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The Twyning
In a harsh and dangerous world, a rat and a boy must each choose their way as their fates become inextricably linked.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 ratcatcher. 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.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 20, 2012
13 people are currently reading
772 people want to read
About the author
Terence Blacker
118 books43 followersTerence Blacker wanted to be a jockey when he grew and up. In fact, he could ride before he could walk, and his childhood hero was the great steeplechaser Mill House (a horse). He lives in Norfolk, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
August 20, 2024
2.5 stars
For a middle grade book, I found this way too dark!
This isn't a bad book! In fact, it does deal with a lot of important issues like bravery, leadership and societies ruled through fear. All good things for a middle grader to hear about and think upon.
But it is very gory and dark. And at times downright depressing!
I was expecting a thumping adventure with little children and adorable rats, but there's too much awfulness in there and too much darkness, for it to really reach the mark for me. I found it very difficult to get through it at times and wouldn't recommend it to my own middle grader either.
If you can bear a lot of animal cruelty, bad stuff happening all around and things always going from said bad to worse, you'll find this tale to be full of meaning and might want to give it a try. It does get happier in the end.
Unfortunately, this just didn't really work for me. :(
Check out this review and more over at The Magic Book Corner
For a middle grade book, I found this way too dark!
This isn't a bad book! In fact, it does deal with a lot of important issues like bravery, leadership and societies ruled through fear. All good things for a middle grader to hear about and think upon.
But it is very gory and dark. And at times downright depressing!
I was expecting a thumping adventure with little children and adorable rats, but there's too much awfulness in there and too much darkness, for it to really reach the mark for me. I found it very difficult to get through it at times and wouldn't recommend it to my own middle grader either.
If you can bear a lot of animal cruelty, bad stuff happening all around and things always going from said bad to worse, you'll find this tale to be full of meaning and might want to give it a try. It does get happier in the end.
Unfortunately, this just didn't really work for me. :(
Check out this review and more over at The Magic Book Corner
June 28, 2022
The Twyning is the rat version of Game of Thrones. So much rat drama: factions, threats from outsiders and from within, attacks from the humans and so much more.
This middle school book begins with the changeover of the rat king to a new leader. Something unexpected happens during the ceremony that changes everything, including who will lead next, who is the enemy, who is the real enemy.
Peter aka Dogboy is a child who lives in a rubbish tip. He earns money by collecting rats for awful purposes…however, he saves one rat and it befriends his tip-mate Caz.
Efren, the rat, is at the helm of all rat-uations. Though just a mere pleb from the Tasting department of the Kingdom, he has a special power and a unique drive that links his rat kingdom do the dumpster kids. Efren and Dogboy narrate in alternate chapters. You can’t ever say, “I’ll just finish this chapter…” as they are full of exciting cliff hangers.
The cast, plot, and to a lesser extent, the characterisation were pretty good. I love what “the twyning” are, as disgusting and repulsive as they are. Even by rat standards. You will need to find out for yourself what they are :)
I had very low expectations for this book as I picked it up from a discount store, however it had me hooked from the start. I am reading way too many books at the same time and this was the only one I could read during any mood.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes Watership Down, Dr Doolittle, and that type of kids animal theme.
This middle school book begins with the changeover of the rat king to a new leader. Something unexpected happens during the ceremony that changes everything, including who will lead next, who is the enemy, who is the real enemy.
Peter aka Dogboy is a child who lives in a rubbish tip. He earns money by collecting rats for awful purposes…however, he saves one rat and it befriends his tip-mate Caz.
Efren, the rat, is at the helm of all rat-uations. Though just a mere pleb from the Tasting department of the Kingdom, he has a special power and a unique drive that links his rat kingdom do the dumpster kids. Efren and Dogboy narrate in alternate chapters. You can’t ever say, “I’ll just finish this chapter…” as they are full of exciting cliff hangers.
The cast, plot, and to a lesser extent, the characterisation were pretty good. I love what “the twyning” are, as disgusting and repulsive as they are. Even by rat standards. You will need to find out for yourself what they are :)
I had very low expectations for this book as I picked it up from a discount store, however it had me hooked from the start. I am reading way too many books at the same time and this was the only one I could read during any mood.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes Watership Down, Dr Doolittle, and that type of kids animal theme.
Read
February 10, 2014Another one bites the dust. Choppy transitions, too much world building, no emotional impact for me. Plus, if your hero is a rat, I want rat details, not about how they can talk by magic, but the physicality of what they eat and smell and feel, a sense of actual ratness, as done (in a very different style, obviously) in The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. These could have been any animals or in fact people. Binned out at 17%.
