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2.99 AVERAGE
2.99 AVERAGE
I should have known better than to pick up a Philippa Gregory book. Her grasp of history is tenuous, and she has next to no understanding of how people relate to one another. But the back cover looked so enticing, with talk of secret societies and magic and werewolves! It would be hard to make those things uninteresting, right?
WRONG.
The main characters are flat, boring, and- quite frankly- incredibly stupid. For all that they're described as being intelligent, they don't display it at all.
The plot is told to us through fairly lengthy exposition. In fact, most of what happens is described in dialogue form. The worst example of this was someone describing in dialogue the abbey that the main character had just entered, followed by a drawn map of the simple building.
The intrigue and drama? Barely there, and what is there is dull.
Basically... just don't read it. Avoid at all costs. Save yourself!
And for our final proof, this novel, set in 1453, opens with the line: "The hammering on the door shot him into wakefulness like a hand-gun going off in his face."
WRONG.
The main characters are flat, boring, and- quite frankly- incredibly stupid. For all that they're described as being intelligent, they don't display it at all.
The plot is told to us through fairly lengthy exposition. In fact, most of what happens is described in dialogue form. The worst example of this was someone describing in dialogue the abbey that the main character had just entered, followed by a drawn map of the simple building.
The intrigue and drama? Barely there, and what is there is dull.
Basically... just don't read it. Avoid at all costs. Save yourself!
And for our final proof, this novel, set in 1453, opens with the line: "The hammering on the door shot him into wakefulness like a hand-gun going off in his face."
Very boring. Took everything I had to finish it. The storyline could have been great but there wasn’t a wow factor. The best part of the book is Freize, he’s hilarious!
Also posted on Rally the Readers.
2.5 Stars
I had been looking forward to reading this because it’s YA historical fiction, which for me is a match made in heaven. Philippa Gregory is of course renowned for her adult historical fiction novels, so I was quite curious to check out her foray into YA. The book’s synopsis makes Changeling sound like an exciting, action-packed novel, with the promise of “werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers.” Unfortunately, the book fell short of my expectations with its mostly flat plot and characters.
Changeling starts off promisingly enough, with Luca having just been kicked out of his monastery for heresy. At this point I’m thinking, oooh, we have a rebel on our hands! I eagerly read on as Luca met the shady mystery man who’s with the equally enigmatic order that has extended its membership to Luca. I should have known right away from the vague description of Luca’s mission that this book was going to be nowhere near as exciting as the synopsis made it seem. Luca’s task is to map the fears that prevail in Christendom, or something along those lines; regrettably, I didn’t write down the exact phrase that was used. In the end, though, his adventures were less than extraordinary.
My original assumptions about Luca’s character were off base. Aside from being booted from St. Xavier’s, he’s not a very engaging protagonist. We just read about him travelling around with his friend/sidekick, Freize, the kitchen boy from the monastery and the book’s comic relief, and Brother Peter, a cleric and the requisite stick-in-the-mud. Seriously, the highlight of Brother Peter’s day must be breaking in a new quill to write with. At least I have some observations to make on Freize and Brother Peter’s personalities. I can’t really do the same for Luca because I’m still trying to figure out what his personality was supposed to be like.
The book’s female protagonist, Isolde, doesn’t fare much better in terms of character development. Once again, the main character is outshone by a secondary one, in this case, Isolde’s dearest friend, Ishraq. Ishraq has been trained in medicine and fighting and is pretty kick-ass. I didn’t have any particular problems with Isolde; she just didn’t stand out.
What disappointed me the most was how the paranormal elements seemed tacked on to the story. The title is a reference to faery changelings, and there’s some talk at the beginning of the novel about Luca possibly being one. Then the subject is never broached again. There’s also a werewolf encounter that just feels contrived. Perhaps the paranormal aspects will be a bit more fine-tuned in the next book.
I know that I’ve listed a lot of gripes about Changeling, but it still gets 2.5 stars because Gregory’s writing itself is solid. I still plan on reading the two adult novels of hers that I bought but still haven’t read. Maybe if Changeling had been a regular historical fiction novel, I might have enjoyed it more.
