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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Let's start from the beginning.
Victor LaValle can obviously write. The first third of the book features some really tender and beautiful writing on courtship and new parenthood. Perhaps if this was a book about that, it would be more than enough. However, LaValle being LaValle, doesn't do 'just that' very well. Instead, he chose to include an urban, dark fantasy element, and this is also the part of the book that derails the entire story.
The Changeling by LaValla is a giant mess of a book. Forget about the tender, beautiful writing I described earlier. You will not find any of that in the second half of the book. After 'the incident' — and you will know what it is once you get to it — the quality of writing takes a major dip into the gutters.
It is made worse by nonsensical fantasy elements, with a whole host of unanswered questions, such as 1) who the fuck is Cal? 2) where the fuck is Cal's island 3) how did Cal get in touch with Emma in the first place? 4) what's with Apollo's nightmares? 5) why is there a fucking troll living in Queens? 6) how/when did Emma become a witch? 7) WHY IS THERE A FUCKING TROLL LIVING IN QUEENS? 8) how/when did William Wheeler exchange their baby? 9) WHY THE FUCK IS THE MAIN VILLAIN CALLED KINDER GARTEN? 10) what's with the missiles that landed on the island? 11) how did the troll acquire those missiles? 12) how did a swimming troll help the Norwegian family migrate to the US on a ship? Did he swim alongside the boat? How did he survive for 14 weeks at sea? 13) without the children he abducted and ate, what else did the troll eat? 14) WHY IS THERE A FUCKING TROLL LIVING IN QUEENS?
And this being an urban fantasy, it also features one of the biggest pet peeves: characters accept fantastical events/creatures way too easily. Because the story is set in modern-day New York City, a lot of these horror-fantasy things are happening inexplicably. However, our protagonists just sort of accept that they are happening within a sentence or two and just go along with it.
Case in point: when Apollo returns from the witch island — which is introduced then abandoned for no apparent reason — he goes to meet his best friend for help. LaValle largely skips over the conversation between Apollo and Patrice at the door, but it basically goes like this: "Dude, I know this sounds crazy, but I just came back from an island in the middle of East River, and it's populated by a bunch of witches, mothers and children. Anyway, there's this head witch, her name is Cal, and she says that there are evil people abducting babies — including Brian! Baby Brian is not Baby Brian, and I was told that the proof is in the grave. So I need to go to the cemetery, dig out Baby Brian's grave, and see it for myself. Also, there is FUCKING TROLL — are you with me?"
Patrice, without ever having been introduced to any of the magical/fantastical elements, just sort of agrees because they are supposed to be, I don't know, brothers or something — wait, WHAT?
Another pet peeve of mine in horror is the utilisation of technology. Parts of this book feels like a techno thriller, because the main villain, on top of being a baby-abducting asshole, is also a really, really good computer hacker that can hack any computer and smartphone. Anytime the characters run into problems, Patrice, the protagonist's best friend, fishes out an iPad to do some technological wizardry. I refuse to believe that there is an app that can be run on an iPad that will overwrite a security system — that's just not possible. There is something incredulous about technology that takes the believability out of horror. I also don't understand why LaValle finds the need to include this as part of the narrative. Is he trying to say that parents are sharing too much of their children's lives online? Is it a criticism of millennial parents? Why is the technology angle necessary in this story, which is already a hot mess?
This book doesn't get the one-star-of-death from me, because the first third of the book, or actually the first half of the book, is genuinely good. I think, just because LaValle has an interest in horror as a genre, doesn't mean he should dabble in it at all. Perhaps he should take the first half of the story — the one about courtship, parenthood and race — and expand on it. There is a far better story there, instead of you trying to jam a round peg into a square hole. I admire your attempt at mixing the genres, but this simply does not work.
Victor LaValle can obviously write. The first third of the book features some really tender and beautiful writing on courtship and new parenthood. Perhaps if this was a book about that, it would be more than enough. However, LaValle being LaValle, doesn't do 'just that' very well. Instead, he chose to include an urban, dark fantasy element, and this is also the part of the book that derails the entire story.
The Changeling by LaValla is a giant mess of a book. Forget about the tender, beautiful writing I described earlier. You will not find any of that in the second half of the book. After 'the incident' — and you will know what it is once you get to it — the quality of writing takes a major dip into the gutters.
