The Replacement

Mackie Doyle is a strange boy, but no one around wants to admit how strange he really is. He’s prone to fainting at the sight of blood, which isn’t too odd, but he also can’t stand being near steel or iron and can’t tread of consecrated ground. He is a changeling, left in the place of the

Show More

human child that was stolen. No one in the town wants to face that these children are stolen by creatures that they don’t want to believe exist. The townspeople aren’t above making Mackie feel like a freak and an outsider. Then two things happen: a mysterious man tells Mackie he’s going to die; and Tate, a girl from his class whose sister had just died, keeps accosting him and asking him where her real sister is. Can he find her sister and save her from a horrific death or will he even survive long enough to try?

This book came highly recommended to me by my sister. She said it was one of the best horror young adult books that has come out in a while and I completely agree. The overall tone of the novel is very dark and descends as it goes along into an inhuman realm of undead children, gruesome murders, and ancient supernatural beings. The city of Gentry is odd and disjointed: there’s the normal, mundane world that regular people live in and then there’s the sinister world of the fae that serves as a constant undercurrent to the normal one. The inhabitants of the town are aware of the fae world and children are stolen from them, but they don’t really know why or for what purpose. It has to be horrible to live in a town where the truth is glossed over and denied while children are put in danger “for the greater good.” The way these two worlds interact and feed off of each other is fascinating.

Mackie is an interesting character because he’s relatable and interesting without even being human. He’s pretty miserable throughout most of the book both because of the physical pain that comes with living in the human world and the emotional pain from being the creature that replaced his parent’s real son. His relationship with his family is beautiful because even though he isn’t really even related to them, they decide to embrace him and make him feel loved anyway. They all work so hard to protect him, especially his sister Emma. It would have been so easy for them to resent and hate him. Mackie expresses his feelings through playing his bass, which I can totally relate to. There’s a scene where he plays in onstage with a band; the music, the way the band feeds off the energy from the crowd, and how the band members interact are described in electric detail. I really loved Mackie as a different kind of hero because he stopped being satisfied with glossing over the truth like everyone else. I enjoyed seeing his growth and change throughout the novel.

The Replacement is a wonderful young adult book that creates a creepy, eerie atmosphere. The world Brenna Yokanoff has created is brilliant, yet disturbing. I would definitely recommend this to any fan of horror fiction.

Show Less

Awesome...I totally loved it! It certainly had a dark and haunting feel to it. (I mean...look at that cover!)

The story was very good; it reminded me of something your grandmother would tell you. You know the ones they're always using to try to scare you with?

Brenna has a very smooth flowing writing

Show More

style which kept me moving through the book quickly and it was over before I knew it.

Even though it was a "scary" book it had an underlying message...I found it to be about being an outsider and never really feeling like you fit in anywhere. It was about making the choice to be who YOU are; that's when you'll find YOUR place in the world.

Overall, it was an awesome book with a creepy storyline who's underlying message carried across really well. I give it two thumb's up!

Show Less

From the moment I first heard about the premise of this book I was in love with it. A baby, Mackie, gets stolen from his crib, with a changeling put in his place. This changeling grows up and has to rescue a girl, Tate’s, little sister from the very murky place from whence he came. All of my

Show More

buttons? They are pushed!

My intrigue at this plot was so strong that even the generic paranormal YA cover wasn’t enough to put me off. (Although the American cover is seven times more awesome...) It did make me a little nervous though, the fact that it was being pretty aggressively marketed as a paranormal, Twilight/Shiver-esque, read. I’m definitely not would you would call a fan of this genre. Girl meets mysterious boy who turns out to be a vampire/werewolf/fairy/leprechaun and they fall in love and save the world, but mostly fall in love. Definitely not my kind of scene.

And the Replacement does seem to tread the same path as it’s paranormal shelf mates, with a notable exception: It’s not told from the POV of the girl who's trying to figure out what’s up with the mysterious boy, it’s the mysterious boy himself who tells the tale.

I have to say this is my favourite aspect of this book. With a simple perspective swap , scenes that are as standard and played out as wacky misunderstandings in a sitcom take on new life. Watching Tate try and figure out what was up with Mackie was a hundred times more enjoyable when I was already in the loop. (Possibly this is why I found Meyer’s unfinished draft of Twilight from Edward’s point of view to be a bazillion times better than the actual published version told from Bella’s.)

