Ever find that most young adult books have a slow lagging story that, may have you hooked until the early hours of the morning, however the climax just had you wishing you never bothered devoting time and money *cough* Twilight *cough*.
Not with ‘The Turncoats’, this book is one of the only books I’ve managed to finish in one sitting, I was warned by a friend that I would not be able to put it down, eight hours later, I was finished. G.L. Tywnham based in my current University-home county of Lincolnshire is just starting to branch out of that ‘local’ author box, due to the growing popularity of ‘The Thirteenth’. Twynham has done it again with it’s sequel ‘The Turncoats’. The series follows Valerie Saunders as she finds out in ‘The Thirteenth’ she was not quite the normal just-turned-eighteen year old girl she thought she was and has a much bigger destiny.
In The Turncoats she is forced to embrace her destiny further with the help of a few human friends, she goes through painstaking tasks, hits many emotional bricks walls and generally is just a ‘bad-ass’. You will not expect the twists and, if not vigilant enough, the small things scattered around the book will come back at you without a moments warning.
When reading the book you will find that the character depth is very deep, you really start to connect and hear each individual voice clearly throughout the book. Visualising is very clear and, at parts, leaves much up to the minds eye to fill in the gaps without forcing yourself. Although ‘The Thirteenth’ was good, Twynham has improved massively and ‘The Turncoats’ seems more planned out and has a lot more goals with more complicated characters – the traits of a very skilled author considering it’s her second book. One thing ‘The Turncoats’ has that ‘The Thirteenth’ was missing was a bit more humour, especially in these types of books, a character specifically made for humour and relief adds a nice touch. Enter ‘Zac Efron’, no not the actor, an alien who is to guide Val, whom took on the name of Zac Efron. He is a funny character who doesn’t quite grasp humans or human culture, one section of the book where he experiences his first 3D film was especially amusing, I don’t want to give away much of his character, but he does have the best lines in the book.
This is all I’m going to say, I do find it hard to review sequels without giving away too much of the first book. Although this book has a Young Adult’s demographic, I don’t think that it should end there. I’d definitely recommend no matter what age as this series has a lot of depth and a climax that I am certain you will not see coming and myself certainly can not wait for the third book. Overall a 9/10 rating from me.
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