January 30, 2021
For a person like myself who is very fond of rats, The Twyning has much to offer. Just delving into their strange, seldom heard ways ought to be enough, but it tells a story where the whole point is that we should not misjudge them, which is even better. Terence Blacker writes beautifully and his story moves at great speed, cutting between the adventures of Efren (a young rat) and Peter/Dogboy (a homeless Victorian boy whose jobs include rat catching). The rat society is told in great detail, not being so simple as to say they are *all* kind and loveable but leaving them just as potentially flawed as we are. The two narrative voices are well differentiated, and there is plenty of social comment even apart from the stuff on animals, particularly the political mania when the “war on rats” takes hold. It’s clever stuff.
The downside is the sheer amount of horror involved, heaping cruel animal deaths on top of savage barroom dog-and-rat fights on top of huge, nightmarish rat massacres again and again. The point is undoubtedly rammed home that all of this is terrible - although Dogboy takes some time to be seriously bothered by it all, and even then is mostly concerned for Caz, the equally abandoned girl he cares for - but it just becomes miserable to read after a while. This book can’t seriously be for kids, can it?
It’s a tough one to call. Undoubtedly this is well written and, if you stick with it to the end, a satisfying story. But you can try too hard to make a point and just end up revelling in the thing you’re arguing against. Be aware, The Twyning runs that risk.
The downside is the sheer amount of horror involved, heaping cruel animal deaths on top of savage barroom dog-and-rat fights on top of huge, nightmarish rat massacres again and again. The point is undoubtedly rammed home that all of this is terrible - although Dogboy takes some time to be seriously bothered by it all, and even then is mostly concerned for Caz, the equally abandoned girl he cares for - but it just becomes miserable to read after a while. This book can’t seriously be for kids, can it?
It’s a tough one to call. Undoubtedly this is well written and, if you stick with it to the end, a satisfying story. But you can try too hard to make a point and just end up revelling in the thing you’re arguing against. Be aware, The Twyning runs that risk.
August 18, 2014
The Twyning is a middle-grade historical fiction/fantasy novel where two children living in the dump befriend two rats during the human's War Against Rats.
Peter finds work catching rats for two very different characters. One, a doctor who is convinced that all of the diseases that rats carry will be the cause of our ultimate downfall; the other a rat catcher for pit fights who believes the creatures harmless. Peter lives with Caz, a young girl who ran away from a dance school that she was sold to.
Below the streets, the rat King has died. When a lowly taster, Efren goes to the world above to find out the fate of their King, he brings back news of just how much the humans hate them and how they plan on getting rid of them. Efren also finds Caz's pet rat, named Mailika as well as his gift for hearing and communicating with humans.
When Peter's doctor declares war and complete eradication of the rats, the children and the rats use their unique gift to help each other.
For a middle grade novel, this had a lot of graphic violence of killing rats, although probably very truthful to the time period early 1900's England. The writing brings feelings of compassion and a sense of great intelligence to the rats with their society and skills. However, the human side of the rats being disease carriers is also true. I liked that both sides were presented, but there needed to be more into how the two species can actually live together peacefully. Anyway, I did like the characterization of the rats and the device of how Efren and Mailika could communicate with Caz and Peter through 'revelation' or thoughts. The structure of the rat society was also very well thought out with the Twyning being a sort of governing body. Efren's eventual role within his rat society was nice and unexpected, a good character for beating the odds. The point of view shifts chapter to chapter between humans and rats and it took me a second to realize that fact. Both rats and children are safe at the end; however, there aren't really any answers given for how humans and rats will coexist.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Peter finds work catching rats for two very different characters. One, a doctor who is convinced that all of the diseases that rats carry will be the cause of our ultimate downfall; the other a rat catcher for pit fights who believes the creatures harmless. Peter lives with Caz, a young girl who ran away from a dance school that she was sold to.
Below the streets, the rat King has died. When a lowly taster, Efren goes to the world above to find out the fate of their King, he brings back news of just how much the humans hate them and how they plan on getting rid of them. Efren also finds Caz's pet rat, named Mailika as well as his gift for hearing and communicating with humans.
When Peter's doctor declares war and complete eradication of the rats, the children and the rats use their unique gift to help each other.
For a middle grade novel, this had a lot of graphic violence of killing rats, although probably very truthful to the time period early 1900's England. The writing brings feelings of compassion and a sense of great intelligence to the rats with their society and skills. However, the human side of the rats being disease carriers is also true. I liked that both sides were presented, but there needed to be more into how the two species can actually live together peacefully. Anyway, I did like the characterization of the rats and the device of how Efren and Mailika could communicate with Caz and Peter through 'revelation' or thoughts. The structure of the rat society was also very well thought out with the Twyning being a sort of governing body. Efren's eventual role within his rat society was nice and unexpected, a good character for beating the odds. The point of view shifts chapter to chapter between humans and rats and it took me a second to realize that fact. Both rats and children are safe at the end; however, there aren't really any answers given for how humans and rats will coexist.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
December 22, 2017
I've never read a book about a rat before, much less one told from the perspective of a rat. I had no clue what it was about so had zero expectations going into it, but I actually really enjoyed this one in the end. I found the alternating perspectives between rat and human quite fascinating.
