A review by emjay24
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Did not finish book.

1.0

I’m not sure why so many people in the reviews seemed to be confused with this book. This town, Gentry, is kept alive by sacrifices to the Faerie. There are different types of Faerie who need to be fed in different ways. One way is through a Faerie band that performs regularly at the teen band/dance venue that seems to be in many books and shows (Buffy!) but I’ve not seen in real life. Music serves as a conduit for people’s emotions and admirations, which then feed the Faeries. Another way is by other Fairies taking a human baby every seven years and replacing it with a changeling. Usually these changelings can’t survive in the human world and die, but Mackie, the main character, has survived 16 years so far, mostly through the will of his loving sister, and also a good support system of his parents and friends. No one talks about anything in this town, they just gloss over things, and so Mackie is pretty clueless until the book begins. Most of the things people in the reviews are confused about are explained in the text, but perhaps they’re just reading too fast and not gaining reading comprehension. He is able to drink out of a can because it’s made of aluminum, which doesn’t affect Faeries. Another reason people could be confused is because they possibly aren’t familiar with folklore, but I think even without that knowledge you can figure things out from what the book says. Some people expressed dismay at swearing, drinking, etc. I didn’t even notice any bad language, but there probably is, as it happens in life. It’s not excessive enough to hinder their speech or stand out. Now that I’ve got all of that covered, I did not finish this book. I almost did. I was over ¾ through with it and realized I didn’t care what was going to happen, so I stopped reading. A book from a Changeling’s point of view is an interesting concept, but then I couldn’t care about him, or about the little girl that had been freshly stolen he wanted to save, or his weird family. The only one I liked was his best friend, just because he seemed like a nice guy and a great friend. The book started out better and dragged as it went along.