Review: Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater, illustrated by Morgan Beem

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Swamp Thing follows twin brothers Alec and Walker Holland as they spend their last summer before college at their cousin's house in Virginia. Alec spends his time researching in a lab-he is a plant nerd, and Walker tries to get him out of his shell by attempting to get him involved in the social scene. As time goes by, it becomes clear that Alec's experiment has unintended consequences.

Let's start with the art! It is beautiful and eerie and compelling. It is very legible and does an excellent job conveying the tone and emotions of the story.

The story is also compelling; it does a good job making you care about the characters quickly and sets up the stakes and information about the world very well. My only issue was that some of the later on plot details felt like the needed a bit more time of adequately build; we are introduced to a mystery that is solved almost immediately after it is introduced, and I would have liked the end to be a bit longer because it felt quick. Also, disclaimer, I knew nothing about Swamp Thing coming into this, so I cannot comment on Stiefvater's specific approach in comparison.

Overall I think this was a fun, quick read that anyone who likes Maggie Stiefvater, sibling stories, or graphic novels that you will fly through.

I gave this book four stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.