’s reading pile.
The characters are mysterious puzzles waiting to be worked out and you won’t want to put the book down until you have your answers.

I was hooked from the beginning. Martha travelling alone to Mormor’s had me intrigued for many reasons and I had so many questions. I was excited for the story to unravel and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

The setting and pace are perfect in creating tension, atmosphere and yes … goosebumps. The darkness and shadows had substance and I could taste the fear. I loved the ancestors!

Even though Martha has Stig in Mormor’s home with her, most things she experiences alone and the quest itself ends up being hers alone (with a little help from an unexpected source). I loved that there was a spark of young romance alongside the unexplained. And humour.

I enjoyed Rachel Burge’s figurative writing, for example:

“I know Mormor and Mum kept secrets from me. They passed them back and forth to one another, like a stitch made over and over, until they became fastened into the fabric of our lives.”

How awesome is that! It is so vivid.

I’ve always been drawn to Norse myths (Jera is a Nordic rune) – Yggdrasil and the Norns come to life in this story.

The Twisted Tree is a tale of a young woman learning what her gift can do and finally using that gift to heal. Acceptance and belonging.

Outstanding read for me!

Firstly,gorgeous cover!Really atmospheric and creepy up to about 75%.Then it got a bit silly,like when you watch Jaws and it is spoilt by the huge plastic shark.It lost all its creepiness at the end but overall ok.

I struggled with this.
I thought after seeing so many four and five star ratings I would love it but I just couldnt get into it.
I felt forced to read it.
It wasn't dark or creepy as I had expected. But maybe I shouldnt of expected that.

I enjoyed this book, it was an easy read and kept me hooked, it was creepy which I liked & I enjoyed the Nordic twist.

Thanks to Hot Key Books and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This short novel has an interesting premise, Martha, a seventeen year old girl can sense emotions and memories just by touching people's clothing. Different clothing evokes different feelings and Martha developed this unusual ability after losing her eye falling from the eponymous Twisted Tree at her grandmother's house. Already we can see some allusions to one-eyed Odin and Norse mythology is strongly interwoven in this story.

Martha decides to visit Mormor, her grandmother, at her cabin on a remote Norwegian island to try and get to the bottom of her mysterious new powers. When she arrives she learns that her grandmother is dead and her house is being squatted in by Pete Wentz circa 2007, sorry I mean Stig, a fellow runaway.

From the outset, Martha, the protagonist in this story, is quite different from a normal YA heroine as she has a visible disability. Her scar and blindness are not artful or pretty. She doesn't have a bejewelled eye patch or an elaborate facial tattoo to turn her scar into a work of art. People are taken aback and sometimes repulsed by her milky, blind eye that points in a different direction. I thought this was refreshingly different from the usual perfectly beautiful YA heroine. Martha also has some funny inner monologues e.g.

"Brian takes out a book and cracks open the spine. Anyone who does that is not a good person as far as I'm concerned."

P-R-E-A-C-H

The author clearly has a good knowledge of Norse Mythology and there are some genuinely creepy moments. The majority of the novel takes place in a remote cabin (I know, I know) which gives the story an air of claustrophobia and ups the ante on the creep factor.

The first half of the novel dragged a bit and was quite slow to get going. I was at over 50% before anything really exciting happened. I was entirely uninvested in the dynamic between Martha and Stig so that didn't help much in keeping my interest for the first half of the book. I also thought there were some loose ends left untied at the end. I'm not sure if the author is planning a sequel, if not I still have some questions that need answered. I'm also not quite sure who the target audience for this book is. In many ways it felt skewed towards younger teens but in other ways it was perhaps too creepy and complex for some.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It was a fun, creepy read perfect for a windy evening. Try reading it in a cabin in the woods maybe?