Top tip: Before reading, check out the glossary at the back of the book. It's not huge but it does explain what some of the rat lingo means and will make for a more enjoyable and understandable experience.
Top tip 2: To tell the difference between each chapter, there is a set of human footprints on the children's chapters and a set of rat paw prints on the rat chapters
Characters
Two rats: Efren and Malaika. One wild, one a pet.
Two Children: Dogboy and Caz. Both street kid with tragic pasts, abandoned by their parents.
Dogboy earns his small living in the rat business, either catching rats with Bill Grubstaff, or exterminating them with Dr Ross-Gibbon.
Caz is the companion of Dogboy and his very reason to keep living (not in a romantic way - she's simply the closest thing to family he has)
The Rats communicate with each other through thought, or 'Revealing' as it's called here. Efren and Malaika can both Reveal to humans as well, a skill that very few rats can do. It just so happens that Caz and Dogboy are also able to Reveal and understand them.
The friendship between the four characters is one built primarily on Caz and Malaika's love and devotion to one another. Efren regards it with distrust while Dogboy regards it with disdain. But when it comes to it, all four realise they have each other's backs. It's quite a satisfying progression of trust.
Plot
This is a book with no happy beginning, no happy middle, but an eventual happy ending (thankfully). This novel is so bleak, but not in a bad way. There were moments that I found really distressing and I considered not continuing but I persevered because I had a feeling it was worth it.
I like to try unconventional books and I've been waiting for an uncomfortable read. Something a little unsettling. The Twying was just the ticket.
A war is brewing between the human race and the rat race. The rat kingdom is governed in an impressively sophisticated way with
courts depending on a rat's skills; the court of warriors for the strongest, the court of tasters for food foragers - testing the food for rat poison, the court of spies who work above ground. It's all quite clever.
When the rat king becomes ill and renounces his throne, he takes to the world above to die in peace. One young rat, our hero of the story, Efren, does the unthinkable, he follows the former king above ground. It's there he witnesses the king captured by rat-catchers. He returns to the kingdom below to tell the court of governance that the king has been taken by the enemy.
He is sent out into the world to find the king with two loyal warrior rats, but when they return, they find the kingdom quite different.
A new ruler, and a new way of life. Those who oppose it or speak against it are taken away to be 're-educated'. Those who know too much about the truth behind the former king's disappearance are simply removed from the picture.
Efren also discovers he is a hearer; he can hear things other rats can't and he can communicate through thought with humans.
This rare ability could make or break him in this scary new rat world, so he guards the truth with his life.
In the world above a young orphan boy known as Dogboy helps the local rat-catcher collect rats for fighting pits, though dislikes the work. For extra pennies, he works for a scientist who has made it his life's work to declare war on rats.
The war between rats and humans begins and despite the tragic and disturbing massacres (on both sides)depicted in this book, this is really a story about friendship and learning how to rebuild when you've lost everything. It's about finding courage to carry on.
Setting
The best way I think I can describe it is like Oliver Twist meets Ninteen Eighty-Four meets Watership Down with a little bit of The Nutcracker thrown in for good measure.
There is a distinct Dickensian feel to the human world above and a haunting Orwellian feel to the rat kingdom below. Both worlds are cold and hopeless and utterly terrifying.
The harsh, brutality of both is described best through the quality of its inhabitants. The worlds are simply worlds, but what makes them so unimaginable is the cruelty of the people within. It's just horrible, but very well done. I've never read a book where I can say the characters best describe the world they live in.
It is never stated when it is set but with talk of cobbled streets and carriages, I'd say Victorian or earlier. Also, I can't remember if it mentions where it is set. I assumed London but can't recall so perhaps it is all left open to interpretation.
Writing Style
I found the writing very easy to read. I never got confused about whose chapter it was and I really enjoyed hearing both sides of the story. Each side is told that the other is the enemy and it was interesting to see one side, Efren, who truly believed that, and Dogboy, who didn't.
I didn't find the writing overly descriptive, but that didn't stop me from imagining these grey, bleak worlds, both very different and both utterly cold. Like I said above, the characters become the world very effectively.
The chapters were very short, which I liked. 110 chapters over 386 pages. My only issue (and it's a small one) was that I felt some chapters weren't entirely necessary and just reiterated the characters thoughts. But it didn't happen often and those chapters were only short.
Final Impression
I wanted to enjoy this and I did. It was easy to read, yet hard, content-wise. Wouldn't recommend for the faint of heart or those triggered by any kind of animal abuse or cruelty. I very nearly DNF'ed because of it but made myself continued. Very glad I did.
A harsh, but oddly thought-provoking book.
Top tip: Before reading, check out the glossary at the back of the book. It's not huge but it does explain what some of the rat lingo means and will make for a more enjoyable and understandable experience.