There were other things I liked about the book. Unfortunately, what I did like was ultimately outweighed by what I didn’t. My biggest issue is that a lot of things just didn’t seem to add up. Mackie, being from some fey underworld (it's never entirely made clear), is allergic to a great many things. Steel, iron, blood… This I thought was cool. Little details like his mother having to keep the stainless steel knives hidden away, or his sister having to cut his hair with aluminum scissors really worked for me. But I spent the entire book wondering, if Mackie is allergic to blood (and we see several times the strong adverse reaction he has to it), then what the hell is pumping through his veins? It’s not that I wasn’t willing to believe he was running on something other than blood, it’s just the fact that the author never addressed the issue that drove me a little crazy.

So if he has blood, why isn’t he allergic to it? And if he doesn’t have blood, wouldn’t someone have noticed? I mean, wouldn't somebody, anybody, have noticed that this kid was a little odd? This was my second gripe with the book. The human Mackie was stolen from his crib, and the changeling Mackie left in his place. Upon discovering the swap Mackie’s parents decide to love and raise the changeling as their own. Um, ok. I can get on board with that. Even though it is never really made clear I can imagine that losing a child would be so painful that an itty bitty changeling to love would be better than nothing to love. Mackie’s parents raise Mackie to understand that if the townspeople ever learnt what he was they would go all mob justice on his ass and kill him.

Which makes sense, I had no questions about that. But as the book progresses… Well, firstly it becomes quickly clear that this swap-a-baby practice isn’t really that uncommon. So the townspeople are aware that it happens. Given Mackie’s pretty obvious ailments, wouldn’t someone, anyone, have noticed? I guess I just couldn’t believe that, given that the entire town is aware of the very real presence of the fey dudes, no one would think to question Mackie’s many very odd behaviors.

My last main gripe is that Mackie seems to lack any real curiosity about his own origins. He just wants to live his normal human life, which I get, but I just can’t buy that he wouldn’t have questions. He’s not human, he knows he’s not human, and yet he never really wonders about what he actually is. This could have added a really fascinating level to the book, and the whole narrative seems much shallower for its absence. And it turns out to be so easy for Mackie to get in touch with others like him that I have question that he’s never done it before. You might argue that Mackie wants to be human so badly that he has willfully blocked all thoughts of his mysterious origins, but such a stance would at least be an active choice on Mackie’s part. Instead he just comes across as kind apathetic about it, which I just can’t believe.

Which pretty much sums up my thoughts about the whole book; I just can’t believe it. I’ll jump on board with any kind of crazy idea an author wants to throw at me, but it has to make sense in the context of the books world and so much of The Replacement just doesn’t quite fit together.

This wasn’t a terrible read, not by any means. In fact I highly enjoyed the first half or so, but that was mostly because I figured all the things I felt were missing, or didn’t understand, would come into play in the last act. As it became increasingly clear that this wasn’t the case my enjoyment began to fall pretty rapidly. Still, I wouldn’t rule out reading anything else by Brenna Yovanoff, or a sequel to this novel (assuming there is one).

Show Less

Mackie Doyle is not like the other kids at school. The scent of blood makes his world spin, Steel (touching it, being around it) brings him physical pain, he can't step onto the hallowed ground of the church and his eyes are dark, dark black. That's because Mackie Doyle isn't really the minister's

Show More

son or Emma's brother, he's the thing that, one night when Emma was four, was switched in the crib for the real Malcolm Doyle.

It's something that everyone knows, but doesn't know that underneath the town of Gentry there is dark underworld of creatures that, every seven years, takes children from the town's residents. Some times and some places have given them names, things like goblins or monsters, but here they have no name.

Malcolm, meanwhile only knows that it's important that he not stand out too much at school--no matter how hard that might be. Being outside, able to smell and touch the earth might comfort him, but he can't let his classmates know just how different he is.

Trying to be a normal teenage boy, with a crush on a girl named Alice, a friend named Roswell who gets that he's weird and puts up with it, a sister named Emma who loves him deeply and unconditionally even knowing is secret, Mackie's world is soon turned upside down when a girl in his class, Tate's, sister dies.

Everyone decides Tate simply in denial because she's not grieving, because she's acting like nothing happened, at all. But Tate insists that what died, what's buried under the tombstone with her sister's name, was not in fact her sister. Tate knows that something happened and because she can see that Mackie is different, she wants help from him--wants to know what he knows. But that would require acknowledgement that he's something other than your average, high school boy and his whole life is built around not doing that.

The Replacement is different than most changeling stories because it's focused mostly on the present, modern characters and not just the folklore--it's actually quite a bit like Wicked Lovely the way there's the modern day characters interacting with the supernatural world that's secretly there. The first half to sixty percent of the book was a little slow reading for me, but then once it got into the conflict/resolution and ending I liked it a lot more.

There was a wide array of supernatural characters introduced and they ranged from creepy to creepy but also kind of sad to really pretty sad and pathetic with a side of creepy. All of them, though, seemed to be very unique and well developed.