It is made worse by nonsensical fantasy elements, with a whole host of unanswered questions, such as 1) who the fuck is Cal? 2) where the fuck is Cal's island 3) how did Cal get in touch with Emma in the first place? 4) what's with Apollo's nightmares? 5) why is there a fucking troll living in Queens? 6) how/when did Emma become a witch? 7) WHY IS THERE A FUCKING TROLL LIVING IN QUEENS? 8) how/when did William Wheeler exchange their baby? 9) WHY THE FUCK IS THE MAIN VILLAIN CALLED KINDER GARTEN? 10) what's with the missiles that landed on the island? 11) how did the troll acquire those missiles? 12) how did a swimming troll help the Norwegian family migrate to the US on a ship? Did he swim alongside the boat? How did he survive for 14 weeks at sea? 13) without the children he abducted and ate, what else did the troll eat? 14) WHY IS THERE A FUCKING TROLL LIVING IN QUEENS?
And this being an urban fantasy, it also features one of the biggest pet peeves: characters accept fantastical events/creatures way too easily. Because the story is set in modern-day New York City, a lot of these horror-fantasy things are happening inexplicably. However, our protagonists just sort of accept that they are happening within a sentence or two and just go along with it.
Case in point: when Apollo returns from the witch island — which is introduced then abandoned for no apparent reason — he goes to meet his best friend for help. LaValle largely skips over the conversation between Apollo and Patrice at the door, but it basically goes like this: "Dude, I know this sounds crazy, but I just came back from an island in the middle of East River, and it's populated by a bunch of witches, mothers and children. Anyway, there's this head witch, her name is Cal, and she says that there are evil people abducting babies — including Brian! Baby Brian is not Baby Brian, and I was told that the proof is in the grave. So I need to go to the cemetery, dig out Baby Brian's grave, and see it for myself. Also, there is FUCKING TROLL — are you with me?"
Patrice, without ever having been introduced to any of the magical/fantastical elements, just sort of agrees because they are supposed to be, I don't know, brothers or something — wait, WHAT?
Another pet peeve of mine in horror is the utilisation of technology. Parts of this book feels like a techno thriller, because the main villain, on top of being a baby-abducting asshole, is also a really, really good computer hacker that can hack any computer and smartphone. Anytime the characters run into problems, Patrice, the protagonist's best friend, fishes out an iPad to do some technological wizardry. I refuse to believe that there is an app that can be run on an iPad that will overwrite a security system — that's just not possible. There is something incredulous about technology that takes the believability out of horror. I also don't understand why LaValle finds the need to include this as part of the narrative. Is he trying to say that parents are sharing too much of their children's lives online? Is it a criticism of millennial parents? Why is the technology angle necessary in this story, which is already a hot mess?
This book doesn't get the one-star-of-death from me, because the first third of the book, or actually the first half of the book, is genuinely good. I think, just because LaValle has an interest in horror as a genre, doesn't mean he should dabble in it at all. Perhaps he should take the first half of the story — the one about courtship, parenthood and race — and expand on it. There is a far better story there, instead of you trying to jam a round peg into a square hole. I admire your attempt at mixing the genres, but this simply does not work.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is not your typical fairy tale and in fact I thought I’d misunderstood the premise for a while.
Apollo Kagwa is a second hand book dealer, trying hard to scrabble a living together while waiting for that one big find. He is haunted by nightmares from his childhood but sets out to be the best father he can when he and Emma find that they are expecting, and he can’t wait to read his favourite book, Outside Over There to his child. But things go very differently than he had planned and events beyond his comprehension overtake his world. This is a fairy tale which is entirely based on the horror of modern day society and only touches on the supernatural much later in the tale. Not what I expected, slow to get going, but it was a good read nonetheless!
Apollo Kagwa is a second hand book dealer, trying hard to scrabble a living together while waiting for that one big find. He is haunted by nightmares from his childhood but sets out to be the best father he can when he and Emma find that they are expecting, and he can’t wait to read his favourite book, Outside Over There to his child. But things go very differently than he had planned and events beyond his comprehension overtake his world. This is a fairy tale which is entirely based on the horror of modern day society and only touches on the supernatural much later in the tale. Not what I expected, slow to get going, but it was a good read nonetheless!
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
This really seemed like something I would love, and it started out well enough. It fell apart as it went on and became quite a slog, unfortunately. I could not get into it and did not care how it turned out.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No