This novel follows the story of Martha who has been feeling lost ever since she felt out of a tree in her grandmothers tree and lost the sight in one of her eyes and also gained the ability to know someone’s past and feelings just by touching their clothes. She decides to travel back to Norway and find out what is really happening to her. However instead of finding her grandmother and the answers she seeks she finds Stig, a runaway living in her grandmothers house, a monster loose on the island and the looming presence of the tree where it all began.
This story focuses on two characters first we have Martha our main character. I felt she was a well developed character who I couldn’t help but root for throughout the novel. Next we have Stig, who while I liked him I felt that his story arc was left over opened ended and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance between the two.
This is a very atmospheric book, which is what I loved best about the book and I also loved the Norse mythology throughout this book. I also felt that the pacing of the novel fit very well with the story.
Overall, while I didn’t love this as much as I was hoping to I still enjoyed this book and gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

After Martha fell from a tree (a… twisted tree *wink*) at her grandmother’s house and became blind in one eye she began to develop the extraordinary ability of psychometry where she could read the emotions and histories of people via touching their clothes.

Understandably this is not as cool as it sounds and has left Martha a neurotic mess, not only because the information she receives on people is not always pleasant but because she has no idea how or why she’s received this ‘gift’ in the first place.

We also have our first instance of what I typically call a ‘YA trope’ which is that ‘Parents Are Useless.’ Namely Martha’s mother who knows more than she is letting on but decides to reveal absolutely nothing. Great tactic.
Martha decides to travel to Norway to visit her grandmother (Mormor) and get some answers. Unfortunately it isn’t that easy – we wouldn’t have a plot otherwise.

My thoughts in an insta-nutshell about The Twisted Tree:

This book is… alright. It’s… lukewarm tea. It’s… ok.

Characters
One of the reasons that I struggled with The Twisted Tree is that I didn’t think any of the characters were particularly memorable. It’s a short book and so a lot of the characters are secondary (the neighbours, Martha’s mother) or have died pre-story (Mormor).

This leaves two main characters; Martha and Stig.

If I’m being frank, Martha doesn’t have much of a personality. What she has is a series of events. Her defining features are that she’s annoyed at her mother, loved her Mormor and has a crush on Stig.

The last bemuses me a bit because Stig also has no personality whatsoever, just a badass coat and a tragic backstory involving a dead father and comatose girlfriend.

That’s it. That’s the main characters. I have nothing else to say on them other than the story is them reacting to the external events around them.

The antagonist isn’t even a character but a creature that has crawled its way out of the Tree of Life and needs to be put back. There is no motivation, no nuance. The creature just is.

Setting
What I did enjoy was the Norse Mythology elements; the Norns, the Tree of Life (which is the twisted tree of the title), the dead, and the story of Odin losing his eye. I thought it was wonderful to see these included in a YA story.

What also worked for me was the descriptions of the setting. I could feel the isolation of a cabin in the Norwegian landscape in the heart of winter and I love it when the mists roll in over the land to add to the tension of it all.

Because of these descriptions this book could join, ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ in a list of ‘Books That Made Me Feel Cold.’

Plot
I’m going to get a tad ranty.

Remember when I said that one of Martha’s defining features was her crush on Stig? That whole insta crush thing actually wound me up to no end.

Despite her Mormor just having died and the danger of a foul creature stalking the landscape, Martha’s prime concerns are whether Stig thinks she’s pretty, whether he’ll ever fancy her and whether he’ll ever kiss her.
I get it. I was a teenage girl once and I know I was a bit preoccupied with my crushes but at the same time I wasn’t alone in the Norwegian forests with the dead crawling back through the earth. Even I can prioritise.

These thoughts of Martha’s are interspersed so much throughout the story (and at completely random times) that it became the story and truly that’s a shame as the original premise and the nods to Norse Mythology were exceedingly more interesting.

We had the women in Martha’s ancestry tending to the Tree of Life and Martha being ‘gifted’ with a second sight akin to Odin, we had Martha’s mother wanting to reject this destiny because she wanted to choose her own, we had Martha reestablishing a bond with her mother and we had the question of, ‘can we ever outrun our fates?’

We had all this. Correction, we could have had all this as the potential was a little wasted.

What we got instead was Martha being jealous after seeing a photo of Stig’s ex-girlfriend on his phone and fixating on Stig throughout the entire story.

This is what the writer wanted to invest in? Romance was not needed in this story at all. If Martha needed a friend to act as an exposition soundboard then sure, but why was there romance?! And why oh why did it overtake the plot?? We had the Norns… we had the Norns.

Ignore me while I sob quietly.

But that’s the thing – what was promising was the premise and the writer did offer up some delightfully creepy and atmospheric scenes.