I loved the relationship between Mackie and his sister, Emma. She took such great care of him, even though seeing what she did at four could have just freaked her out entirely (four's old enough to do that, I think). I really loved that they had that closeness that drove a lot of both of their actions throughout the story. I think it's also great because so many people have siblings and even if you don't always like them so much, you can understand wanting to protect them and identify with their relationship.

The way his parents acted toward him was interesting--and not as flushed out as his relationship with his sister--but grew throughout the book and helped along different parts of the story. I also appreciate novels that do actually involve teen's parents and don't have them just existing theoretically, I think it makes the whole story more believable and enjoyable.

I really enjoyed Breanna Yovanoff's writing in this story and the world she created was exceptionally well imagined and well written. I look forward to more of her writing and hope you'll read The Replacement.

(full review post at book-splot.blogspot.com)

Show Less

Maggie Stiefvater's quote on the book covers says "a beautiful story of ugly things", and I couldn't agree more. This book was completely creepy but not horror movie scary. Gentry is a town scared to stand up for itself. Children disappear and ugly things take their place, but no one says or does

Show More

anything about it, until Tate refuses to except the disappearance of her little sister. Mackie, one of "the replacements" is growing sick from all the iron in the world he lives in, he's drawn to Mayhem to find a remedy. Mayhem is full of beautifully ugly creatures, and Mackie soon gets in over his head.

I really loved the characters in this book. Mackie was completely naive, but while he thinks of himself as weak, he really has a great inner strength that shines through. He was smart, funny, and brave, even when he was sick and scared. Mackie's best friend was also a great character, he was so loyal to Mackie that it made me smile every time he showed up. As for Tate, our female lead, normally I like girls who are smart-mouthed and generally surely, but Tate takes it a little too far. I never really felt a connection to her because she never really lets us in. My favorite character of all though was the Morrigan. She's innocence and wisdom all wrapped up in one package. I adored her!

Overall, this book was creeptastic and I loved every minute of it. Fast paced and full of suspense. I loved all of the descriptions of the ugly creatures that live in mayhem. I especially loved the scene where Mackie plays on stage with the other ugly people, it's electric and just a fantastic description of the power of music! The books ending wrapped up nicely, there's not really a lot of loose ends, but like real life, it didn't really end with everything perfect and tied up in a bow. I look forward to reading more from Brenna Yovanoff.

Show Less

Mackie Doyle has always known there was something different about him and so has the rest of the town. In order to avoid calling attention to himself, he has spent most of his sixteen years in the shadows, avoided making too many friends and just generally trying to lay low. Despite trying to avoid

Show More

the three things that make his physical existence very hard, iron, blood and consecrated ground, he now finds himself very sick and nothing seems to make him better. But while he is battling his personal problems, the town is abuzz with news of the recent death of four year old Natalie. Her older sister Tate is his classmate and her insistence on not playing the grieving sister is a source of puzzlement for her classmates. Tate unlike the rest of the town of Gentry refuses to stick to her assigned role and will not be silent on the loss of her sister who she believes is still alive. She refuses to tow the party line that the town has steadfastly maintained despite the disappearance of their children through the ages.

When I saw this book months ago, I immediately wanted to read it. The cover art was so beautiful that while I rarely choose books based on covers alone, I was intrigued. And when I read the book's synopsis, I was totally sold. I was interested to read about the concept of Changelings especially as told from the child's perspective. Unfortunately, after reading this book, I have to say that I am throughly disappointed. The ideas for the book were absolutely solid and would have made for an excellent book especially as it definitely aimed to differentiate itself from much of the current YA fare. The problem for me was in the execution. I spent much of the first half of the book not entirely sure what was going. While I did like Mackie, I was many times unsure of his actions as they veered toward the illogical more often than not. By Mackie's own admission, he has always been seen as something of a freak. But why this is considered so is never really discussed by all those all around him. His best friend Roswell, a very loyal and kind young man, has known Mackie since first grade. And while he knows there is something amiss with Mackie, he never asks, he just accepts it. I suppose this reaction should show up in the positive column for Roswell, portraying him as a good person who loves his friend, no questions asked. For me, it just did not make sense, it made the friendship somewhat superficial and unreal. How can a normal teenage boy(or human being in general) not be curious, not have had at least one conversation with his friend about his supposed freak status in all the years of their friendship? As a collective, the town may have decided to bury its secrets but as individuals, it was strange that his friends were never curious. Same seems to apply to his parents who are nice and loving but distant. The only really positive force in his life seems to be his sister who actually talks about Mackie's origins with him and does not shy away from what he is.