Top tip 2: To tell the difference between each chapter, there is a set of human footprints on the children's chapters and a set of rat paw prints on the rat chapters
Characters
Two rats: Efren and Malaika. One wild, one a pet.
Two Children: Dogboy and Caz. Both street kid with tragic pasts, abandoned by their parents.
Dogboy earns his small living in the rat business, either catching rats with Bill Grubstaff, or exterminating them with Dr Ross-Gibbon.
Caz is the companion of Dogboy and his very reason to keep living (not in a romantic way - she's simply the closest thing to family he has)
The Rats communicate with each other through thought, or 'Revealing' as it's called here. Efren and Malaika can both Reveal to humans as well, a skill that very few rats can do. It just so happens that Caz and Dogboy are also able to Reveal and understand them.
The friendship between the four characters is one built primarily on Caz and Malaika's love and devotion to one another. Efren regards it with distrust while Dogboy regards it with disdain. But when it comes to it, all four realise they have each other's backs. It's quite a satisfying progression of trust.
Plot
This is a book with no happy beginning, no happy middle, but an eventual happy ending (thankfully). This novel is so bleak, but not in a bad way. There were moments that I found really distressing and I considered not continuing but I persevered because I had a feeling it was worth it.
I like to try unconventional books and I've been waiting for an uncomfortable read. Something a little unsettling. The Twying was just the ticket.
A war is brewing between the human race and the rat race. The rat kingdom is governed in an impressively sophisticated way with
courts depending on a rat's skills; the court of warriors for the strongest, the court of tasters for food foragers - testing the food for rat poison, the court of spies who work above ground. It's all quite clever.
When the rat king becomes ill and renounces his throne, he takes to the world above to die in peace. One young rat, our hero of the story, Efren, does the unthinkable, he follows the former king above ground. It's there he witnesses the king captured by rat-catchers. He returns to the kingdom below to tell the court of governance that the king has been taken by the enemy.
He is sent out into the world to find the king with two loyal warrior rats, but when they return, they find the kingdom quite different.
A new ruler, and a new way of life. Those who oppose it or speak against it are taken away to be 're-educated'. Those who know too much about the truth behind the former king's disappearance are simply removed from the picture.
Efren also discovers he is a hearer; he can hear things other rats can't and he can communicate through thought with humans.
This rare ability could make or break him in this scary new rat world, so he guards the truth with his life.
In the world above a young orphan boy known as Dogboy helps the local rat-catcher collect rats for fighting pits, though dislikes the work. For extra pennies, he works for a scientist who has made it his life's work to declare war on rats.
The war between rats and humans begins and despite the tragic and disturbing massacres (on both sides)depicted in this book, this is really a story about friendship and learning how to rebuild when you've lost everything. It's about finding courage to carry on.
Setting
The best way I think I can describe it is like Oliver Twist meets Ninteen Eighty-Four meets Watership Down with a little bit of The Nutcracker thrown in for good measure.
There is a distinct Dickensian feel to the human world above and a haunting Orwellian feel to the rat kingdom below. Both worlds are cold and hopeless and utterly terrifying.
The harsh, brutality of both is described best through the quality of its inhabitants. The worlds are simply worlds, but what makes them so unimaginable is the cruelty of the people within. It's just horrible, but very well done. I've never read a book where I can say the characters best describe the world they live in.
It is never stated when it is set but with talk of cobbled streets and carriages, I'd say Victorian or earlier. Also, I can't remember if it mentions where it is set. I assumed London but can't recall so perhaps it is all left open to interpretation.
Writing Style
I found the writing very easy to read. I never got confused about whose chapter it was and I really enjoyed hearing both sides of the story. Each side is told that the other is the enemy and it was interesting to see one side, Efren, who truly believed that, and Dogboy, who didn't.
I didn't find the writing overly descriptive, but that didn't stop me from imagining these grey, bleak worlds, both very different and both utterly cold. Like I said above, the characters become the world very effectively.
The chapters were very short, which I liked. 110 chapters over 386 pages. My only issue (and it's a small one) was that I felt some chapters weren't entirely necessary and just reiterated the characters thoughts. But it didn't happen often and those chapters were only short.
Final Impression
I wanted to enjoy this and I did. It was easy to read, yet hard, content-wise. Wouldn't recommend for the faint of heart or those triggered by any kind of animal abuse or cruelty. I very nearly DNF'ed because of it but made myself continued. Very glad I did.
A harsh, but oddly thought-provoking book.
February 23, 2018
One of the best books I have read this year. Mind opening and entraining. Fun and gritty. Sad and joyous. Character and plot. Flow and suspense. What more could you want from a rat centred Victorian era novel?
February 28, 2017
The Twyning is a dark middle grade book about a fight between the world of rats and the world of humans. It's told from both points of view. The book explores issues of leadership and bravery and would be enjoyed by an older middle grader.
