Middle grade literature is filled with stories about children discovering other worlds and dimensions and coming out having a learned a lesson from their visit. Oftentimes, the majority of the story is spent in these fantasy worlds. There, readers explore this world’s rules, meet fictional creatures, and solve a conflict that gets the heroes home. Author Charmayne Hafen has taken this genre and twisted it to build a fantasy novel where the characters easily travel in and out of the fantasy world in her Christian middle grade fantasy series, Journey to Twilight, Return to Twilight, and Trouble in Twilight.
The Land of Twilight Series plot summaries
Book 1: Journey to Twilight
Lorna Wilson has just moved to Crestwood, Arizona with her mom and baby brother after her parents divorce. She quickly makes friends with her neighbor, Ally, who tells her about a neighborhood bike race. The undefeated champion is a classmate named Sam Black. When Lorna challenges Sam to a race, the entire neighborhood comes out to cheer them on.
However, after her second lap around the block, Lorna finds herself transported to an otherworldly dimension known as Twilight. There, she meets a leprechaun named Trix who asks her to retrieve three items in exchange for one wish. Wanting nothing more than to have her parents get back together, Lorna seeks out these items in order to earn the wish that will bring her family back together.
But things don’t go according to plan. Lorna finds herself in a position to help someone other than herself with her one wish.
Book 2: Return to Twilight
Lorna and Sam have started sixth grade, and Lorna has befriended a new girl named Jenny. Jenny is a bad girl who encourages Lorna to shoplift and cut school. She’s also been ignoring Sam who feels friendless and abandoned. Sam ends up befriending a nerdy kid at school, Thomas, just to have someone to hang out with. But he’s still concerned with the dark path that Lorna is heading down. He visits the Land of Twilight in order to get help.
There, Trix and Melvin provide him with a quest that will restore Lorna to her old self. But Sam also notices that Twilight doesn’t look the way it once did. If it continues to disintegrate, there soon may be no Twilight left.
Book 3: Trouble in Twilight
Twilight has been swallowed up by The Whatever, forcing Trix and Melvin to flee into the Land of Real-Time. Lorna and Sam agree to help them, but The Whatever is close on their tail. Trix explains that restoring a Real-Timer’s spiritual beliefs is the only way to restore The Land of Twilight and get rid of The Whatever. But time is running out. Lorna and Sam race to keep Trix and Melvin safe by hiding out in different moments of history where they can be inspired by real faith in practice.
A grounded fantasy story
I usually shy away from reading fantasy books. However, I tend to like fantasy that is grounded in the real world or flip flops between worlds. Most of the Journey to Twilight series takes place in our world/reality. Lorna and Sam visit using various methods but return within a few pages. It’s like a condensed version of Oz or Wonderland.
I also tend to get bogged down in the world building aspect of fantasy books. Twilight is described very vividly without too many strange world building details. It’s basically a mirror version of our world. Day is night and night is day. The colors of nature are opposite of our world. The sky is green, water is yellow, etc.
Hafen has based he world on Celtic mythology. So, the creatures are very familiar. Trix, Melvin, and The Whatever are the only characters we meet from Twilight. It’s more of a colorful deserted island than a big, imagined world with a bunch of creatures and rules to established. I liked this simplified fantasy world building technique. It also contrasted nicely with the dry Arizona desert where our heroes live.
The characters
The heroes of the Twilight trilogy are also characters that you can root for. Even at their worst, they are still likable and sympathetic. Both Lorna and Sam have in-depth character arcs and high stakes conflicts to overcome. They also have morality tests to pass where they must do the right thing when given tough ultimatums.
Hafen also makes sure to inject a bit of diversity into her cast. Lorna’s ancestry is half-Jamaican, half-Irish, giving her a unique look with her dark skin and red hair. Most of the other characters, including Sam, are Caucasian. Sam’s defining trait is a long scar that runs down his face. It’s prevalent in the beginning of book one but isn’t mentioned again throughout the series except in the illustrations drawn by Brianna Osaseri scattered throughout the pages.
The rest of the characters are pretty one dimensional. Lorna’s mother is the tough but fair foil who Lorna must tiptoe around, whether she is acting out or trying to get to Twilight. Her father is largely absent, creating a painful rift in her life that dictates a lot of her behavior.
Lorna’s two female friends, Ally and Jenny, are polar opposites and come and go from the story as temporary characters who don’t do much for the plot. Sam’s new friend, Thomas, too, despite being labeled a nerd doesn’t come off as much different from the rest of the characters despite his reputation. He likes to ride bikes and play video games just like Sam and Lorna. He too disappears after book 2.
Then there are the Twilight characters Trix and Melvin. Trix is the overly enthusiastic leprechaun while Melvin is the quiet, thoughtful ancient, wish-granting being. Neither became my favorite character, but they are integral to the trilogy.
The Christian angle
Book 1 of The Journey to Twilight series largely focuses on the scavenger hunt that Trix assigns to Lorna upon arriving in Twilight. There are no obvious ties to faith or Christianity. In fact, it’s more focused on the magical elements and friendship theme.
In Book 2, the conflict requires Lorna to call on her lost faith in order to keep her from heading into dangerous territory with Jenny as the result of her father’s continued abandonment. It’s then that you begin to see that Twilight is connected to human spirituality, something that didn’t seem apparent before. It only shows up towards the end of the story and is worked in organically. Still, restoring her faith isn’t enough to keep Twilight from disintegrating throughout the story.
A dark look at faith
In Book 3, the series becomes a full-fledged Christian morality tale. Trix tells Lorna and Sam that they basically need to convert a person to Christianity in order to save Twilight. Sam, who grew up with no religion, becomes that person.
While hiding out in ancient times, he meets a boy who turns out to be a young Jesus who preaches to him about God. Sam begins to have faith, but it’s not enough to save Twilight. Instead, he is shown a graphic image of the future and what will happen if he doesn’t convert his father as well. His father had lost his faith long ago and is too concerned with work to listen to his son. Sam feels that he’s failed when he is unable to convert his father at the last minute.
This plot element didn’t sit well with me. It paints a picture that bad things will happen to you unless you force yourself and everyone else you know to believe in God. To me, it was too dark a turn and too muddled a message for young readers.
Previously, I had read Hafen’s YA novel Indebted: The Berkshire Dragon which works in Christianity in a more organic and less preachy way. It uses faith and belief to help the characters excel, not stand in their way of a happy ending.
My recommendation
I recommend Charmayne Hafen’s Journey to Twilight series to young readers who love books about traveling to new worlds and dimensions while still exploring real life conflicts about friendship, family, and growing up. I do want to say that there are some disturbing moments littered throughout each book. Luckily, the magical elements help the characters through these dicey situations in a way that a non-fantasy novel couldn’t pull off.
Journey to Twilight is my favorite book of the series. It’s the most grounded and straightforward of the three. It’s the most fleshed out of the series. Also, book 2 and 3 aren’t as heavily edited as book 1. I found many more spelling and grammar mistakes in the sequels as well as plot holes and story elements that are left hanging and characters that seem to disappear.
I would also be vigilant of the Christian themes, even for devout Christian readers. They might get the wrong idea about faith from some of the elements. However, I don’t believe that one book of middle grade fiction is likely to shape a reader’s entire belief system or that all young readers will take away the message that I took from the story.
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That review is helpful and I believe this series would be a good read for young adults. I like fantasy that is more grounded or has clear parallels to real life issues