2.5 Stars
I had been looking forward to reading this because it’s YA historical fiction, which for me is a match made in heaven. Philippa Gregory is of course renowned for her adult historical fiction novels, so I was quite curious to check out her foray into YA. The book’s synopsis makes Changeling sound like an exciting, action-packed novel, with the promise of “werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers.” Unfortunately, the book fell short of my expectations with its mostly flat plot and characters.
Changeling starts off promisingly enough, with Luca having just been kicked out of his monastery for heresy. At this point I’m thinking, oooh, we have a rebel on our hands! I eagerly read on as Luca met the shady mystery man who’s with the equally enigmatic order that has extended its membership to Luca. I should have known right away from the vague description of Luca’s mission that this book was going to be nowhere near as exciting as the synopsis made it seem. Luca’s task is to map the fears that prevail in Christendom, or something along those lines; regrettably, I didn’t write down the exact phrase that was used. In the end, though, his adventures were less than extraordinary.
My original assumptions about Luca’s character were off base. Aside from being booted from St. Xavier’s, he’s not a very engaging protagonist. We just read about him travelling around with his friend/sidekick, Freize, the kitchen boy from the monastery and the book’s comic relief, and Brother Peter, a cleric and the requisite stick-in-the-mud. Seriously, the highlight of Brother Peter’s day must be breaking in a new quill to write with. At least I have some observations to make on Freize and Brother Peter’s personalities. I can’t really do the same for Luca because I’m still trying to figure out what his personality was supposed to be like.
The book’s female protagonist, Isolde, doesn’t fare much better in terms of character development. Once again, the main character is outshone by a secondary one, in this case, Isolde’s dearest friend, Ishraq. Ishraq has been trained in medicine and fighting and is pretty kick-ass. I didn’t have any particular problems with Isolde; she just didn’t stand out.
What disappointed me the most was how the paranormal elements seemed tacked on to the story. The title is a reference to faery changelings, and there’s some talk at the beginning of the novel about Luca possibly being one. Then the subject is never broached again. There’s also a werewolf encounter that just feels contrived. Perhaps the paranormal aspects will be a bit more fine-tuned in the next book.
I know that I’ve listed a lot of gripes about Changeling, but it still gets 2.5 stars because Gregory’s writing itself is solid. I still plan on reading the two adult novels of hers that I bought but still haven’t read. Maybe if Changeling had been a regular historical fiction novel, I might have enjoyed it more.
I was very pleasantly surprised by this audiobook, the voice acting was good, and the pacing was nice.
The story was an interesting and intriguing one which reminded me of a detective or a Sherlock Holmes style travelling band of adventures. The characters are intriguing and the time period is very exciting set in the dark middle ages when many things are unexplained and there are hundreds of thousands of superstitions and worries.
The characters include Isolde, Izraq, Luca, Brother Peter and Freize. (not sure on spelling having listened to the book and not having read it!) They all have faults to their personalities and they all have powers / abilities which make them unique and interesting to read about.
The story commences with Luca being sent on a mission to an Abbey, and this is the beginning for a kind of investigation group or ''enquiring'' group to start up and travel around the land investigating.
I actually was very surprised by this and I found it to be a wonderful read. I would certainly recommend this!
The story was an interesting and intriguing one which reminded me of a detective or a Sherlock Holmes style travelling band of adventures. The characters are intriguing and the time period is very exciting set in the dark middle ages when many things are unexplained and there are hundreds of thousands of superstitions and worries.
The characters include Isolde, Izraq, Luca, Brother Peter and Freize. (not sure on spelling having listened to the book and not having read it!) They all have faults to their personalities and they all have powers / abilities which make them unique and interesting to read about.
The story commences with Luca being sent on a mission to an Abbey, and this is the beginning for a kind of investigation group or ''enquiring'' group to start up and travel around the land investigating.
I actually was very surprised by this and I found it to be a wonderful read. I would certainly recommend this!
Review here: http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/changeling-order-of-darkness-book-one
DNF @ pg. 221. I picked this up at a used bookstore cause I’ve heard about Philippa Gregory my entire life and wanted to try one of her books. Safe to say I was disappointed in this historically inaccurate, boring book. I was going to push through to the end, but I have other books that I would like to read.