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The Twisted Ones

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The Twisted Ones

By: T. Kingfisher
Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
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About this listen

Award-winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, presents a terrifying tale of hidden worlds and monstrous creations…

When Mouse's dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there's more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather's journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they're looking for you. And if she doesn't face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

"Righteous, folkloric horror. The devil is waiting in between these pages." -CHUCK WENDIG

©2020 T. Kingfisher (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd Gothic Horror Suspense Thriller & Suspense Scary Exciting

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Critic reviews

"Righteous, folkloric horror. The devil is waiting in between these pages." (Chuck Wendig)
All stars
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Mouse tells her story in a cryptic manner which after a time gets a little annoying, it makes it seem like there's more to unfold.

The story kept me intrigued enough to stick it out, thinking there was more to come, I really enjoyed the characters, Foxy is definitely someone you'd want in your corner, I guess Mouse's reluctance to engage in what was unfolding around her, or maybe her naivety towards it, grated on me because she's the one telling the story and yet she's constantly in a state of denial or confusion which isn't the best state for the narrator to be in, unfortunately the story just didn't pull me in like most T. Kingfisher stories do.

So-So

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A quick summation: The story is good, the characters are very loveable, including a very vividly portrayed dog named Bongo. The prose is smooth and easy to digest, the atmosphere is stronge and it generates a good sense of place.
The downsides: The balance between the initial mystery and the latter, more otherworldly aspects seems slightly off. There is another world that I feel we scratch merely the surface of a little too much. I understand the need for mystery and intrigue, but it could have benefitted from more exploration. And, whilst I hate to criticise anyone's work, the narrator does not, for me: personally, work. She takes pauses in odd locations and the tone and intonation often feel a bit unusual for the emotional context of a particular scene. Definitely check out a sample before buying.
I enjoyed the story but struggled with the delivery.

Conflicting Feelings

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Excellent, creepy story, very Stephen King. The VO does spoil some of the tension unfortunately, w odd pauses and a snarky reading style which undermines the drama. Still well worth it though.

Great book, poor VO

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The book itself is fine. The central concepts and atmosphere of the story are interesting and generally engaging, particularly during the beginning, but in my opinion the characters are a bit thin, and the plot goes slightly to pieces in the last act. Not particularly satisfying overall which is a shame because usually this kind of folk horror is exactly what i love to read.

Also the self-referential jokes and the ironic, meta-understanding of the horror genre peppered throughout the book feels a little overdone and begins to distract from the substance of the story.

The main problem here though is actually the spoken performance. It's rare that I take the time to criticise an audiobook narrator but the choppy rhythm/inflection distracts and takes away from the author's intent, and the generally lifeless tone of the reader began to grate on me before i even reached the halfway point. The last couple of hours in particular really felt like a slog.

Decent book. Bad audio book.

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absolutely hooked, amazing story, gripping, loveable characters, interesting plot, surprises, really an overall brilliant story

incredible

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I loved the characters and the narration, and it was an intriguing, fun and creepy story. Will be looking for more from this author and narrator.

Really enjoyed this!

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Witty and thrilling, this book is a page turner from the very start till the end.

A Witty Pageturner

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So far, my top book from this author. A brilliant and twisted tale of lost folks in a claustrophobic setting. I absolutely loved this.

Brilliant Folk Horror

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The idea for the plot was great and creepy but with a main protagonist that was constantly joking and confused and choosing to look away from all signs of horror it fell flat. the protagonist became irritating very early because of her denial, and the performance of the narrator made it worse with her pausing in unnatural parts of sentences. maybe the editor did her dirty with that. I just got through it to get through it

Poor narration for a protagonist in denial

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This book is a massive missed opportunity. Folklore, creepy woods, ancient lore, effigies, underground worlds, pale people…and the story barely scratches the surface on any of it. There’s more time dedicated to describing the clearing out an old house than on the crux of the story. A better writer could have had this story singing but in the hands of this author it was flat and uninspiring. Not at all scary.
So much of the story was left unexplained, why did the Holler People stay away from Mouses grandmother, why was she so mean, why did Cockgrave marry her, why wouldn’t she let him sleep? Characters introduced but then added nothing to the story.
There was no atmosphere and the main characters habit of ‘joking’ when she was supposed to be terrified was off-putting.
The narration didn’t help either, it was as if it was being recorded word by word, the pauses were unnatural and the pacing was distracting. The sing-songy manner of the narration killed any suspense that the book may have had, it was too jaunty and upbeat for a book that claims to be horror.
All in all a waste of a credit.

Awful story, awful narration. Don’t bother.

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