The first book by T Kingfisher I ever read, I absolutely loved and I feel like I’ve been trying to chase that good book high ever since. That is what led me to picking up The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher, despite having been disappointed by her in my last read. After this one, I’m really not sure if I’ll be as excited to dive back into her work. This fell flat, held no tension, and was incredibly predictable.
I want to put forth a disclaimer first, before I get into this review, that I did read this as an audiobook. I mention this as a disclaimer because a big issue I had with the book was the narrator. The narration felt stilted and slow. I had to listen to this on 1.6 speed to avoid being bored enough to DNF. Then, there was this annoying attempt at an accent that would come and go. Main character is from Pittsburgh and talks, mostly, with no discernible accent except for when she decides to say words like Pondsboro in which case we absolutely must know it’s Pondsburruh. It grated on my last nerve and really just made me think what a mistake it was to pick this up as an audiobook.
So, with my dislike for the narration aside, I really did have issues that I could not overlook with the book itself. The premise talks about reading her step-grandfather’s terrifying journal and finding horrifying creatures in the woods. Neither was horrifying. A big portion of the book is the main character reading the journal, which made this book so incredibly dry. There was no tension in reading this journal. Nothing wildly scary happened or was revealed. And then, when one journal wasn’t enough, we delve into a manuscript written by her step-grandfather summarizing a journal he read once long ago. This was just such a bizarre choice – to make half this book be about events that are so far removed.
Then, there’s what is supposed to be the horror portion of the book. It was creepy – at the start. Weird stones and things happening in the woods. Creepy. A repetitive phrase you can’t stop yourself from saying and thinking? Eerie. A deer like creature running past your window in the middle of the night. Terrifying (especially for someone that regularly has deer walking past their window – me.) But then, we get into what is actually happening, what these creatures and things are, and it falls flat. The reveal is boring. It has been done before. I’ve read literally read it three years before this was released. There was nothing new or innovative or provoking or unsettling or creepy or horrifying. The scariest part of it all is just how dumb the main character is, and how long it takes her to put things together. That’s when it became frustrating and simply me trying to race to the finish.
I know I didn’t care for a book when I have a lot of little nitpicky things that bother me when, if this were a better book, I could’ve overlooked. Calling three non involved or related people a commune is weird. Does that mean me living in an apartment with roommates is a commune? Ensuring you continually say step-grandfather when I have never in my entire life heard anyone ever call a grandparent that married someone later in life a step-grandparent. It’s a grandparent or their grandparent’s husband. Why were we introduced to random townsfolk when they never really had any role to play? The goth girl barista didn’t add anything to the story, nor did her black coworker. We didn’t even need the man at the dumb considering her neighbors decided to come by and introduce themselves all on their own. A lot of the dog talk was just so questionable and felt like filler.
It might be that I built up The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher and that’s why I was letdown. It might be that I’ve read more than one book that shared the same idea and execution. It might even be a case of a poor narrator. Ultimately, this book just didn’t do it for me. If you’ve never read horror and are easily frightened, this might be up your alley. But if you’re a regular to the genre, this is a skip.
