Book Review – Odd & True by Cat Winters (Spoiler Free!)

Synopsis:

Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.

In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.

Review:

This book was definitely not what I expected it to be, and in this case, that’s a good thing. It took me a few chapters to get into, but after that I was engrossed in the story. The chapters take turns in narrating from Od’s point of view of the past, to Tru’s point of view of the present. I liked this, and thought it was very clever of Cat Winter’s to do. The chapter would end on a mini cliff-hanger, and if you wanted to know what happened next you’d need to read at least two more chapters to find out! I understand that some might find this annoying, but I really liked having an excuse to read even more!

I also love the relationship between Od and Tru. You can see how much they love and care about each other, even though they’ve spent time apart. The way Cat Winters portrays the bond of sisterhood is brilliant, and I couldn’t help but think of my sister and I when I was reading.

The two main characters are written brilliantly, too. I really connected with them, and I loved how Tru didn’t let her disability stop her from doing what she wanted, and how she ignored what others thought of her because of her disability. A lot of the time in YA books, you’ll find that the main characters are next to perfect, or their imperfections are miraculously cured by the end of the book, but it wasn’t the case here, which I thought was amazing. Because what teenager is perfect?

There are also a lot of hard-hitting themes in this book that I really was not expecting, I won’t mention any as this is a spoiler-free review, but I’m glad that Winter’s brought in things that happen in real life and didn’t try and sugarcoat anything.

To conclude my review, I really loved this book and would definitely recommend it. I really like the cover, and the plot line is definitely promising. 4/5 stars overall.

Thank you to Amulet Books for sending me a copy of Odd & True to review in exchange for an honest review.

Odd & True by Cat Winters (Amulet Books, £12.99).

-Books&Belle xx