The Twyning

Reviewed by: Peg Becksvoort - Falmouth Middle, Falmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 13, 2015

Review

If you like books with anthropomorphic rats, involved plots, evil-doers, and clever kids who outwit the evil-doers with the aid of the rats, then you will like this book. Despite my dislike of anthropomorphic rats, and of their habitat, and of the description of the "rat's nest" of entwined rats (being an image that did not appeal to me), the plot was good and the outcome was satisfyingly suitable.

With diverse characters: Efren the young rat, Dogboy (orphaned) apprenticed to the evil doctor out to rid London of the rats, and little Caz the reader is presented with quite a crew; as the plot twists and twines, the reader may just end up rooting for the rats. How the rats come to be involved with the orphan who is dumped by the side of the road, and how they band together with the most fragile of children against the townspeople out to destroy the town and the rats, is fantastical, a bit surreal, and a good read.

Overall Book Score: good