Another strange interaction to me was his affection for Tate as it seemed to come out of nowhere. One minute she is accosting him for information and the next he is falling for her. While I many times hunger for strong female leads, I found Tate to be rude, abrasive, manipulative and I could not understand his sudden emotional attachment to her. I understand that opposites attract but in this case, it just seemed odd and forced. Being obnoxious, swearing at every turn does not a strong female make. Also much as I tried, I could not buy the idea of The Houses of Mayhem and Misery. The reasoning for stealing children for sacrifice seemed vague and was never convincing. For the most part, the story just seemed very choppy to me and just went on and on without anything concrete happening. The later part of the book got much better, people began to behave a bit more logically and interactions made more sense. But this may have come a little too late for me and by the end, I can't say that I enjoyed this book.

Despite my criticisms, I did love the author's ability to create a world that was so vivid that its description is till stuck in my head. As I read, I could almost hear and feel the gloom of the town and the veil of secrecy that covered its inhabitants. It felt so real and so true. I also liked that I was reading a story from the perspective of the male lead. Though I was sometimes frustrated by Mackie's decision making process, I found him to be an extremely likable character and one who I sympathized with. As mentioned earlier, his sister is a great character, refusing to pretend that all was well and trying to seek help for her brother. I absolutely loved her. I also loved Mackie's friends Roswell and the Corbett twins because they were so loving and loyal to him.

All in all, I guess this book was just not for me.

Show Less

Mackie Doyle has always felt out of placement in the town of Gentry—and it’s not just because of typical teenage unrest. Mackie is a changeling left in the place of the real Malcolm Doyle 14 years ago. He has only survived this long because of love, but now he is slowly dying, poisoned by the

Show More

iron that surrounds him.

When his classmate Tate’s “baby sister” dies, Mackie is drawn into her questions about how the town has always turned a blind eye to the stealing of human babies. Mackie is drawn into the world beneath Gentry, a world that is supposed to be his and claim his loyalty.

THE REPLACEMENT is an unusual debut novel that delivers on the lyrical creepiness that its cover promises. Despite some issues with plot development, it is a worthy read that will appeal to many different readers on many different levels.

Brenna Yovanoff’s writing absolutely blows my mind. The first chapter is so well written in its mixture of character, setting, conflict, and mood development that you can easily fall under its spell and not be bothered by the few issues in storytelling. You might find yourself stopping every few sentences, eyes lingering on a particular phrase that takes your breath away. Mackie’s world is is a creepy yet magical one, and Brenna’s writing reflects that juxtaposition: you know you are reading about really creepy stuff, but the way in which the creepy stuff is written about is just so delightful.

As the story progressed I felt that there were a few things I would’ve wanted more. I couldn’t get a firm grasp on the politics of the creatures living under Gentry. Why, exactly, are there factions among the world? The humans and creatures of Gentry share a tense but oddly efficient relationship, and I wanted more of a tangible “wrongness” about the deal, more immediacy of the wrongness. In a way, reading THE REPLACEMENT was like experiencing a dream: you know that the world you are seeing or feeling is weird—fantastical, even—and yet there is still a certain veil between you and that world, as if you know it’s a dream and can’t entirely affect you.

Still, both main and supporting characters are strong and likable, and the uniqueness of the story propelled me forward through my few qualms. THE REPLACEMENT is a great choice for an unusual read this fall, and I’m pretty sure I will be going back to this to reread my favorite parts.

Show Less

This strange and somewhat creepy tale is a refreshing twist on the paranormal genre that has been infiltrating the young adult books as of late. The story is completely different than all the other ones I’ve read as of lately, so there is nothing to compare it to. While it does pull from some

Show More

folklore tales from days gone by, it’s nothing that I’ve heard recently and it’s done in such a wonderful way it leaves me wondering what exactly I just finished reading.

There is a story in there with an obvious beginning, middle, and end, but it’s convoluted in such a way that after starting the book I wasn’t sure where it was going. I wasn’t sure what the point was since the reader is just thrown into the middle of this strange town and the life of one strange boy. This worked as the story showed itself and the plot thickened. This isn’t a mystery so much as following our main character’s journey of self-discovery, which is quite mysterious on its own. He learns who he is and where he really comes from and we get to follow safely by his side. If you are looking for something unique, but still slightly off kilter, this is the book to check out!

Show Less

This was a book I looked forward to from the moment I started hearing the buzz, and it did not let me down. I loved the premise and found the writing strong and able to hold up the terrific story. A convincing voice for Mackie, a wonderfully creepy tone, and brilliant work with creating a memorable

Show More

setting. Loved it!