March 10, 2020
Review originally published in SFX magazine. 3.5 stars.
--
If you’ve ever felt that rats get a raw deal in popular culture – like the contributors to the Wikipedia entry on the subject, which at the time of writing complains that “depictions of rats in fiction are historically inaccurate and negative” – this may be the novel for you. The tale of a war between humans and rodents in which humans are the nasty, stinky, aggressive ones, The Twyning is a thoughtful, pacey adventure with an imaginative knack for conveying a rat’s-eye-view.
First-person narration duties flip between Efren, a young ratling caught up in a royal succession crisis in the rat kingdom he calls home, and Peter, aka Dogboy, a street urchin and part-time rat catcher, whose employer dreams of going from dissecting rats to carrying out rodent genocide. Do rat and boy end up joining forces to save ratkind? Well, yes, of course, but getting there is a more complex and difficult process than you might expect.
As this synopsis would suggest, it’s not quite the kids’ book it might first appear; while it’s structured for an eight-year-old’s attention span (short chapters, two-line paragraphs, regular cliffhangers), the action can be pretty grim and the prose less accessible than others of its type. It doesn’t quite have the energetic crackle or the emotional gut punches of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, but pre-teens with strong stomachs (and adults who grew up reading Robin Jarvis) will get a lot from it.
--
If you’ve ever felt that rats get a raw deal in popular culture – like the contributors to the Wikipedia entry on the subject, which at the time of writing complains that “depictions of rats in fiction are historically inaccurate and negative” – this may be the novel for you. The tale of a war between humans and rodents in which humans are the nasty, stinky, aggressive ones, The Twyning is a thoughtful, pacey adventure with an imaginative knack for conveying a rat’s-eye-view.
First-person narration duties flip between Efren, a young ratling caught up in a royal succession crisis in the rat kingdom he calls home, and Peter, aka Dogboy, a street urchin and part-time rat catcher, whose employer dreams of going from dissecting rats to carrying out rodent genocide. Do rat and boy end up joining forces to save ratkind? Well, yes, of course, but getting there is a more complex and difficult process than you might expect.
As this synopsis would suggest, it’s not quite the kids’ book it might first appear; while it’s structured for an eight-year-old’s attention span (short chapters, two-line paragraphs, regular cliffhangers), the action can be pretty grim and the prose less accessible than others of its type. It doesn’t quite have the energetic crackle or the emotional gut punches of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, but pre-teens with strong stomachs (and adults who grew up reading Robin Jarvis) will get a lot from it.
May 21, 2019
Hells bells! That was a lot more gore than I was expecting!
I thought this book was ok, I really liked the idea of the rat kingdom and I think I would have preferred if the whole book was just Efran's point of view. I think Dogboy's chapters could get a little boring, especially after the second half. The first half was like Game of Thrones for rats! I was surprised it's considered a Middle Grade book!
I thought the characters were a little too bland for me, not very memorable or endearing, I can't really think of a character that I loved, but they weren't awful and I felt the plot was oddly rushed and also slow at the same time, I'm not quite sure how to describe it.
Overall, I thought it was ok.
Those poor rats...
I thought this book was ok, I really liked the idea of the rat kingdom and I think I would have preferred if the whole book was just Efran's point of view. I think Dogboy's chapters could get a little boring, especially after the second half. The first half was like Game of Thrones for rats! I was surprised it's considered a Middle Grade book!
I thought the characters were a little too bland for me, not very memorable or endearing, I can't really think of a character that I loved, but they weren't awful and I felt the plot was oddly rushed and also slow at the same time, I'm not quite sure how to describe it.
Overall, I thought it was ok.
Those poor rats...
August 12, 2019
This isn't really well written book that's easy to read and has a storyline that's interesting and compelling (apart from a bit of a lull in the middle).
Who would have thought that rats would have such a rich inner life? It's probably not as rich as this story shoes, but still, it makes you think about the hopes, dreams and motivations of some of the other beasts (apart from humans) that share this world. Maybe we should all have a place on Earth. Maybe we all deserve to be safe in our little niche. Maybe we should all love and be loved. Maybe.
Anyway, this tale is worth a read.
Who would have thought that rats would have such a rich inner life? It's probably not as rich as this story shoes, but still, it makes you think about the hopes, dreams and motivations of some of the other beasts (apart from humans) that share this world. Maybe we should all have a place on Earth. Maybe we all deserve to be safe in our little niche. Maybe we should all love and be loved. Maybe.
Anyway, this tale is worth a read.
February 16, 2018
The Twyning is a bit of a weird book with a weird premise. Definitely gritty in places, but at a "middle school" level. The gore felt token - enough to say it's a gritty book, but not enough to be truly horrifying.
As to the plot itself: aside from the rat idea, there were no surprises and I was tempted to give up several times.
As to the plot itself: aside from the rat idea, there were no surprises and I was tempted to give up several times.
