Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
Wow. This book blew me away. It exceeded my expectations. Lavalle offers a multicultural retelling of ancient folklore, mixing old Scandinavian folktales, 20th Century American literature, 21st Century New York City, and internet culture, all told through the eyes of a biracial rare books dealer. A masterpiece. It’s a horror story. It’s a love story. It’s pure magic.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
overall, it’s a decent read. it has so much potential to be better but it just doesn’t hit the spot. the story itself was very promising but the execution wasn’t great. a whole section from the middle could’ve just been removed—it barely added anything to the book and just dragged it out for too long. the story/theme and overall outcome was interesting and unique—a great take on real-life folklore but just not well executed.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-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:
Complicated
Weird, haunting and super immersive. Victor writes characters in such an engaging, deeply emotional way. The first half of the book was a realistic biography of a Ugandan immigrant, her son, a rare books dealer and his future wife, a world travelling librarian. It's a love story all of its own, and I was just entranced! I mean... the subway scene!? There were so many little details and vignettes that have stayed with me. The second half of the book takes a wild and frankly, FRIGHTENING turn-- then, several other wild, spooky turns later wraps up in a Norwegian folkloric twist I didn't see coming at all!
The only reason I'm not giving it a full 5/5 is that I didn't fully feel like the folklore was explained or developed (especially the lore shared between women and their island community). Anddd I had trouble believing that Emma would be able to integrate back into her relationship with Apollo and "normality" after being a wild woods witch and subsisting off of scraps of boiled sheep heads
It isn’t scary. It isn’t clever. It reads like one of those formulaically bad YA horror series novels I loved as a preteen.
I enjoyed The Changeling a great deal. I was excited to check it out after loving The Ballad of Black Tom when I read it a while ago. I've always been intrigued by myth surrounding changelings, and I liked LaValle's interpretation here. I enjoyed getting to know Apollo and Emma a little before all hell breaks loose. I was actually settling in for a longer build-up. But then things got intense much quicker than I expected. I have heard there is an Apple TV adaptation. I'll have to check that out. I'm intrigued to see how they'd handle the finale of the book.
Full video review
Full video review
Wow. I feel like I can’t saying anything without ruining everything. Just go read it!
This was not what I expected at all but one of the greatest books I’ve ever read
TW- childloss
TW- childloss