April 9th 2019 by Disney-Hyperion
Public library copy
Flissa and Sara are twin princesses born into a kingdom where their very existence goes against the dictates preventing magic. Their parents have hidden them well, and since they are identical, they split their public life (going as Flissara) and are thus able to go undetected. When their mother falls ill from a curse that is suspected to have been made by the father of the stable boy, Galric, the girls want to go into the Twists and find the man so he can cancel the curse. They ask Galric to go with them, and set off on an adventure fraught with peril during which they find out many secrets about their own background and their kingdom.
Strengths: Twin stories do well with tween girls; when the world is a difficult place and no one understands, it is fun to pretend to have a twin who "gets" you. The adventure into the Twists is a solid one; it reminded me of Lynee Reid Banks The Farthest-Away Mountain (1976) a bit. This was fast paced and easy to follow. The sequel, Untwisted, comes out in April 2020.Weaknesses: I kept waiting for the girls to make efforts to bring magic back to their kingdom, but this adventure was primarily about saving their family. I kept reading "Galric" as "Garlic".
What I really think: Debating. It's a title I might buy if I have money left over, but for the present I will recommend Levine's The Two Princesses of Bamarre (2001) instead. I do like seeing the princesses of color on the cover, but the story is a bit uninspired.
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