I loved the characters. Uncle Earl and Simon were fabulous. I especially loved the scenes where the ex-husband calls and Kara doesn't give a shit because there's much worse stuff going on.

I felt like the other world was a letdown. I would rate this a three if not for the characters and Kingfisher's writing. Creatures that want to kill/eat you and can know where you are if you think about them. That's overdone.

I read The Twisted Ones in a tiny studio in Kyoto on the eighth story as a typhoon raged around me. That book scared the pants off me. This one wasn't as scary. I'm not sure why. I know the willows are a reference, but willows that change position aren't particularly scary. Things whose danger is known because Simon says so aren't particularly scary. I think what was missing was a feeling of malice - if new characters who could have been saviors actually were evil, or the item that caused it all had been more alive/humanoid. It's hard to attribute malice to willows.