Review: TwoSpells

'' ''You see, the books within TwoSpells are doors to other worlds. Ya' can go anywhere, anytime that the writer had imagined. It's a true sanctuary for witches and warlocks and wizards of all kinds.'' ''

★★★☆☆

From Goodreads:
Sarah and her twin brother Jon are heirs to an ancient magical realm and its most valuable treasure, an enchanted library. The library endows readers with the supernatural means of crossing into the uncharted inner-sanctum of the second dimension, inhabited with peculiar and sometimes perilous creatures.
The children are emboldened with a wondrous mystical gift that no other being has ever possessed. But fate intervenes and triggers a disastrous inter-dimensional war that disrupts the fabric of time and space spanning multiple universes, tearing destiny a new and savage pathway.
The two must rescue their world from a phantom hybrid alien race controlled by a demented dark-wizard, Jeremy Sermack. They will either assimilate or be exterminated.
Will they be the saviors the prophets spoke of, or will they retreat to the perceived safety of their distant homeland?

What was supposed to be a vacation at their grandparents' house turned into a magical adventure full of strange creatures and dangerous twists.
I haven't read an obvious middle-grade book in some time. There just is something about them that still seems to have to ability to keep me going back, even if there's some time in between.


Mark Morrison's TwoSpells takes the reader on an adventure to the Welsh countryside, where the protagonists find out about their true heritage. When the twins Sarah and Jon begin reveal the secret the shady groundskeeper is keeping, they also start a chain of events that neither of them can stop. Suddenly, there are blue men knocking on their door, looking for a book they uncovered and opened the night before. And from there the whimsical story just takes off.

The book is a bit slow to start. It took some time to get into the plot and actually understand what it was about. But, boy oh boy, when I got in, it just was a fun experience to read it. There is humour mixed in, even in situations that are a bit life-threatening. The writing was lively, flowing nicely most of the time. I had slight difficulties to get into the Welsh accent in the beginning, but after a chapter or two, it became more natural. Funny, how the reader in our heads adapts.

TwoSpells truly ends with a cliffhanger. You really need the next book, or you'll be left guessing what's going to happen next. Because, after an ending like that, you can't call it an end. It more was like a beginning. A beginning to a story I really want to keep following until the very end.