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Title: The Twyning
Author: Terence Blacker
Narrator: Michael Page, Nico Evers-Swindell
Format: Unabridged
Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
Language: English
Release date: 09-09-14
Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio
Genres: Teens, Ages 11-13
Publisher's Summary:
Efren is a young rat, unnoticed and timid among the kingdom of rats living in the London sewers. When the king dies, leaving the kingdom in upheaval, only Efren dares to journey into the human world, where he discovers a human doctor's plan to destroy London's entire rat population. Meanwhile, Peter, otherwise known as Dogboy, does odd jobs for both the scheming doctor and the town rat-catcher. But his gift for understanding animals - even rats - forces him to decide where his allegiances truly lie. Dogboy and Efren, along with the waifish girl Caz and her pet rat Malaika, set out to test the strengths of friendship and loyalty against the gut-wrenching cruelties of the world.
Members Reviews:
Entertaining Fantasy for Both Children & Adults
When most of us think about rats, it's usually along the same lines as we think of mosquitoes or fleas, as plague carrying pests with no value, whose extermination would be beneficial to us all. Author Terence Blacker attempts in his novel, The Twyning to do for rats what Richard Adams' book Watership Down did for rabbits.
Set in Victorian London, two young orphans `Dogboy' and Caz live in a rubbish dump. Dogboy supports them by hunting rats both for sport and science. Beneath their feet, in the rat kingdom great changes are occurring: the old king is dying and as tradition demands, he swims away from the kingdom to die above ground and a new more cruel regime is taking over. Efren, a young ratling and lowly taster but with the heart of a hero, ascends to the world above to discover the fate of his king. What he reports back causes outrage in the kingdom.
Above ground, Dogboy works for a doctor with a particular hatred for rats. He convinces everyone that the rats are planning war against humans and, if they are to survive, the humans must strike first. Soon both rats and humans are planning for this conflict and it will take all of Efren's efforts with the aid of the children to ensure the survival of both species.
The Twyning, a middle-grade fantasy by author Terence Blacker, is both compelling and engrossing. It asks some very tough questions and examines some real grey areas. Neither side in the story is completely in the right but neither is completely evil either. The characters are well-drawn with Efren especially gaining the reader's sympathies. It should be noted that there are some rather disturbing scenes making this unsuitable for very young children. At times, it also felt like Blacker was channeling Dickens as well as Adams as unlikely coincidences and fortuitous saves occur just in the knick of time. Still, for those who enjoy a good tale with interesting characters and world-building, plenty of action, and no easy answers, The Twyning makes for a very entertaining read for both children and adults.
If you enjoy fantasy, this book is for you
The book The Twyning by Terence Blacker is about a young rat named Efron and his journey to save the rat king. Dogboy, a young boy who can talk to animals, finds Efron and hears his plight. Dogboy is conflicted, he doesn't know if he wants to help the humans in their quest to cure cancer or save the rat king with Efron.
I found this book difficult to follow because it has an extremely (and unnecessarily) complex plot and there were too many uncommon names among the characters as well. The characters were not very relatable to me.
