Author: Scott Cawthon & Kyra Breed-Wrisley
Publisher: Scholastic
Date of publication: June 2017
The highly anticipated sequel to the bestselling Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes.
It's been a year since the horrific events at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and Charlie is just trying to move on. Even with the excitement of a new school and a fresh start, she's still haunted by nightmares of a masked murderer and four gruesome animatronic puppets. Charlie thinks her ordeal is over, but when a series of bodies are discovered near her school bearing wounds that are disturbingly familiar she finds herself drawn back into the world of her father's frightening creations. Something twisted is hunting Charlie, and this time if it finds her, it's not letting her go.
The Twisted Ones is the second book in the "Five Nights at Freddy's" series. It's based on the video game of the same name. The story picks up months after the events of the first book, The Silver Eyes. This time around, Charlie has started college and is trying to put her life back together. Things are going great until people start turning up dead around camp.
I enjoyed this sequel a lot. Even though the characters are in college, it was a clean and only mildly bloody. As the title hints to, there is a twist in this one. I'm not going to spoil it. This storyline was definitely a lot creepier than the first book. The final third of the story was fast paced and actually kind of scary for a middle grade/YA horror story. I'm not sure I could look at little kids statues the same way again after reading this book.
My biggest complaint is that there weren't a lot of answers as to what was going on in this one. I have a few questions lingering in my mind. It ends on a cliffhanger, which is frustrating. I hope there is another one coming out this summer. I want to know what happens next.
Authors: Scott Cawthon & Kira Breed-Wrisley
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Date of publication: September 2016
Ten years after the horrific murders at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza that ripped their town apart, Charlie, whose father owned the restaurant, and her childhood friends reunite on the anniversary of the tragedy and find themselves at the old pizza place which had been locked up and abandoned for years. After they discover a way inside, they realize that things are not as they used to be. The four adult-sized animatronic mascots that once entertained patrons have changed. They now have a dark secret . . . and a murderous agenda.
I will admit to having only played the first game once or twice. I didn't really find it scary, but maybe the later games were. This book was a top pick at my kids' middle school book fair this past fall, so I gave it a try. I will preface this all by saying that the author has said that it is a alternate imagining of the events in the Five Nights at Freddy's video games. Apparently some fans had issue with the book not following the games. It was never really meant to. I think if you are a fan of the games and you go into the book with that in mind, you will enjoy it a lot more.
I thought this was a fun book. It reminded me of the Christopher Pike books I loved in middle school. I have always thought the animals at Chuckee Cheese were creepy. Given that this is about creepy animatronics, the creepiness factor was right on par with what I expected. I liked the characters and how the back story unfolded. There were some pretty tense moments that I think YA readers will get a good scare out of. For a YA horror, there was really nothing gory or objectionable, so I would say any middle grade lever reader would be fine with the content.