If something is out there in the woods, you don’t always want to see it in detail. The fact that something is scratching at the house and climbing onto the roof is creepy enough and for building that level of tension I will give the writer a kudos.

Unfortunately I felt that those moments of heightened tension were far and few between and they sadly got lessened around the 75% mark where exposition and over explanation came into play.

That’s the other thing I couldn’t get on board with – the pacing.

The story was stretched out at the beginning in terms of build up and Stig (sigh) but this meant that the main action/ climax felt quite short and because there wasn’t enough room in the story everything had to became exposition in order for the story to make sense.

The resolution at the end felt like a bolt on. In fact the book itself felt incomplete with a plot thread introduced (and that could have been such a tantalising plot thread) and then dropped with Martha going, ‘maybe one day I’ll ask.’ Er… ok. It’s quite a serious thing Martha, maybe pick it up nowish?

I have to be honest – that’s not an ending for me. In some ways not having a resolution can be an ending of its own but not here. It was more like the author had been given a word count (the book was quite short) and if she continued writing then the word count would have been exceeded so she just ended it mid story.

In all honesty the fact that the book felt quite short didn’t really matter because I didn’t particularly get on with it.

The story felt like it was for the ‘younger’ side of YA despite some dark events but if the book was longer it could have allowed the material to breathe more and that may have rectified some of the pacing issues.

But the romance? Incredibly irrelevant and disappointingly overbearing on what could have been an interesting and unique story.

Writing
Was absolutely fine. Like I’ve said before, the creepy moments where tension was needed was written well. I could have read more of that for sure.

★★★★☆/★★★★★

Book Review: The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge

The Twisted Tree was a dark and interesting read for me. The setting for the story is the small island of Skjebne, a place where Martha has many lovely memories of summers spent on the island with her grandmother and mother, she soon discovers the island is a much stranger place in the middle of winter, where Norway sees less than 4 hours of proper sunlight a day.

Marta was an engaging protagonist and I enjoying reading about her story. Her relationships with both her mother and Mormar (which translates to mothers mother), and also how she dealt with the introduction of Stig were interesting to read. I really liked reading about the Norse mythology aspect of the story and how it was woven through. Martha's 'power' was a clever addition and not one I've read about before. I loved how the story culminated and was happy with the conclusion.

If you're looking for a short, slightly sinister and interesting read, then I would definitely recommend The Twisted Tree - perfect for fans of Coraline.

A few years ago I was contacted by the author and asked to read an early version of this story. I loved what I read and rated it as a 4 star story. Late last year she approached me again as she was having her book published and wanted me to read the new version of it. I am so glad she did as once again I loved the story.

This is not the same story I read as the author has made many changes. These are very much for the better I have to say. The story is still based around Norse mythology which the author writes about elequently. It also has a ghost story running throughout.

I loved the character of Stig, he brings something extra to the story and I still wonder if there is more to him than meets the eye.

I hope there is more to come as I loved this story a lot. Many thanks to the author for asking me to read this story.

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!

Slow to start and lacking in direction however I was hooked with the beautiful, atmospheric writing and the strange circumstances. I related to both Stig and Martha, being an avid romance runaway as a teenager, however never to another country.

Around 30%-40% in I was enthralled and read the remaining 60% in 1 sitting. I loved Rachels writing and the similarities between descriptive phrases and different characters. The twist of Norse mythology and the suspense it brought with it knitted this story into a classic. The strained relationship between Martha and her mother was wonderfully written, seeing it through Martha's eyes and then learning why her mother acted that way brought a new understanding to the stress and strain a mother feels and the fear she holds for her child. It was lovely to have that half of the story.

There could easily be more to this story, and I would happily read more about Martha, I would like to know what else she could uncover with her family ancestry and powers. I will definitely look out for more from Rachel Burge, just wanted to thank Netgalley and Hot Key books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this pre-release.

I was sent/given this book by Netgalley and Hot Key Books in exchange for an honest review.

Would recommend to fans of... Coraline, Norse mythology and spine-chilling tingles.

Star rating: 4

5 Words: Secrets, grief, family, mythology, acceptance.

Content warning: Grief, PTSD.

Book Review: The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge

I had already read the first couple of chapters of this thanks to Readers First, and I was hooked from the start. But when I got further into the story it got very dark, very quickly. And I was blown away.

