Review: Troubletwisters: The Monster by Garth Nix and Sean Williams

In all honesty, I did not think that I would ever be able to top the story of what happened when I bought a copy of the first book in this excellent series for middle readers, where I ended up having a long conversation about books with the checkout operator at my local Kmart. (You can read more here.) And then one of the authors saw my review and visited my workplace and presented me with a hardcover copy of the sequel, which I thought was just excellent. (To explain this one further, Sean Williams is a regular customer at the post office where I work. Hi Sean!) Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Monster. In this one, we find Jack and Jaide learning more about their gifts and trying desperately to find out more about a monster that is haunting Portland, much to the chagrin of their kind but stern Grandma X. The twins also must attend school, where they are soon befriended by a lonely girl called Tara. The next twist? Tara's dad may just be working for the Evil ...

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one, particularly as the final showdown incorporated two of my favourite things, cats (the very awesome Kleo is somewhat vital to the plot this time,) and old trains. It was also interesting to see how the twins coped with their new powers and discovered that developing them was not always going to be easy. I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series, which will be released soon.

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