Show Less

This was an unusual but very enjoyable read. Mackie was a fantastic character. You really sympathized with his situation. There is a great lesson here with respect to what it means to be different from others. Where do you find your place in society. Despite Mackie's situation/condition, he was

Show More

fortunate to have great friends who looked beyond the surface. Actually, this book did a great job depicting relationships between friends, parent/child, and sibling relationships. The romance was nice, although it felt somewhat underdeveloped. Love Tate. I found myself pumping my fists, saying "yeah", whenever she spoke and stood up for herself and those she cared about.

Show Less

An unusual point of view marks this story. Mackie is the faerie child left to replace a child taken for a blood sacrifice, and he suffers a lot of guilt over this. He also suffers from allergies to iron and holy ground. After spending the first part of the book guilt-ridden and moping, he finds his

Show More

backbone when a girl Tate keeps confronting him about the disappearance of her sister. She knows the creature her family buried was a replacement, and she wants Mackie's help to get her sister back. The descriptions are deliciously creepy, but I found the end a little unsatisfying.

Show Less

This book is a HUGE breath of fresh air for me. I have been getting seriously bogged down with books in the YA world that have the same plot and I was getting really frustrated. The Replacement pulled me out of my book coma and jolted me back to life. It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! The plot is original, the

Show More

characters are well developed and the world is addictive. I love the concept of this book because it is told from a point of view we don’t normally get to see. The replacement, aka Mackie, is sorta like a changeling, in other words he is a creature (not human) that was put in the place of a human child and meant to take his place, while the human child is taken away. The reason I say “creature” and not fae (because all the changelings I have read about take place mostly in the fae world) is because the book is very careful not to define them. There is actually a line about it in the book:

“In every century, in every country, they’ll call us something different. They’ll say were ghosts, angels, demons, elemental spirits, and giving us a name doesn’t help anybody. When did a name ever change what someone is?”

I think that quote pretty much sums up how the paranormal characters feel about being labeled. They don’t want one and feel like they don’t need one. If I had to classify them though, it would be as fae because of a couple things. 1. The changeling thing is usually fae, 2. I don’t think they can lie, Mackie says something to that affect one time and that is a fae characteristic (or I could be reading to much into this cause I am a little crazy), 3. They cannot tolerate iron of any kind 4. They are physically different. Not that this really matters, but my brain just picked up on those things and I wanted to talk about them. :)

I pointed all of that out is because Mackie is different, and this story is told from his point of view. Normally we see the main character in a story from the human’s point of view not the paranormal persons perspective. I never really thought about what it would be like to be an outsider, who literally cannot tolerate our world, try to live in it and not stand out. Mackie feels like he cannot make waves otherwise people will notice him and he, or his family, will be hurt because of it. His Dad even says to him:

“Don’t show anyone the true, honest heart of yourself or else, when something goes wrong, you might wind up rotting in a tree.”

Mackie is definitely not evil and is just trying to live his life peacefully. It breaks my heart that he feels he needs to hide himself away from everyone and basically never let anyone in, how lonely that must be.

The dark nature of the paranormal characters in this book add a wonderful element to the story. The lives of the people in this town, both paranormal and human, are painted as shadows of what they could be. Both sides are holding the other back from their true potential and neither is truly willing to listen to the other. Especially with the humans, who refuse to even acknowledge the existence of the creatures that lurk about. They dangle iron from their houses and stay indoors after dark, but never talk about the things they know live among them because fear rules their every thought and keeps them silent. It amazing to watch just how much fear of the unknown can dominate the human spirit. This is a theme that I think it very important to acknowledge because it weaves it’s way into our lives too and it is that ignorance that leads to poor decisions. I thought it was brilliant of Brenna to put that into her book. I am not sure if she did it intentionally, but I loved it just the same.

The Replacement takes you on a dark and intense journey through Mackie’s eyes as he struggles to makes sense of his life and where he belongs. He literally drifts on the outskirts of both worlds and soon he has to decide just where he belongs. Brenna has delivered a book that will grab a hold of you from the beginning and force you to pay attention. You will start looking at the people around you and your own town in a whole new light. I personally loved it and I hope we get to see more from her and Mackie in the future!

Show Less

Quick & Dirty: The concept of this book is intriguing, but it fails to coalesce into something really captivating.

Opening Sentence: I don’t remember any of the true, important parts, but there’s this dream I have.

The Review:

The small town of Gentry is unusual to say the least. Some of

Show More

Gentry’s children have been replaced by doppelgangers. The real children are never heard from again, and the good people of Gentry act as if nothing is amiss. Mackie Doyle is a Replacement. He’s a changeling, struggling to survive in the human world. Iron, blood, and consecrated ground are deadly to him. Mackie sets out on a journey to find answers about what’s really going on in Gentry, his past, and how he will survive the future.

