****Beautiful cover, don't you agree?****
Book Synopsis
Sarah and her twin brother Jon are heirs to an ancient magical realm and its most valuable treasure, an enchanted library. The library endows readers with the supernatural means of crossing into the uncharted inner-sanctum of the second dimension, inhabited with peculiar and sometimes perilous creatures.
The children are emboldened with a wondrous mystical gift that no other being has ever possessed. But fate intervenes and triggers a disastrous inter-dimensional war that disrupts the fabric of time and space spanning multiple universes, tearing destiny a new and savage pathway.
The two must rescue their world from a phantom hybrid alien race controlled by a demented dark-wizard, Jeremy Sermack. They will either assimilate or be exterminated.
Will they be the saviors the prophets spoke of, or will they retreat to the perceived safety of their distant homeland?
My Review
TwoSpells is a book full of action, magic, suspense, and a pure, new imaginative world. It takes a few chapters to get into the fun stuff, but once you get past the first 2-3 chapters you are pulled into this mystical world.
There is a lot of world building that is presented chapter by chapter as certain things happen. The main characters realize that not only are their grandparents magical beings, but so are they, twins Sarah and Jon. I feel like the twins are written well for the ages they're portraying in the story and of course acted like siblings.
I loved the library TwoSpells and the exciting things you could do within the pages of the books. Basically anyone could travel within the pages and "live" the story and meet the characters. It's really close to time travel which I love. There is a virus attacking the characters within the pages of the book and TwoSpells itself. It was entertaining as the twins meet many familiar characters from cherished books and also many scary creatures such as dragons, dinosaurs, trolls,and werewolves that cause a lot of the intense action in the book. There is a magical war going on and Sarah, Jon, their mother, and grandparents are in the thick of this lively novel.
As a precaution, know that there is some mild cursing(damn, hell, Bloody- its takes place in Wales), and mild violent scenes, some blood and green goo, shark & vampire bat attacks etc. that could be scary to some kids. This is why I recommend this book to teens 13 years old and up. Even though your child may be reading on a higher level, I still recommend this book mainly to teens and adults.
If you're looking for a new book that is a blend of Harry Potter, Narnia, and Lord of the Rings, TwoSpells is very similar. The action is mainly fast paced, has relatable heroes that you enjoy cheering on, horrid, very evil, bad guys, and an ending that leads right into the next book. How exciting! I'm glad that it is already half way written.
****Don't forget to read the interview that I did with the author, Mark Morrison down below. There are many interesting things you'll learn about this book.***
Excerpt
{Chapter 12}
THE FRONT DOOR LAY FLATTENED, hinges bent and twisted and the sliding bolt-lock contorted. The door jam was broken and splintered.
“What is this?” Grandpa roared, waving his walking stick at the mountainous intruders. “Which one of ya’ is gonna pay for all this?”
The dust settled and the two ominous figures stood just outside the doorway, the bright moon blazing behind them. Tattooed across their pale blue foreheads were the numbers thirty-seven and thirty-eight. Each was stuffed into a suit two sizes too small and busting at the seams, barely able to contain their hulking, muscular bodies. Black, wraparound sunglasses hid their eyes from view and Sarah could tell that something strange lay behind them. One muttered into a small microphone curled toward his lips and the other stared straight ahead.
Grandpa rolled up behind them. “Collectors!”
“Collectors?” Sarah whispered to Jon. He shrugged.
“You know why here,” Thirty-seven grunted, flipping one side of his jacket open and exposing a peculiar gold badge attached to his belt. It was a cluster of mechanical gears embedded with astrological symbols and a mechanical winged dragon clinging to a peculiar orbs.
“We do not!” Grandma shouted, leaning on her walker.
“Overdue book,” the other one boomed, holding out a six fingered hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about ya’ thug,” Grandma said, rolling her walker closer. “Who’s gonna fix me door?”
The Collectors muttered something in another language to one another.
“We haven’t even been ta’ the bloody library in years,” Grandpa argued. “Ya’ have that written in your records?”
Thirty-seven moved closer, his hand out again. “Special text overdue.”
Sarah and Jon eased backward a little. The tone of its voice sounded threatening.
Meet Author: Mark Morrison
{Mark and his daughter Sarah, when she was about ten years old, from whom the main character was inspired.}
Mark was born number seven of eight children in a small town in Ohio. His family moved to Florida where he grew up, met an incredible women, got married and raised four fantastic children, three boys and a girl.
Many years later an empty nest left him to his true calling, storytelling. His first remarkable story is about a heroin whose courage and unrestrained personality, like his daughters, breathes passion and fervor into this adrenaline packed fantastical story.
****Exclusive Interview****
with Author Mark Morrison
1. What gave you the idea to write Twospells?
My daughter in law whom we all love very much is a librarian. My oldest son asked me to finally write the piles of stories i'd partially written or just flesh out over the last many years. I agreed if he'd teach me how to write the correct way. He's a brilliant writer himself and agreed to commit the two years it took to personally tutor me and in return I gifted his wife the first novel I'd write. So I dreamed up TwoSpells to commemorate her and the way I feel about books.
2. Are your characters based on people you know in real life?
Yes, several are actual based on people I either know or were told growing up by my father really existed. (IE; Percy, Clyde Shyfoss and Jeremy Sermack, to name just two of them).
3. What is the hardest part of writing a book?
Writing the outline because I wrote this first of the TwoSpells series without one. I'm now trying to teach myself, by justified advice, that I should at least do a rough outline for the sake of time management. I'm trying my best. By the way, the second of the TwoSpells series is completely outlined and partially written already. On top of that, a mid-grade action fantasy adventure titled Corky is in final edit.
I wrote that novel for younger age children while I awaited the final edit of TwoSpells. Available soon.
4. Are you working on another book in the Twospells world?
Sorry I answered that in number 3 and it is better in my opinion because I won't need to do the tedious backstory work.
5. Name 1-2 of your favorite authors/books?
That is an interesting question and an incredibly tough one.
I've been told by so many people that I should read to learn from other authors and that doing so would make me a better person and writer. I think the book that gave me the most in that respect would have to be the Holy Bible. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not really a religious man but like my father I consider myself spiritual. With that said I feel that the Bible opened up my creative talents because I witnessed first hand how something written thousands of years ago could draw pure unrequited faith from not only me but millions of other readers. And none of us had actually experienced what was written with our own senses, seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, or tasting. Now that's an impressive book. And written by like 40 authors. So whether I feel it was a historical document or pure fiction doesn't really matter does it.
On a lighter note I definitely loved Charlotte's Web. I think so much of our lives are set in place from a very young age that would account for my feelings and influence from such an interesting story. What it did was make me come to grips with the fact that all living creatures had a story of their own. I began to see the world in a totally new perspective from that story on.
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