2.3k reviews for:

The Changeling

Victor LaValle

3.86 AVERAGE

rheywood's review

4.0

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Was an unexpected twist.

jazatlast's review against another edition

4.0

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

jessica_rva's review

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 1%

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Premise not for me

wverdoni's review

2.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Decent until the last 1/3rd, then it got frustratingly dumb. Probably a book more for parents as it seems to focus on fantasy horrors around parental fears.

j_millareads's review

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

njakubowski5's review

3.0

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Creepy and lovely.

danielles_reads's review against another edition

4.0

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

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"When you have to save the one you love, you will become someone else, something else. You will transform. The only real magic is the things we'll do for the ones we love." 

I enjoyed this! It was a bit sillier at times than I expected, but it has a lot to say about parenthood (especially fatherhood) that I really appreciated, though I think this would hit very differently if I had children myself.

Apollo was an interesting character, and I liked seeing his relationship with Patrice and Emma. I'd say Emma was an enigma, and I think that was on purpose to generate the horror. It was wild to see the change in her as baby Brian grew older.

The plot kept me really engaged, though I was surprised at how casual some of the gore

and murdering

was, and how the consequences were never really addressed. It really felt super creepy at times. I like how LaValle incorporated the Internet and technology and made it important to the story (and also related it to traditional folktales), though some of it felt like the book equivalent of the typical movie scene of a character "hacking the mainframe" lol. I do wonder how LaValle would have written the book now, since social media has become so much more insidious in the seven years since this book was published. I thought the entire concept of

the troll (and the magic circling tree lol)

was really silly though, and undermined a little bit of the plot and theming.

Plus, it was a little silly how easily Apollo and Emma defeated it just by luring it out of the cave into the sun. Really, no one in the past couple hundred years thought of that?? Also I'm sorry but Kinder Garten is the stupidest fucking name and I could not take him seriously because of that like wtf why not just stick with William!

Really, the highlight of this book is its focus on parenthood, and especially fatherhood in modern times, with all the highs and the lows. It was so refreshing to see a male main character be so involved with his son, and his love for him felt palpable. Though I like how that was still critiqued and compared with Emma's experience of motherhood. It was also interesting to compare Apollo and Emma's parenting experience versus Lillian and Brian's. There was also some discussion of anti-Blackness, and how different Apollo experiences the world compared to the white characters in a way that felt like it was in direct conversation with typical horror tropes with Black characters.

So, this was a great read to accompany me on my long-haul flight, though I didn't love it as much as I was hoping to.

There were so many commonplace events he had expected to enjoy when Brian was born. Peeking in on his child during class. Parent-teacher conferences. Helping with homework in the evening. He hadn’t understood what a luxury such drudgery would be until he lost the chance.

“And they lived happily ever after,” Apollo whispered. Emma leaned into him.
“Today,” she said. “And they lived happily today.”
“Is that enough?” he asked, looking at Brian, looking at her.
“That’s everything, my love.”

Characters: 3.5

Plot / Pacing: 4

Setting / World Building: 4

Writing Style: 4.5

Themes: 4.5

Rating: 4 

lilyreadslate's review

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

_tomeraider's review

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This was such  an enthralling experience! It starts off pretty calm, but intriguing, and then it snowballs into this intense, fever dream of a dark fairytale. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and found it so difficult to put this down. 

Definitely my favorite Victor LaValle so far and it 100% solidifies LaValle as one of my favorite authors. 

[Fifth Blackoween read. 2024.
Prompt: A Book with Ancestral Knowledge
Location: St Treme's Graveyard]