December 18, 2019
I started the book with zero expectations but I really struggled with the writing style. I gave up about half way through, and had put it down for a couple of weeks. I picked it up a few days ago and managed to make it all the way to the end where it got a bit interesting but it's not really my cup of tea. The pacing was a bit off and I found the transitions a bit rough at times.
February 5, 2024
This book had its ups and downs. It sort of reminded me of a bad version of The Wonderling and The Tale of Desperaux. I personally didn’t like the way the book was written and there was some things missing from the plot. A lot of random things were also mentioned and i do not believe they were very usefull. The book was interesting but also boring and a bit stupid.
July 3, 2017
I found this book very hard going. It is well written in the respect that you invest in the characters but it's hard to let it draw you in. In places I was tempted to give up reading but I didn't and persevered till the end.
Read
January 24, 2020Darker and more gory than I would have guessed by the cover, but overall I found this to be sort of lovely. A tale of orphans looking after each other, rats just trying to do the right thing, and the good guys ultimately triumphing over the bad guys.
November 14, 2017
I couldn't finish it...
March 29, 2018
I was intrigued, I wasn't intrigued ....
ended up giving up a third of the way through
ended up giving up a third of the way through
August 10, 2018
A very different book, with both a rat and a human narrator. Difficult to classify it was definitely a good read.
August 14, 2019
Solid 3, not bad, but not great either. Way, way darker than I thought it would be, but it got happier at the end.
November 30, 2020
It is a really good book, you get to see both perspectives on the situation that goes on in the story.
May 7, 2023
I liked it a lot. It made me want to get more pet rats...
January 4, 2013
Dogboy lives in the dump with his best friend Caz. He earns pennies to feed them both by assisting the rat-catcher Bill Grubstaff. When he is offered work by a local scientist, he is soon drawn into a plot to declare war on rats. Below ground the rats are mourning the loss of their king and preparing to crown his successor. Young taster Efren, goes against the rules of the kingdom and follows his old king above ground, only to witness his capture and resulting torture. By the very man now employing Dogboy. As their two worlds cross paths, both sides are preparing to do battle.
Never has the death of rats been so upsetting. The dual narrative of The Twyning means the story is told from both human and rodent perspectives and boy, are those perspectives different. I loved the contrast in perception between the two. Above ground rats are a problem and killing them a normal every day act. Even our human protagonist is an assistant to a rat-catcher but he is never portrayed as evil. Down below, the rats see humans as the enemy (rightly so) but they also have their own social structure and governance. Their society is shown not to be better than humanity but in parallel to it. One regime may be fair and just but the next is corrupt and oppressive.
I found the rats remained rattish throughout. To get round communication problems, Blacker has made them communicate through a form of telepathy (hey, we can’t prove otherwise and real rats do use a supersonic form of communication). So no, there are not really talking rats, something their anatomy wouldn’t allow. Even their “pulse” is a real thing, a distress signal that rats send out when they need help. OK I’m starting to become fascinated by rats now!
It was interesting to see that the idea stemmed from scientific study into whether rats possess empathy. The actual study involved a rat freeing another from a Perspex box. Where there was also chocolate available in another box, the rescuer would still free the rat first and then share the chocolate, even going so far as to carry the treats over to the distressed rat! Scientists may argue over the motive for this but I think it shows that rats are capable of acting better than some humans. And that is something that’s important to the novel.
At times the tone becomes a little like a children’s book. It is certainly not aimed at children; there’s plenty of violence and at least one scene that can only be described as gruesome. Maybe it’s the effects of having a rat as a narrator, who is intelligent in his own way but maybe not to the standard of a human adult.
The Twyning of the title is what is called a rat king in the real world. I don’t think I quite understood what it was at first, imagining a sort of conjoined twin. A rat king is a litter of rats who join together at their tails, whether tangled up or through layers of dirt (and worse). These groups can have up to 30 rats bound together! Later on, it does become clearer (and actually re-reading the first chapter, I’m not sure why I didn’t pick up on it). I’m not sure if googling it is beneficial; there is a scary mummified rat king in a German museum which doesn’t quite fit the tone of the book. The Twyning is seen and some sort of sacred animal treated with respect and consulted on matters of importance to the kingdom. However you perceive the creature, its significance is felt and I did find myself worrying about it at several points.
Whilst there were aspects that weren’t perfect, I really rather enjoyed this unique and entertaining tale. I found myself tearing up in places and cheering on the rat army in others. If you have ever looked in a rat’s eye and seen a spark of intelligence, you will love this book.
Never has the death of rats been so upsetting. The dual narrative of The Twyning means the story is told from both human and rodent perspectives and boy, are those perspectives different. I loved the contrast in perception between the two. Above ground rats are a problem and killing them a normal every day act. Even our human protagonist is an assistant to a rat-catcher but he is never portrayed as evil. Down below, the rats see humans as the enemy (rightly so) but they also have their own social structure and governance. Their society is shown not to be better than humanity but in parallel to it. One regime may be fair and just but the next is corrupt and oppressive.