The Replacement started out strong. I love the premise and really wanted to experience this dark, creepy and twisted world. Ultimately, The Replacement didn’t work for me. I like Ms. Yovanoff’s stylistic prose. Some of the descriptions and passages were over the top, and at times the writing was choppy, but for the most part very good. Unfortunately, I found myself frustrated as the story progressed. Many story elements were too vague. The esoteric world-building left a lot to be desired; leaving the reader with more questions than answers.

I vacillated over whether I even liked Mackie Doyle. His whole emo routine really grates on my nerves. At one point, I remember thinking – damn, Mackie. Grow a “set” why don’t you! Ms. Yovanoff seems to have run into a problem writing an authentic male protagonist. Aside from having a boy’s name, Mackie essentially behaves like a teenaged girl. Much of his skulking around is self imposed, and much ado about nothing. Ironically, Mackie loathes some of the adults for being weak and not standing up to the truth and just going along to get along, while he himself behaves in the same way. Mackie is just too weak of a character for my taste.

The surrounding cast of characters aren’t particularly noteworthy or unique. Roswell, Mackie’s best friend, brings nothing to the story. He’s a very one dimensional character. Tate, Mackie’s dismal love interest, is a total nightmare. Mackie and Tate share a very awkward emotional attachment, and I for one never bought into it. I didn’t think that any of their interactions built on a believable romantic relationship. Her brashness, aggressive and erratic behavior didn’t endear her to me and I found her to be quite annoying.

A few elements of the world-building were essential. Gentry, The House of Mayhem and The House of Misery all play a significant role and I wish they were more developed. The “villains” in this story are underwhelming. They aren’t all that resourceful, powerful, smart or particularly determined. The Lady and The Cutter both fail to intimidate. It’s clear to see that their convenient weakness serves as an all too apparent plot device. The dark creatures just didn’t live up to their purpose.

Overall, The Replacement is just a so-so read. Too many characters with unconvincing motivations and underdeveloped mythology hurt what could have been a great supernatural story. The readers must suspend too much disbelief when incredibly weak characters prevail over the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps. While it was an intriguing premise, I found The Replacement slow-moving, and the characters uninteresting.

Notable Scene:

The door was there almost at once, so dull and worn out that it was almost invisible. There was no handle, so I knocked and stepped back. For a second, nothing happened, but then the outline flared from inside, lit with a warm glow. From far away, I heard the sound of bells and was blindsided by a strange feeling of inevitability. The hill had always been there, looming over the park, right there on the other side of the fence. Waiting for me.

When the door swung open, no one was waiting in the entryway. Glass lanterns lit the corridor in two rows. The panes were set in a network of lead, arranged in fancy diamond patterns. When I pushed my way inside, the door swung closed behind me. The knife lay on the floor and I bent and picked it up.

The Lady’s hill was nothing like Mayhem. The walls were paneled in dark, polished wood, with an intricately tiled floor and carved baseboards. Everything was clean and symmetrical and shiny. Stained glass windows hung in rectangular alcoves along the hall, the pictures lit from behind with oil lamps. The air smelled nice, like cut grass and spices.

The Replacement Series:

1. The Replacement

FTC Advisory: Penguin Group provided me with a copy of The Replacement. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. In addition, I don’t receive affiliate fees for anything purchased via links from my site.

Show Less

Synopsis: Malcolm "Mackie" Doyle isn't like other teenage boys. Mackie isn't different from other boys his age because of teenage angst, Mackie is not from this world. Left in the crib of the real Malcolm Doyle 16 years ago, Mackie is a replacement: an otherworldly child swapped with a human

Show More

one.

Though Mackie has grown up in the human world, it is slowly killing him. The overabundance of iron, the presence of human blood, and the hollowed ground upon which his father's church sits, are all poisoning Mackie. One night while out with his friends, Mackie encounters an otherworldly man who claims he can help Mackie be well again. But Mackie soon finds out that the key to his wellness is inextricably tied to the disappearance of his classmate's sister. Mackie must learn to navigate the underworld, called Mayhem, to help himself and to find the truth behind the disappearance of a little girl.

Review: I heard and read so much hype about this novel that I was completely skeptical when I started it. Things are rarely as good as they are touted to be. Happily, I was wrong.