The Twisted Tree is dark and twisty and chilling and you will definitely need a blanket to hide under to keep yourself warm while you read. The writing is incredibly evocative, and I could see every scene play out as though I was watching it. I was blinded by the fog, by the swirling snow. I felt the elation of mucking around and throwing snow balls. But even thinking back to it now my fingers and toes are cold.

This book is honestly excellently written. I loved the style, I loved the imagery, I loved the Norse mythology woven in. I loved Martha and her insecurities, and I loved Stig and how mysterious he was. I didn't know who to trust and what was real or imagined, and I loved it. I really enjoyed how the setting, how being in such close quarters, accelerated the building relationship between Martha and Stig.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves Norse Mythology, a bit of a thrill, and beautiful writing. It was wonderful. The ebook is out now and the paperback is out on 10th January.

I loved the mythology in the book and the way the author weaved it into the story, how everything fitted in to the myths and legends of Norway. I loved Martha so much. She was an interesting character, I loved how she could read clothing. It seemed like such an interesting ability and one I hadn't come across before.

The creepiness was a good level for me. I wasn't too scared by it but it did have a creepy atmosphere that sent shivers down my spine. The isolation and the storm made the whole thing feel so much more risky. I wanted so much for them all to survive, especially Gandalf, the dog.

It was just a good story with a solid foundation of mythology adding to the story. I loved the way that it all worked perfectly as a story, the world of gods and norns fitting smoothly into a modern setting.

Definitely great for mythology fans.

What happens when you mix Nordic mythology with a Neil Gaiman-esque take on a YA book?
The answer is: something pretty close to The Twisted Tree. It’s tense, enjoyably spooky, and takes you deep into the heart of Norwegian folklore. It’s the perfect winter read, and the perfect first book for me to review this year!
So much of the tension in The Twisted Tree comes from not knowing whether what you’re reading about is true or false. It’s a major problem for Martha, who travels to Norway to connect with her grandmother, and find out more about her mysterious ability: she can access people’s thoughts and feelings by touching an item of their clothing. But she’s in for a nasty surprise. Her grandmother is dead, she’s stranded in the middle of the Norwegian wilderness- in winter- and something is on the loose. Or she just mad?
For a debut, Rachel Burge definitely exceeded all of my expectations- in the best way possible. She succeeds in putting a fresh spin on the stories we all know so well, mixing up folklore and mythical stories and weaving them into Martha’s family history. We see ghosts, take a trip to Hell (though not quite in the way you’d expect) and even fight the undead, as Martha learns more about who she is and what she can do.
As a character, I really liked Martha. She feels very real: self-pitying, angry, and scared at the start of the book, but with enough grit and heart to really make you care about her. And anybody who can master supernatural powers as quickly as her deserves a salute in my book.
Her foil, Sig, is a little bit less engaging (I really liked the dog, Gandalf, though!). Something about his tortured past and bad-boy persona didn’t really ring true for me, and I would have liked to find out more about him, and about what makes him tick, rather than relying on Martha’s intuition to find out. That said, though, these are the only two people we spend most of the book with, and while their banter is funny, the heart of the story is about family rather than love.
I loved the way Burge manages to balance that with the action. We get to find out more about Martha’s mother, her grandmother, and her family history- but also feel Martha’s grief at losing her closest relative and feeling cut adrift in a country she doesn’t feel a part of. By the end, I was tearing up (which meant a few odd looks from my fellow passengers on the train): high praise for any book.
So, should this book make your 2019 reading list?
In a word: yes! Even if you don’t read much Young Adult literature, this is well worth taking the time to read. It’s fresh as a Nordic winter, exciting and dangerous as a Viking myth. Top marks

I read this while stuck in the airport for nearly 8 hours, which could have easily led to my experience of reading it being tainted by the impatience and discomfort. However, it was the opposite. Despite external factors, this book managed to take me away, transporting me to a creepy, cold, Nordic landscape where strange creatures prowl through the woods and magic is tangible. The story is fast-paced, sweeping you straight into the action. This was really effective, though at times, I would have liked to slow down and have a bit more information about the Nordic mythology that the story was inspired by. Stig, Martha and all of the other characters were realistic and I particularly enjoyed the author giving an insight into why she chose the names for each one. I wasn't fully invested in the romance, mostly due to the fact that Martha tended to think of romantic things when in dire peril and I was more focused on their survival! Full review to come on my blog closer to publication.
Perfect read for cold evenings!