I found the rats remained rattish throughout. To get round communication problems, Blacker has made them communicate through a form of telepathy (hey, we can’t prove otherwise and real rats do use a supersonic form of communication). So no, there are not really talking rats, something their anatomy wouldn’t allow. Even their “pulse” is a real thing, a distress signal that rats send out when they need help. OK I’m starting to become fascinated by rats now!
It was interesting to see that the idea stemmed from scientific study into whether rats possess empathy. The actual study involved a rat freeing another from a Perspex box. Where there was also chocolate available in another box, the rescuer would still free the rat first and then share the chocolate, even going so far as to carry the treats over to the distressed rat! Scientists may argue over the motive for this but I think it shows that rats are capable of acting better than some humans. And that is something that’s important to the novel.
At times the tone becomes a little like a children’s book. It is certainly not aimed at children; there’s plenty of violence and at least one scene that can only be described as gruesome. Maybe it’s the effects of having a rat as a narrator, who is intelligent in his own way but maybe not to the standard of a human adult.
The Twyning of the title is what is called a rat king in the real world. I don’t think I quite understood what it was at first, imagining a sort of conjoined twin. A rat king is a litter of rats who join together at their tails, whether tangled up or through layers of dirt (and worse). These groups can have up to 30 rats bound together! Later on, it does become clearer (and actually re-reading the first chapter, I’m not sure why I didn’t pick up on it). I’m not sure if googling it is beneficial; there is a scary mummified rat king in a German museum which doesn’t quite fit the tone of the book. The Twyning is seen and some sort of sacred animal treated with respect and consulted on matters of importance to the kingdom. However you perceive the creature, its significance is felt and I did find myself worrying about it at several points.
Whilst there were aspects that weren’t perfect, I really rather enjoyed this unique and entertaining tale. I found myself tearing up in places and cheering on the rat army in others. If you have ever looked in a rat’s eye and seen a spark of intelligence, you will love this book.
March 8, 2017
It took me a bit to get into, without it being confusing, since I can't say I'm used to books half from a rats point of view. I ended up really quite enjoying it.
October 31, 2014
Generally speaking, I am not one for fantasy literature. I prefer books that transform this world over books that build new worlds. Terrence Blacker’s The Twyning does both with great success.
The Twyning is a young adult novel, but most definitely one of those with appeal beyond this age group. The novel is set in the late 1800s. Peter and Caz, the main human characters are in their early teens, living in a rubbish tip in a hollow Peter’s dug into one of the mounds of trash. Peter picks up odd jobs as he can, most regularly working with Bill, who catches rats for use in rat pits, and for a doctor engaged in an obsessive campaign against rats.
But Blacker gives readers a second world, set below the streets of the city where Peter and Caz live. There we meet Efren, a young rat. Of course, readers can see where this is headed: rats hunted for sporting, hygenic, or political ends; two children who are cogs in these mechanisms of destruction deciding whether to place their loyalties with a human world that has treated them harshly or with the Kingdom, the world of rats they’ve been taught to despise.
The Kingdom, the rat-world, is a marvelously detailed creation with complex rituals, a tense political structure, and a variety of courts—the Court of Governance, the Court of Punishment, the Court of Warriors, the Court of Historians. Efren is a very junior member of the Court of Tasters, rats trained to detect poison-laced food. The Kingdom also has a spiritual center: the Twyning, a group of rats congenitally connected who rely on the community for necessities and who function as a single entity. (And, yes, these really do exist.)
This book had me captivated from the moment I began reading. It’s narrated in two voices—Peter’s and Efren’s—and weaves the two stories together in another sort of twyning: a cross-species bonding full of distrust that becomes increasingly central to the survival of both Peter and Caz and of the Kingdom.
This book has violent moments. First off, there are the rat pits, where human “sportsmen” wager against each other, predicting which dogs will kill the most rats most efficiently. There are also two large-scale rat hunts. Normally, I can’t stomach books with violence toward animals, but in The Twyning, this violence is central to the story, and Blacker depicts it clearly, but never luridly.
In all, The Twyning is a remarkable tale that makes for compelling reading. The reader wants to spend time exploring the Kingdom, observing the ethos and actions that hold it together. The reader also longs for a happy ending for Peter and Caz. Once one starts reading, it is very, very hard to put this book down. Whether or not you’re a young adult, this is a book that will have you reading long past your usual bedtime.
The Twyning is a young adult novel, but most definitely one of those with appeal beyond this age group. The novel is set in the late 1800s. Peter and Caz, the main human characters are in their early teens, living in a rubbish tip in a hollow Peter’s dug into one of the mounds of trash. Peter picks up odd jobs as he can, most regularly working with Bill, who catches rats for use in rat pits, and for a doctor engaged in an obsessive campaign against rats.
