Troubletwisters
by Garth Nix
SiblingsPrice unverified (Amazon check blocked). This deal may have changed.
Added on January 15, 2026
Description
New York Times–Bestselling Authors: After their house blows up, twelve-year-old twins discover a strange new world in this "enjoyable romp" (Publishers Weekly). Jaide and Jack Shield's lives are changing in a very, very strange way. The weather is turning against them. Magical disasters occur when they're around. And a mysterious explosion has just destroyed their house . . . from the inside. Without knowing why, the twins are stolen away to live with Grandma X—a relative they've never, ever met. At Grandma X's house, things are even stranger. Weather vanes point in the opposite direction of the wind. Doors appear and disappear. Cats talk. Jaide and Jack don't know the reason behind all this strangeness. They don't know that they're troubletwisters, and that they must defend the world against a dark, evil force. The time has come for them to discover the truth—and the powers that come with the truth. Are they ready?"Full of adventure and the unexpected, the first book in Nix and Williams's new series is delightfully twisted. The pacing is perfect, the setting is eerily dark, the faceless Evil rings true, and the resolution is satisfying." —Booklist
Reader Reviews
This type of book has a number of conventions. They aren't universally followed, but still, I think it's fair to say they exist. One of these is that the kids should prevail through their own efforts. Or put another way, adults can't do it for them. Which leads to a problem; how to get rid of the parents! This is one reason why orphans are a cliche of this type of literature. (Another is that orphans are easy to make into Protagonists with a Hidden Destiny (PHDs).) Another widely deployed method
Alright, first off I should probably admit that I never finished the book. I read a little over 100 pages in and gave up, although I flicked through in case anything amazing suddenly happened (it didn't). I feel that by 100 pages, the author should have delivered something to make the reader want to continue reading. I don't want to have to force myself to finish a book, that's stupid. So what was the problem?Well, to start off with it was painfully condescending. I can't help but feel that the
I love middle grade books, but I didn't love this one.The title, the cover, the synopsis... It all sounded so cool! A unique idea! Amazing... Right?In execution, this book went in so many weird directions that confused me. It didn't feel cohesive and naturally flowing. And sure, I'm not the target audience at all so maybe that's on me? There were so many scenes that were in the book that could have been removed and not impacted the story, which always annoys me. Sometimes those scenes can be fun
