UnTwisted (Twinchantment Series #2)

by Elise Allen

Overview

After triumphing over the curse threatening their mother's life and revealing the truth behind the treacherous magical prison the Twists, Princesses Flissa and Sara knew the fight to return magic to the kingdom of Kaloon had only just begun. Not only did they have to oust treacherous magical citizens, the former prisoners of the Twists would have to adjust to life in the kingdom. Months later, everything seems to be going better than anyone could have hoped.


But when the princesses go to Maldevon Academy with the other children of the kingdom, both magical and non-magical, the remaining tensions among the people become clear. While navigating school life for the first time, Flissa and Sara begin to drift apart as they continue to embrace their individual identities, leaving Flissara behind them. And when strange happenings suggest someone isn't happy with the unification the academy represents, Flissa and Sara find themselves at odds over the possible culprits.


To preserve the newfound peace in Kaloon, the princesses will have to learn to trust each other again and uncover the truth before it's too late.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368008631
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Series:	Twinchantment Series , #2
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	295,851
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

New York Times best-selling author and Emmy-nominated television writer Elise Allen lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and dog . . . who is clearly a Magical Animal. She is the co-author of the Gabby Duran and the Unsittables series (now on TV at Disney Channel!) and the YA novel Populazzi. She has also written for several television shows, including The Lion Guard, Rainbow Rangers, and Abby Hatcher. You can find her on Twitter @EliseLAllen, on Instagram @eliselallen1, at her website, www.eliseallen.com, or hanging around Disneyland, where she likes to sit at her computer and write while waiting for her Fast Pass times.

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2020

Gr 3–7—This second installment is as magical, creative, and suspenseful as the first (Twinchantment, 2019). Things begin on a happy note—the kingdom of Kaloon is now at peace! Gilward and his dark magic were defeated in the Twists, and citizens have been triumphantly reunited into one kingdom. Identical twins Flissa and Sara start school at Maldevon Academy, where the Mages (people with magical abilities) and Genpos (non-magical folks) attend school together as an important part of Kaloonification. On the surface the unification appears successful, even though there are rumblings underground about the appointment of Amala (a Mage) as the school principal. Suddenly, dark magic makes reappears in the form of paralyzing curses and threats to Genpos. Is there a plot to ruin the hard-won peace in Kaloon? The characters are authentic and richly diverse in terms of race, sexual orientation, gender, and magical abilities. The plot moves swiftly, with each chapter narrated by either Flissa or Sara. The physical description of the kingdom and its magical aspects are beautifully detailed and create colorful visions in the mind of the reader. VERDICT Libraries who purchased the first book will most certainly want this sequel. However, the book also stands alone given its review of the plot and characters in the first installment. For those who can't get enough tales of kingdoms and magic, this will surely satisfy.—Anne Jung-Mathews, Plymouth State University, NH

School Library Journal

2020-02-09
Middle school is really hard…even if you’re a princess.

After saving their mother from a curse in Twinchantment (2019), brown-skinned princesses Flissa and Sara thought they had ushered in a new age of unity for Kaloon’s non-Mages, like their parents, Mages like them, and Magical Animals. But with Kaloonification, all children—Mages, the general population, and Magical Animals alike—must attend the same public school, led by headmistress Amala, an old Mage once associated with the movement to cleanse Kaloon of its nonmagical population. She’s supposedly reformed, but as the kids get into the swing of things, tensions among the three groups of students do nothing but rise, and Amala seems but performatively concerned at best. Sara and Flissa’s own relationship becomes strained as they for the first time enter the public world as individuals, not twins pretending to be one princess. The book is both a typical middle school story of changing friendships and alliances, just with magic added, and also a slightly heavy-handed allegory about bigotry, social justice, and community. With so many groups of people, it’s sometimes difficult to keep the characters straight, and a rushed, clichéd ending cheapens what is otherwise a delightful story. But this is high fantasy that reads as contemporary, with magical technology and everyday, colloquial speech rather than the affected, medieval-meets-Renaissance language and customs characteristic of most high fantasy, neatly broadening its audience.

Sits in a comfortable midpoint on the fluffy-to-substantive spectrum, giving it broad appeal. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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