Relatively Normal Secrets

Tuesday and Zed Furst are normal kids with weird parents. They always felt like their parents had kept things from them. Maybe they were adopted, or maybe their parents kidnapped them when they were very young. Tuesday had plenty of strange ideas about their parents' secrets. Even their pet, Nyx, was weird. Nyx is a smart, and huge dog, who was only obedient around their mum. Inspired by their parents' upcoming business trip, Tuesday and Z decided to snoop around, and expose the secret but to no avail. After their parents leave, their snooping was interrupted by a pair of dangerous-looking men attempting to kidnap them. Thankfully, their dog intervened with her magical abilities allowing Tuesday and Zed the perfect escape to a huge tree their father had mentioned as a meeting spot in case of trouble. Soon after arriving at the tree a light descended towards them and transported them to the same forest in a different dimension called Fallinnheim. It was now up to Tuesday and Zed to find their way around this unfamiliar territory. With the help of clues hidden in nursery rhymes posted in different places around the towns of Fallinnheim, Tuesday and Zed inch closer to being reunited with their parents. But soon they will find out there are many people who wish to harm them because of their parents' secrets. Not everything is so grim for the siblings, on their journey they will form unexpected kinship which brings more answers than they ever hoped to find.

This is a lovely story filled with fantastical elements and a mystery that keeps the momentum going. Our protagonists with quirky names are intelligent and quite mature for their age. Tuesday is fierce and snappy, while Zed is more quiet, perceptive, and always writing things down in his notebook. The narrator, Ivy Tara Blair, does a great job of bringing all the characters to life. The world-building is soft and simple; it expands the story and shapes it into a memorable collage. The story's second half is set in a cave base hidden by a waterfall. One of the rooms is wall-to-wall covered in glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, and yes, it's my favorite place.

The story is action-driven, goal-oriented, and fast-paced. Despite that, there are enough moments for our protagonists to bond with other characters and engage in conversations that spark emotional growth. All in all, I enjoyed this story so so much, which is why I immediately listened to the second part.