Troubletwisters by @garthnix and @adelaidesean
Sorry for the late post! I was moving and then there was the amazing, overwhelming ALA conference. I have stocked up on books and now I'm on vacation, so I should be able to catch up!
Anyway, Troubletwisters is aimed at a younger audience than I normally review for, but it's a lot of fun. Jaide and Jack Shield are twins suddenly ripped from their family when their house is destroyed in a freak storm. Their father has to go away on business and their mother lands a temporary EMT gig out in the woods, so they have to stay with their mysterious grandmother in her spooky house.
And then Jack starts hearing the cat talk to him. Things really take a turn when they come across their grandmother standing in front of an audience of white-eyed rats while the lightning rages across the sky. Before they know it, the twins are fighting for the world and trying to learn to use their new powers at the same time! Can they push back the Evil? Will their father come back? And what is behind that blue door?
Exciting, huh? There's a lot to like in this book, even though it's another "fight the evil" story. I guess I can take fighting the vague concept of evil when the characters have steps and tasks to accomplish. Jaide and Jack are nice kids (but not perfect), and it's fun to watch them go down the wrong paths and then try to correct their mistakes using logic and wits. There's a lot of exposition, but if this goes into a series, that problem will be fixed in the very next book. It's well worth a look. Added bonus: the twins appear to be mixed-race, and we definitely need more characters that represent our readers.
Highly recommended for elementary and middle schools, not to mention the public libraries. Great for a summer read!