Yovanoff is an amazing writer. Her writing is completely easy and engaging. The crafting of the story was masterful. Yovanoff wove traditional faery/fairy (though that word is never used in the book) and goddess lore into this story in such a way that it was familiar but brand new at the same time. The idea of a changeling is very familiar to most readers, but Yovanoff managed to place her own unique spin on the well-known story. As steeped in lore as the foundation of this story is, Yovanoff truly put a new face on it. Her ability to do so is a testament to her skills as a writer.

In addition to the story being well-crafted, it was a true page-turner. I could not put it down. Mackie's plight, the mystery surrounding his past and the missing child, his inability to tolerate the human world, the House of Mayhem...they were all spectacular. Completely absorbing and leaving you wanting more.

I adored Mackie. He is an awesome character. Definitely unlike any of the other protagonists that I have encountered. I enjoyed the secondary characters - Mackie's friends, family, and the unusual inhabitants of Mayhem - just as much as I enjoyed Mackie.

Truly, there was nothing I disliked about this novel. I highly recommend it.

Show Less

Requisite Replacement

This book gets a well deserved 4 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes for a truly great story that puts a superb twist into an old story.

Mackie is a changeling that is accepted by his family, he knows that he's different and that he replaced the real Malcom. His family makes

Show More

sacrifices for him by not using normal silverware, not having friends over and his Dad a minister even leaves the Sunday School ground unconsecrated so Mackie can still go there. His Mom also has a doozy of a secret to hide.

The town of Gentry is one heck of a place where most people seem to have a hint at least that horrible things are happening but they still don't leave the town. Everyone knows the traditions that should stop their children from being replaced but no on talks about it.

Mackie's relationship with his sister Emma is great because she seems to be the one that has accepted him since the very beginning. She saw him on the night that he was switched. It's great that his sister's love is the driving force of why he's still there and not sicker then he already is.

Friendships and relationships are well portrayed. Roswell, besides having an awesome name, is sympathetic to Mackie and would follow him anywhere. Roswell has a great personality because he has a very charmed life.

The potential love interest Tate doesn't seem like she really even likes Mackie in the beginning. Tate is seen as highly damaged because of the disappearance of her sister. Then Tate starts asking questions that no one bothers to usually ask.

Damaged as she is though Tate is one of my new literary heroes for some of the things that she does in the book. She doesn't back down and let's just say she's also quite good with a crow bar. One of my favorite quotes in the book has Tate saying,

"Look, I'm sorry I had to punch your girlfriend in the face, but sometimes white-trash moments are necessary, okay?"

Mackie tries to blend in but it's hard when so much of the world is made of iron that causes him to be horribly sick. He has a crush on Alice who's not the nicest person.This crush on Alice leads to an incident with a tongue ring which has consequences afterward that really make you think, wow he is so interested in the wrong person.

Mackie does find the world that he is originally from and this leads to some shall we say interesting characters. These two worlds are vividly described and there is plenty of creepiness thrown in throughout the book.

There are secrets galore in Gentry and at the end the town has a potential chance for a new beginning. The ending really makes you wonder what's going to happen next.

Show Less

If you want creepy, goosebump inducing and a little bit of teenage angst, this is the book for you.

Cover - Look at this cover! When I first received the book, I thought the cover was very horrific, I wondered why there were sharp instruments hanging like a mobile over the pram...then after reading

Show More

the book I understood. There is a reason for this - to keep the baby-traders away. It totally fits the novel, along with the stark and gray background. One of the best covers ever for a young adult book - no dramatic face shot with pouty lips...I love this cover.

Until The Replacement, I haven't ever read a book written from the point of view of a changeling (of the fair folk). It's an interesting concept, and not only does Ms Yovanoff write a changeling, but she gives us a teenage boy changeling - with all the mixed up feelings and desires that a young teen male can experience. Not only THAT, but this story is also about acceptance....and avoidance.

The town of Gentry has been dealing with changelings for years, and Mack is the only changeling that has survived to be a teen. No one talks about it...I don't want to give too much away by saying more. This story gave me goosebumps and chills. There are some seriously creepy moments, woven in with the anger and resentment that some of the characters feel. One of my favorite moments is when a friend of Mack's (a girl) gets in a fight with another girl....getting hit and bloodied just makes her more determined to win the fight. For some reason, I love those kind of scenes...(bloodthirsty? Me? come-on...LOL).

Anyway, the basic premise of this book is that Mackie is a changeling left in a crib to replace a baby stolen 16 years ago. This happens regularly in Gentry, only no one admits it. But usually, the replacements only last a few years. Mackie has lasted 16 years and his family has grown to not only accept him, but to love him. Unfortunately, Mackie doesn't realize how much his family loves him (something that a lot of teens have a problem with). When the book opens, Mackie is feeling pretty rotten. He's in pain, weak and feels like he's slowly dying. The replacements don't usually last as long as Mackie has because they all have allergies to blood, iron, and church grounds (consecrated areas). Mackie's father also happens to be a preacher.

