Oliver Twisted [Kindle Edition]

'Oliver Twisted' is one of the first offerings from Egmont's new young adult imprint Electric Monkey. Published to tie-in with the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, 'Oliver Twisted' puts a fresh spin on the Dickens classic while remaining true to the spirit of the original.

I'm a huge admirer of Dicken's work so I was immediately intrigued about this title. Much like the author JD Sharpe, I've always loved 'Oliver Twist' and enjoyed the story of an orphan boy whose life eventually takes a turn for the better after enduring hardship and adversity. I was curious to see how the author was going to reintroduce this story to a whole new audience of readers while injecting it with a modern twist. The introduction of vampyres, zombies and werewolves does the job quite nicely!

Familiar characters are not forgotten and are cleverly interwoven into the story, including faces such as the Artful Dodger, Nancy, Bill Sykes and the wicked Fagin. It was fun to see Dodger turning himself into a wisp of smoke and Fagin having a magical hold over his boys.

A new backstory is invented for Oliver who is still an orphan but now also becomes a pawn who the infamous and evil Brotherhood want to use to defeat the Knights of Nostradamus. I thought this was an interesting subversion of the original plot and meant that the story actually became far darker and creepier than the classic we all know and love. Before starting this book I did worry that it might be a bit too gory for my tastes but in actuality I found that there were just the right amount of thrills and spills to make this a compulsive and exciting read.

'Oliver Twisted' is an inventive take on a much loved classic and one which will have widespread appeal for both a male and female readership. I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to more books by JD Sharpe in the future.

Oliver Twisted introduces us to an Oliver not quite like any we've seen before. He's still an orphan growing up in an orphanage but this is a world where vampyres snack on the children! After making the decision to go to London Oliver barely survives a woe-begotten (zombie) attack on the journey, it is only thanks to the help of Dodger that he arrives in one piece. But that is just the start of his troubles and if you thought the Bill Sykes and Fagin you've read about before were evil you haven't seen anything yet - Oliver Twisted is even darker than the original tale!

You think you know Oliver's story but JD Sharpe has managed to include some fabulous twists in the characters we love (or in some cases love to hate!). So while she has managed to keep the essence of the story she has also managed to make it her own and put a fresh spin on a much loved tale.

Oliver Twisted is a great debut and one that I'm sure will appeal to both boys and girls. It is a very dark and gory read so not one I would have wanted to read just before bed (but then I'm a well known wuss when it comes to horror!) but I found myself enjoying the gruesome details much more than I expected to. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes seeing a new twist on classic stories, especially if they also happen to be a horror fan. I'm looking forward to seeing what JD Sharpe comes up with next.

I think more or less everyone knows what a mash-up novel is, you take an existing story and then add extra bits to it. I am lucky because I managed to get a proof copy of this some months ago, thus carrying on my sort of addiction to these types of tales. I have now read this a few times and there is one thing I should point out. When I first opened this I thought this is just an abridged version of Oliver Twist with gory bits added, but after a little while of reading you realise that doesn't do this justice, or is really that good a description, indeed this isn't like the usual mash-up tale.

We all know the basics of Dickens' famous story, even if you have never read it, because it has been filmed many times, there have been a few tv series, and of course it has become a well known musical. As you progress through this version you start to feel as if Oliver has been re-written, it has become darker than the original, which is dark in places, and a lot of the sentimentality has been dropped, meaning that this is a much leaner and more tightly constructed tale. The pieces of Oliver that we all know are still here, but appear in a much darker, in some cases almost gothic type horror tale.

Oliver Twisted is born in the Workhouse but prophecies say that he could be the saviour of Mankind, or its ultimate downfall. The 19th Century world that Oliver is born into is slightly different to ours, there are vampires and werewolves, as well as other creatures from the denizens of Hell. A portal is open between this world and Hell, and only Oliver can close it - but only if he wishes to do so. With the fight of good versus evil under way, which side will Oliver take? Although in Dickens' original you ultimately know how it will turn out, this book does have you wondering, and also there is scope here for a serial.

Although this is put out for the young adults market, the only people who have borrowed this from me so far have been adults, who have all loved it, so it should satisfy a lot of people. I think we all know people who aren't Dickens fans, but this is different and those people may find themselves enjoying this.