Getting my hands on Brenna Yovanoff’s The Replacement was one of the more gleeful moments I’ve had in the past few months. I’ve been eyeing this book ever since I saw the cover and read the blurb. I think this cover is one of the best I’ve seen in a while – it perfectly captures the book in a way that lots of pretty covers just can’t. It captures the gloomy, creepy, superstition of this novel in a way that still pulls a browser to it on the shelf. I love it.
The Replacement is about a boy, Malcolm Doyle who isn’t really Malcolm Doyle. Mackie lives in small town Gentry. Gentry seems like any normal, sleepy small town except for one tiny glitch: its children are stolen in the night. But the thieves don’t just take Gentry’s children, they leave behind changelings in their place.
This book grabbed me right from the beginning. I loved how gloomy it felt, like Gentry was a town over which an Eeyore-esque cloud constantly hovered, but no one was willing to admit that it was there or that no one else had to suffer it. The setting and feeling of the novel is really unique – dark without trying to be edgy or scary, just gray enough to leave the reader uneasy and a little creeped out.
Mackie’s situation cements this unease. He doesn’t belong in the above ground world of Gentry, but you also get to know him well enough to know that he’s too human to not. It’s sort of like a kid being raised by wild wolves – sure, he’s not a wolf, but you can’t just send him home to his human parents anymore either. And the human elements of Mackie were what I loved best. I love that he’s a kind of typical teenage boy, eyes drawn to the pretty girl – that girl who high school kind of revolves around but anyone out on a Pluto orbit kind of loathes. And I also deeply loved that he could see past that – he could appreciate her for what she was, a pretty thing with no function. To me, that signified the sort of perfect balance that epitomizes Mackie’s character.
I also loved Roswell and Emma, Mackie’s best friend and sister. They were both loyal and their unquestioning love for Mackie added a very real, very human element to the story, as did the very different ways they expressed this love. And Tate, who I grew into loving as the book progressed. The rest of the background characters were all fun and had personality, but they stayed far enough in the background that the book didn’t feel bogged down by people you had to follow.
My favorite character, though, was The Morrigan. She reminded me of every creepy thing that somehow you kind of want to cuddle anyway, which is strange, I know, but so am I. She was such a great contrast between the innocence her appearance belied with the something sinister simmering underneath. She wasn’t all good, but she wasn’t all bad, and that kind of depth is important. Sure, the villain of the novel didn’t have that balance, but she didn’t need to. The Morrigan was enough to show that the world the people of Gentry were so good at ignoring wasn’t as black and white as they might have liked to think of it. That world lived in the same shades of gray that they themselves existed in every day.
The one thing I wish I could change about this book was how often we’re reminded of the blind-eye the people of Gentry like to turn on the odd parts of their town. I felt like I couldn’t go more than a few pages without being reminded of the fact that people don’t like to talk about things that are difficult or things they can’t understand. Maybe a lesser book would have needed these reminders, but I don’t think that The Replacement did – the story and Mackie and the Morrigan were all enough for us to see that rather then be reminded of it.
As far as first novels go, this is a pretty compelling debut. Hell, as far as novels go in general, this is pretty compelling. When someone new comes onto the YA scene, I look for a couple simple things: can their writing suck me in and do they have an imagination. Brenna Yovanoff succeeds on both counts. She’s come up with a world that draws on the legends we already know and expands on it in a way that’s never really been done before.
Because I want this debut to go swimmingly so I can be sure more of her stuff gets published, we’re having another giveaway! If you want to win an ARC of The Replacement, just leave a comment here telling me your favorite debut novel and its author. If you can’t think of anyone, just tell me about your favorite creepy, spooky story! Additional entries if you follow us on twitter and direct a tweet @brennayovanoff telling her how excited you are for The Replacement (be sure and leave your twitter name so I can check to make sure y’all aren’t being naughty). Please be living in North America or have an address in North America before entering. Good luck!
Getting my hands on Brenna Yovanoff’s The Replacement was one of the more gleeful moments I’ve had in the past few months. I’ve been eyeing this book ever since I saw the cover and read the blurb. I think this cover is one of the best I’ve seen in a while – it perfectly captures the book in a way that lots of pretty covers just can’t. It captures the gloomy, creepy, superstition of this novel in a way that still pulls a browser to it on the shelf. I love it.
The Replacement is about a boy, Malcolm Doyle who isn’t really Malcolm Doyle. Mackie lives in small town Gentry. Gentry seems like any normal, sleepy small town except for one tiny glitch: its children are stolen in the night. But the thieves don’t just take Gentry’s children, they leave behind changelings in their place.
This book grabbed me right from the beginning. I loved how gloomy it felt, like Gentry was a town over which an Eeyore-esque cloud constantly hovered, but no one was willing to admit that it was there or that no one else had to suffer it. The setting and feeling of the novel is really unique – dark without trying to be edgy or scary, just gray enough to leave the reader uneasy and a little creeped out.
Mackie’s situation cements this unease. He doesn’t belong in the above ground world of Gentry, but you also get to know him well enough to know that he’s too human to not. It’s sort of like a kid being raised by wild wolves – sure, he’s not a wolf, but you can’t just send him home to his human parents anymore either. And the human elements of Mackie were what I loved best. I love that he’s a kind of typical teenage boy, eyes drawn to the pretty girl – that girl who high school kind of revolves around but anyone out on a Pluto orbit kind of loathes. And I also deeply loved that he could see past that – he could appreciate Alice for what she was, a pretty thing with no function. To me, that signified the sort of perfect balance that epitomizes Mackie’s character.
I also loved Roswell and Emma, Mackie’s best friend and sister. They were both loyal and their unquestioning love for Mackie added a very real, very human element to the story, as did the very different ways they expressed this love. And Tate, who I grew into loving as the book progressed. The rest of the background characters were all fun and had personality, but they stayed far enough in the background that the book didn’t feel bogged down by people you had to follow.
My favorite character, though, was The Morrigan. She reminded me of every creepy thing that somehow you kind of want to cuddle anyway, which is strange, I know, but so am I. She was such a great contrast between the innocence her appearance belied with the something sinister simmering underneath. She wasn’t all good, but she wasn’t all bad, and that kind of depth is important. Sure, the villain of the novel didn’t have that balance, but she didn’t need to. The Morrigan was enough to show that the world the people of Gentry were so good at ignoring wasn’t as black and white as they might have liked to think of it. That world lived in the same shades of gray that they themselves existed in every day.
The one thing I wish I could change about this book was how often we’re reminded of the blind-eye the people of Gentry like to turn on the odd parts of their town. I felt like I couldn’t go more than a few pages without being reminded of the fact that people don’t like to talk about things that are difficult or things they can’t understand. Maybe a lesser book would have needed these reminders, but I don’t think that The Replacements did – the story and Mackie and the Morrigan were all enough for us to see that rather then be reminded of it.
As far as first novels go, this is a pretty compelling debut. Hell, as far as novels go in general, this is pretty compelling. When someone new comes onto the YA scene, I look for a couple simple things: can their writing suck me in and do they have an imagination. Brenna Yovanoff succeeds on both counts. She’s come up with a world that draws on the legends we already know and expands on it in a way that’s never really been done before.
Because I want this debut to go swimmingly so I can be sure more of her stuff published, we’re having another giveaway! If you want to win an ARC of The Replacement, just leave a comment here telling me your favorite debut novel and its author. If you can’t think of anyone, just tell me about your favorite creepy, spooky story! Additional entries if you follow us on twitter and tweet about the contest (be sure and leave your twitter name so I can check to make sure y’all aren’t being naughty). Please be living in North America or have an address in North America before entering. Good luck!