Twinchantment by Elise Allen

Twinchantment by Elise Allen is a wondrously enchanting novel about two twins named Sara and Flissa. However, ever since the dark magic uprising years ago where all the king’s family was killed, all magic and any signs of magic have been banned. These include left-handedness, black cats, and of course, twinhood. Sara and Flissa are also princesses, and their parents have hidden their twinhood from the Kaloon for the past eleven years where the princesses were only allowed to go out, one at a time, under the pseudonym Princess Flissara. However, one day, their mother returns from a journey with a mysterious dark green smoke coming out of her, what they believe is the magical “signature” of a dark mage, Gilward, Sara and Flissa must embark on a suicidal journey into the twists, a horrible place where people with magic are sent, to try and enlist the help of Gilward, the one who allegedly cursed their mother.

Though Flissa and Sara are identical twins, they are nothing alike. Sara is extremely clumsy, while Flissa could perform a backflip off of a horse and not even stumble a bit. But Flissa can never seem to make any decisions, while Sara always goes with her gut, even when it might not be the best decision. However, Sara and Flissa have always stayed together ever since birth and one is always willing to help the other, no matter the cost.

When they’re about to leave, the cook, Mitzi, gives them a bag of treats and they flee the castle on their way to find the brambled gates, the entrance to the twists. But, neither of them knows where the twists are, so they find the son of Gilward, Galric, to help them on their treacherous journey to find his father.

Once they just barely scrape through the brambled gates, led by Galric’s cat, Nitpick, and the twin’s sarcastic talking songbird, Primka, they find that the twists were nothing like what they had pictured before. When they had pictured a drab, damp, forest, they see that it’s a thriving, colorful, land filled with majestic creatures none of them had ever seen before. But, the twists are hardly what they seem. Disaster after disaster strikes them until they’re about ready to give up, though knowing that their mother will die if they don’t find Gilward to lift the curse, fills them with persistence and they keep on moving, confident that they will be able to cure their mother.

I loved this novel because of the excellent way that Allen represents the characters and their differences. Because even though the twins are so much alike, she is still able to show their contrasts, especially in what they believe in, and how they behave. And even though Nitpick can’t talk, Allen makes it so that you can really tell the difference between how he thinks and how Primka thinks, which certainly makes the story a lot more interesting. Along with that, I also loved how unique the plot is and how the magic works in the novel.