Recent Reads: TwoSpells by Mark Morrison

Source: From the Author in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

TwoSpells By Mark Morrison
Publisher: Createspace
Publication Date:  February 23, 2018

 

Format:  Ebook

Rating:


 




Goodreads Synopsis: 

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?

Review: 
My husband laughs at me whenever I tell him I am reading a book about magic and kids and fighting evil, apparently I have a 'type'. This book is in that genre, a nice magical fantasy with good versus evil. 

In this young adult fantasy, we follow Sarah and Jon who learn that they are part of a magical race and one of the wonders of their new world is TwoSpells. TwoSpells is a massive library full or every book available and because it is a magical library the kids can get into the books and watch the stories unfold from inside. 

There were a lot of pieces to this book - the twins discovering their heritage, a plague in the library, the library itself, then a wizard who wants to become a god. It was a good book and there was a lot of action but that is a lot to tackle in one book and I felt that things were sometimes just glanced over and many things are left until next time (even though I thought this was a stand-alone).

Sarah and Jon are thirteen and Sarah acts way more mature than her brother - and at times I found it hard to believe that he was acting his age. I have younger brothers (3 of them) and so I have some idea of how 13 year olds could act - Jon is close but at some points felt very young. I wanted more character development with the kids overall, there was a lot to take in learning that their family is magical and their only reactions were along the lines of 'oh cool', no questioning why mom kept it from them or things that I think some teens would be very interested and upset to find out.

Overall it was an action-packed fantasy with a lot of promise for a series. I loved the library and hope that it gets a lot more focus in future stories.