I really enjoyed the nod at the Norse mythology and the creepiness that this book entails. This book will have you on the edge of your seat or listening out for things that go bump in the night.

I loved the concept of this as soon as I heard about it, the idea of being able to read someones emotions and memories through their clothing is so intriguing, especially when each different fabric shows you different things.
I absolutely LOVED the back story of the tree involving Odin, Hel and the Norns, it has actually made me quite interested to learn more about Norse Mythology.
I was definitely hooked from the beginning, I almost wanted to not go to work just so I could devour this in one sitting.

Rachel created a very vivid and atmospheric world to the point where you could picture everything going on, and I won't lie, I did find elements of it quite creepy- maybe not can't sleep at all creepy but getting chills and I feel like something is watching me, need to sleep with a light on kind of creepy.

I think illustrations of the tree, Draugr and Norns would make an amazing addition to the physical copy.

The almost 30 year old in me wishes that Martha didn't constantly refer to herself as disfigured as there is definitely more to a person than looks, but when I remember being 17 I can definitely understand why she would view herself in such a way- you are still going through puberty and forming relationships so when your appearance alters in such a way you will be affected and won't believe that someone could like you because in your mind you aren't beautiful.

Normally I am a sucker for romantic plot lines but I wasn't really feeling the romance between Martha and Stig- maybe if it had had more time to build, but it seemed to move very quickly.
I was definitely more interested in the relationship Martha had with her mum towards the end of the book- I would love to see them both tending to the tree together and learning about their gifts.
I won't lie one of my favourite characters was actually Gandalf- of course I am more drawn to a pet.

I found that by the end I was left with questions- what was going to happen with Martha and Stig, what had really happened to his ex? will Martha stay at the cabin? will we see more from this world or is it just a standalone?Will Martha grow to love herself despite not looking "perfect"?

I am hoping that there is a sequel that will answer my questions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for supplying me with a copy to read, I will definitely be purchasing a copy next month.

This is a wonderfully creepy and very atmospheric YA book that is full of magic, superstition, family traditions and Norse mythology. It is absolutely perfect for curling up with on a cold, frosty night as the wind whips around outside and the sky is heavy with snow.
Martha is a wonderful character, who has shut herself away from friends and society following a tragic accident at her Mormor's home. Since the accident she has discovered a terrifying ability to read a person's emotions if she comes into contact with their clothing and she needs answers to why this is happening. The only person she can trust to help her is Mormor, but when she arrives at her isolated cabin she discovers a strange boy living there and the news that her beloved Grandmother is dead. What follows is an absolute thrill of a story that involves ghosts, a murderous creature, the true story of Martha's ability and her absolute bravery. The tension builds and builds and creates an absolutely dynamic ending that made me feel a little sad to be leaving these characters behind.
If you love Neil Gaiman, magic and things that go bump in the night I would recommend you get your mitten clad hands on this story.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

My thanks to Hot Key Books for an ebook edition of this novel via NetGalley. It is available now as an ebook and published in U.K. in paperback on 10th January.

After falling from the ancient tree outside her Norwegian grandmother’s island home 17 year-old Martha losses the sight in one eye and gains the unsettling ability of knowing a person’s emotions and secrets by touching their clothing.

After recovering in London she runs away to Norway to seek guidance from her grandmother. However, when she arrives she discovers that her grandmother (mormor) has recently died and a strange boy is living in her house. In addition, something appears to be haunting the nearby woods and she starts seeing ghostly figures inside and outside the house.

Martha is a very appealing narrator and her discovery of her family’s heritage and her responses to the events that take place, many of them chilling and increasingly horrific, carried the narrative. I was also glad that Martha’s lack of knowledge of Norwegian was highlighted as it felt more realistic than having everything in English.

I loved the incorporation of Norse mythology throughout the story. However, the ending did feel a bit abrupt and ambiguous. Given that it is a relatively short novel I felt that it could have continued a bit further.

So that ending reduced my rating a bit though I do feel that it is a strong debut YA novel and will be looking out for more from this author. I also feel it will appeal to lovers of mythological fantasy of all ages.