Book #33: The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff

[grav_ity]

brennayovanoff on livejournal.

First, let me talk about the cover. Because everyone who sees it does. Seriously. While I was buying it, no fewer than four random strangers made a comment about it. And then all of my co-workers said they'd have picked it up, no matter where in the store it was shelved.

In fact, because it's that awesome, here is a picture of the cover:



SEE WHAT I MEAN?

The blurb (by m_stiefvater), reads thusly: I loved this eerie and beautiful story of ugly things. It should be read aloud after dark, at a whisper.

I read this book mostly after dark and, so help me, I could NOT GET WARM.

These fae are dark. And brutally honest. And kind of gross. And very, very desperate. But so lyrically and cleverly woven together that sometimes you forget about it. The humans are complicated, shallow, wonderful and kind of wretched. Usually all at once.

It's not my usual thing, but it somehow managed to push all of my buttons in a way that Sarah Rees Brennan's books did not. Possibly because there wasn't a lot of lying? Or deliberate meanness? Or maybe it's because I found Emma about a million times more interesting than Alan. ;)

The other thing about this book is that it's just stunning. You can see how the concept could have gone off the rails in a huge way, or gotten bogged down, bu it didn't. If you've read Brenna's short stories, you know how creepy and detailed she is. That paid out in FULL in this novel. The first paragraph kind of destroyed my brain, and then I spent the rest of the book putting it back together.

So if you read Rees-Brennan and it just didn't click, read this book. If you liked "The Perilous Gard" as a child, and can handle your faeries just a shade darker, read this book. And if you can't get the cover out of your head, and who could blame you, read this book.

8 out of 10 (but 11 for the cover. Because, REALLY!)

Comments

[poseiwriting.livejournal.com]

I so wanted to spend Sunday reading this... but did that happen... no. I can't wait to read it!

Only thing that bothers me: My daughters bassinet looks creepily like the stroller on the cover of this book in the dark. scarrrry. :P

~P~

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Oooh. So what is it about? Amazon's pretty sketchy.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

To be honest, even the BOOK JACKET is kind of sketchy. ;)

Basically, it's about a boy named Mackie, who is allergic to iron, blood and holy places. He's not human, but rather a changeling, having replaced the REAL Mackie Doyle when the latter was a baby. It's the story of his survival, and how he lived as fae in the human world.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Well I can see how being too explicit spoils the fun of some books, but thanks for the blurb :)

[emmy-roo.livejournal.com]

That looks very creepy.

I should put out a list of book recommendations on my lj. I've read a ton of incredible books recently.