I received an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Urban Fantasy Age Range: YA Star Rating: 5 stars Series: yes - first book
Blurb:
Fifteen-year-old Londoner Fern is about to uncover a place that she could not have imagined in all her wildest dreams. Annwn is the dream mirror of our world, a place where Dreamers walk in their slumber, their dreams playing out all around them. An enchanted, mysterious place that feeds our own world – as without dreams, without a place where our imaginations and minds can be nourished, what kind of humans would we be?
But Annwn is a place as full of dangers as it is wonders: it is a place where dreams can kill you. Annwn and its Dreamers are protected by an ancient order known as the Knights – and when Fern’s hated twin Ollie is chosen to join their ranks, Fern will have to do whatever she can to prove she is one of them too.
But the world Fern discovers in Annwn, in this dream mirror of her London, is a fragile one, threatened by vicious nightmares. Nightmares that are harder and harder for the Knights to defeat. Something dark is jeopardising the peace and stability of Annwn, something that must be rooted out at all costs. And gradually, Fern realises that the danger lurking inside our sleep is more insidious and terrifying than any nightmare. Because if you can influence someone’s dreams, you can control their thoughts…
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
MIDNIGHT’S TWINS is a fun debut that starts an exciting new trilogy.
The dream world, Annwn, is a very alternate London – and I loved it. Much of the London seen is Central London – the bit I’m very familiar with – and it felt so authentic. It’s always been quite magical to me, thanks to an overactive imagination, so seeing that magical side come alive thanks to the power of dreams was so much fun.
Woven into the fabric of Annwn is a lot of familiar mythology with a new slant. There’s a lot of Arthurian legends mention, but always in the background and never making the story feel like a retelling but rather anchoring it to concepts I already know. It made it feel more real. I’m hoping later books explore this more, particularly the fact that he ended up a traitor! All these references to mythology enrich the world, making it so much bigger than seen.
I really liked the way it tackled the politics of the other – through the persona of Merauit. It’s so interesting to see populism tackled in YA without it being a dystopia that’s already happened. Instead, MIDNIGHT’S TWINS sets a world where these ideas are taking root. The path is set to become a dystopia, if nothing is done about it.
The final twist was so good – I’d only seen half of it coming. I’d seen quite a few coming, because they were well set up and a lot of the plot fell into common beats (nothing wrong with that, and making a story feel familiar but unique at the same time is a good way to make an engaging – plus it means you can then really unleash a twist at the end!)
I will be very interested to read the next book when it comes out.
Read my reviews of other books by Holly Race:
Midnight’s Twins (this series):
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 