But Blacker gives readers a second world, set below the streets of the city where Peter and Caz live. There we meet Efren, a young rat. Of course, readers can see where this is headed: rats hunted for sporting, hygenic, or political ends; two children who are cogs in these mechanisms of destruction deciding whether to place their loyalties with a human world that has treated them harshly or with the Kingdom, the world of rats they’ve been taught to despise.
The Kingdom, the rat-world, is a marvelously detailed creation with complex rituals, a tense political structure, and a variety of courts—the Court of Governance, the Court of Punishment, the Court of Warriors, the Court of Historians. Efren is a very junior member of the Court of Tasters, rats trained to detect poison-laced food. The Kingdom also has a spiritual center: the Twyning, a group of rats congenitally connected who rely on the community for necessities and who function as a single entity. (And, yes, these really do exist.)
This book had me captivated from the moment I began reading. It’s narrated in two voices—Peter’s and Efren’s—and weaves the two stories together in another sort of twyning: a cross-species bonding full of distrust that becomes increasingly central to the survival of both Peter and Caz and of the Kingdom.
This book has violent moments. First off, there are the rat pits, where human “sportsmen” wager against each other, predicting which dogs will kill the most rats most efficiently. There are also two large-scale rat hunts. Normally, I can’t stomach books with violence toward animals, but in The Twyning, this violence is central to the story, and Blacker depicts it clearly, but never luridly.
In all, The Twyning is a remarkable tale that makes for compelling reading. The reader wants to spend time exploring the Kingdom, observing the ethos and actions that hold it together. The reader also longs for a happy ending for Peter and Caz. Once one starts reading, it is very, very hard to put this book down. Whether or not you’re a young adult, this is a book that will have you reading long past your usual bedtime.
September 10, 2014
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. Beneathe 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.
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. Beneathe 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.
February 17, 2023
Beautifully written exploration of familiar topics like friendship, loyalty, trust, hate, enmity in an unfamiliar tangle of rat-rat, rat-human, and human-human relationships in a turn-of-the-century setting (my guess).
The main speculative premise is that rats are intelligent and conscious beings with a sophisticated and structured society and that they communicate telepathically among each other but also with appropriately gifted humans. Otherwise there are not many fantasy elements here.
The main characters, rats and humans, are nicely fleshed out and show believable motivations and development. The story is a fun to read page turner which has a few rather horrific, gory scenes.
The main speculative premise is that rats are intelligent and conscious beings with a sophisticated and structured society and that they communicate telepathically among each other but also with appropriately gifted humans. Otherwise there are not many fantasy elements here.
The main characters, rats and humans, are nicely fleshed out and show believable motivations and development. The story is a fun to read page turner which has a few rather horrific, gory scenes.
August 28, 2014
I received an ARC of this novel courtesy of ArmchairBEA 2014 and the publishers. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2...
The author created a very peculiar world with The Twyning, a twist on your good ol’ exterminator vs the rat population. The world he created in this novel reminded me of Brian Jacques’ Redwall series and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere with the overall gloomy atmosphere, the mysterious atmosphere and the underground world. The rat kingdom has its own society and practices that was quite complex, especially as various factions begin to vye for power.
While the characters–both rat and human–come from different backgrounds and life experiences, they weren’t really interesting or garnered my attention enough to care about the events that unfolded for then. Caz was the only character who had an interesting back story that had me really intrigued, but otherwise I honestly wasn’t compelled to know what happened next, except to know whether everyone made it through their respective ordeals.
The Twyning was weirdly interesting enough with a curious world-building involved but otherwise it wasn’t really for me. I’m also not sure if the target audience will enjoy this novel; I thought the language used was a little too stiff, more for adult fantasy, than for children’s/young adult fantasy. But each to their own. I may not have enjoyed it but I’m sure there’s some young readers out there who would relish this story.
The author created a very peculiar world with The Twyning, a twist on your good ol’ exterminator vs the rat population. The world he created in this novel reminded me of Brian Jacques’ Redwall series and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere with the overall gloomy atmosphere, the mysterious atmosphere and the underground world. The rat kingdom has its own society and practices that was quite complex, especially as various factions begin to vye for power.
While the characters–both rat and human–come from different backgrounds and life experiences, they weren’t really interesting or garnered my attention enough to care about the events that unfolded for then. Caz was the only character who had an interesting back story that had me really intrigued, but otherwise I honestly wasn’t compelled to know what happened next, except to know whether everyone made it through their respective ordeals.
The Twyning was weirdly interesting enough with a curious world-building involved but otherwise it wasn’t really for me. I’m also not sure if the target audience will enjoy this novel; I thought the language used was a little too stiff, more for adult fantasy, than for children’s/young adult fantasy. But each to their own. I may not have enjoyed it but I’m sure there’s some young readers out there who would relish this story.
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