Title: Twist
Author: Sarah Cannon
Publication Date: February 11, 2020
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Format: Edelweiss eARC

I don’t even know what I thought when I requested an ARC of this book, but I sure wasn’t expecting this.

Phew. I hope it’s a series. It doesn’t seem to be, but the ending is open enough where there can be more, and I want more, darn it. I’m not ready to leave this world or these characters.

Twist is a throwback to the ’80s, complete with nerdy characters, some wholesome family bonding, pop culture references, monsters running amok, an overriding sense of danger, and lots of laugh-out-loud moments.

I just absolutely fell head-over-heels in love with these characters. It took a little coming around for Neha, in particular, but man was this a cast I could love. The creatures were wonderful and unique, and the danger and comedy blended so well that there were obviously high stakes and injuries/deaths, but it was light enough where it can easily be enjoyed by even middle mid-grade readers.

❧ This book had a delightful tone that was a mix of horror and comedy, while still being very voicy and accurate to that age group.

It was creepy without relying on jump scares or gore. If there’s cozy mysteries, I’d call this cozy horror. All the nastiness happens off-screen and you hear about the aftermath, basically. The tone just has a pervasive feeling of building to something darker. That sense of monsters lurking around every page. It was brilliant.

The story didn’t get too dark, though, and tended to have a fairly light tone, even when bad things were happening.

Mostly, this was because the characters tended to be sarcastic or a little over-the-top in the best possible ways that made me laugh out loud several times. I was constantly caught off-guard by something that happened, and I really enjoyed the wackiness of it.

❧ The reader part of me loves the premise of this book, and the writer part of me is hiding in the corner, screaming in horror.

Who wouldn’t want characters to come to life?! Except, you know, writers. Who know the true depths of their characters. Whose characters may or may not currently hold a grudge. Honestly, this is probably my nightmare scenario, and I’m super impressed at how well Eli handled it, because I think I’d probably just die and my characters would take over the world within the month. Sorry, guys. My bad.

Sure, this idea’s been done before, but I appreciated how it was executed here.

The creatures are all heroes of their “won” stories. No, that’s not a typo. Yes, you’ll have to read the book to find out what that means. They were all so unique and fun and funny, and I would love having them around. Move over, Pokemon, there’s a new kind of cuddly critter taking over the town.

❧ There were a lot of different creatures, but keeping them straight was pretty easy, and they all had such personality.

I just loved meeting all these cute and quirky creatures. Even though I wish some of them had more screentime or more of a wrap-up toward the end, I was impressed at how many of them were fit into the story without completely confusing or losing me. I could picture them all clearly, and they all had their own parts to play in the story.

Because of this, some of the action scenes are utterly chaotic and a bit hard to follow … and I loved it?

It’s the sort of chaos that lends itself well to children’s imaginations. The sort that’s filled with a variety of monsters that all try to monster at once, in a confined space, with a lot of people around. Cannon did a fabulous job of keeping the scenes light and voicy, so even while everyone was panicking, there was a sense of humor and just absurdness that worked really well to pull me in and keep me engaged. I felt the chaos, but, you know, from the safety of my couch, so it was totally okay for me to chuckle at the antics of these kids. I’d say I was laughing with them, but … they weren’t laughing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

❧ There are parents! And they’re alive! And they actually, you know, play a role in their kids’ lives!

It’s sort of sad that I really need to call this out as something novel, but there you have it. I’m so used to parents being either dead or absent that it was so freaking refreshing to read about parents that were alive and present and took an interest in what their kids were doing. This worked extremely well, because as it turns out, the adults can’t see the monsters. It never really says why, but I’m fine with that. I didn’t need to know. I’m just going with the fact that adults are old and boring and lack the imagination kids have.

There’s a pretty heavy theme of family bonds (even as those family units look different) and sibling love, which was super refreshing.

In fact, there was a family with two parents, a single-parent family, and one family where the father was absent for work, and I really appreciated the diversity of family structure here, yet the way they were all just as close and loving and involved. Some of the children were even latchkey kids.

❧ The book is set in 1983, and that struck me as an interesting time period to choose.

Boy am I torn about this. Because oh, my aching childhood. Everything about it was so frustratingly familiar and nostalgic, from Eli writing via typewriter to arcades to the random pop culture that’s mentioned (like Michael Jackson’s Thriller). The part of my heart that never made it out of the ‘90s absolutely loved this. I did find an interview with Mrs. Cannon as to why exactly she chose that time period, and I thought it was interesting, especially since I was a ’90s kid and my childhood was largely similar to the children in this book (and my husband was a latchkey kid).

But … here’s the sticky part: this book is a middle grade book and therefore isn’t written for myself and my peers.

The setting is slightly too modern to feel like historical fiction, and I didn’t feel like it particularly added anything to the story to make it worthwhile for current middle grade readers.

You have no idea how much it pained me to write the phrase “slightly too modern,” because wow, am I getting old or what? For me, there was so much in here that I loved, because I lived it. But the setting itself didn’t play a huge role, so I wasn’t sure why it wasn’t set in more modern times, at least with computers and cell phones, where modern readers might be able to relate a bit better. Maybe this says more about me than the book itself, because I suppose when I pick up a middle grade book, I assume it’s going to be contemporary unless it says otherwise, and maybe that’s an unrealistic expectation I have?

❧ I NEED to talk about the characters, because oh my gosh, I loved this entire cast soooo freaking much.

I mean, there’s plenty to be said about all of them, but just the diversity of their characters and personality was fabulous. And when they came together? Just perfection.

This is so random, but while reading, I couldn’t help but relate all these creatures to Pokemon, which was the “in” thing when I was the characters’ age, so I’m going to totally tell you which Pokemon these characters would be, because it pleases me immensely.

✿ Seems scary, but is a giant cinnamon roll.
✿ Pulls through when push comes to shove.
✿ Very loyal, especially to family.
✿ Good at clubbing things because why not.

✿ Desperately wants to be listened to.
✿ Quick to anger, sometimes over silly things.
✿ Really just wants some friends. Is that too much to ask?!
✿ Enjoys drawing on things. Could be paper, could be people.

✿ Fiercely loyal and protective.
✿ Smart, but more into doing and acting than thinking.
✿ Definite pack mentality.
✿ Courageous and always thinking of others.

✿ Evolves from this cute, harmless looking thing.
✿ Clearly a dangerous, terrifying monster.
✿ A bundle of ferocity that sneaks up on unsuspecting victims.
✿ Could probably also destroy entire cities in rage if the mood struck.

If you could have any creature come to life from a story, what would it be?

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