Things come to a head when Mackie's sister tries to help him by getting help from a fae, and at the same time the girl I previously mentioned, Tate, doesn't believe that the baby sister who has recently died is really her sister.....

I recommend this book to anybody who likes a chilling fairy tale. There's just a few instances of kissing and one makeout session, a few mentions of blood and gory things, and yet the whole book had this creepy, scary feel to it. It's a great book to read around Halloween. The narrative is from Mackie's pov (first person) and the dialogue between the characters feels real. The dialogue from the Fae was good, arrogant and believably threatening. It's a good all-round novel.

Show Less

First I would like to thank Jen at The Secret Life of a Bibliophile who I won this book from. Thanks Jen! Stop by her awesome blog and say hey sometime.
Now for the book. It took me awhile to figure out exactly what the heck was going on below the town of Gentry. I knew whatever it was couldn't

Show More

possibly be good though. I like Mackie because all he wants is to live a normal life. He's into his friends and his family. He seems like a cool guy.

I love Tate. Tate is the quintessential bad ass chick. She's tough, she's smart and she knows what she likes. It happens to be Mackie. I liked the fact that the love story was woven through this. It wasn't super heavy on the love story, but was creepy and the perfect read for right around Halloween. That's when I was reading it.

Ms. Yovanoof's descriptions, especially of the 'things' that lived below Gentry were very vivid. I liked how she played things close to the vest until towards the end of the book. I liked this book and am giving it 3 1/2 deadly kisses! If I gave love for the cover alone it would be 4.

Show Less

The Replacement is definitely dark, awesomely atmospheric and, of course, has a killer cover! This one is probably best read in October or November when you can smell "the raw vegetable reek of carved pumpkins, and the scorched smell of burning leaves" and when the nights are "deep and vibrant and

Show More

ferociously alive."

Show Less

One of the worst things a cover can do to me is make my expectations soar so high that I get afraid to pick up the book.

I've been in love with the cover for The Replacement ever since I saw it in my email, delivered via Shelf Awareness. And then, one day, I got an irresistible offer from Barnes and

Show More

Noble and found myself coming home with it.

I've waited a few days to digest the book before writing my review on it, because I think I was being unfair in my initial dislike of most of it. And again, I think it was a result of me expecting just too much. For being what it is, a Young Adult novel, it was sufficiently creepy and unnerving to merit the cover and I did enjoy reading it (especially the latter half). I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, I just think I was expecting something different - as can happen at times when you build something up in your mind.

So now a few days have passed. Here's my thoughts on it all (finally!). I loved Mackie Doyle. I really loved his sister, Emma. I think Emma stole the show in many ways. For a debut novel, The Replacement has a lot of strengths. I found the description of Gentry to be eerie and the lore behind the "Replacements" to be really fascinating. Some of the best scenes in the book take place Underground and those scenes alone made the book worth reading.

Now, I understand that it is fairly common knowledge that steel and iron is harmful to changelings - but what I had a difficult time with was how easily everything was explained away (and not, for example, why it wasn't painful for Mackie to be around cars?) and how easily everyone accepted his existence and strange behaviors. I felt as if I was missing part of the history of Gentry, that maybe a few chapters had been left off the beginning of the story. Also - for being a YA book, this had a lot of profanity and a few fairly sexual scenes. I'm not used to seeing much of that in YA books so it came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Aside from those issues though, I did enjoy the overall story and commend Brenna Yovanoff for putting out a YA title that's out of the ordinary and a refreshing change from a barrage of other paranormal creatures.

Show Less

Synopsis: Mackie Doyle is just an ordinary teenager with ordinary dreams-- get hot head cheerleader Alice Harm to notice him and play bass guitar. Except that he isn't. He lives in the small town of Gentry, a prosperous and pleasant town where nothing bad ever happens. Except that it isn't-- that's

Show More

the lie They want you to believe. Gentry is a town of eerie walking corpses and unconsecrated graves, a place where children are stolen from their cribs and the local band is far more sinister without their crazy stage make-up. There's a whole world beneath the Gentry slap heaps, a world of 'tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a tattooed little princess' (Book jacket) A world called Mayhem. It's where Mackie Doyle comes from, the world where the real Mackie Doyle was stolen away to as a baby and sacrificed to a bloodthirsty witch, the embodiment of Terror herself. Mackie has lived in Gentry with his 'adoptive' family for sixteen long years and he is slowly dying, wasting away beneath the suffocating iron of the human world. He might be dead already, if not for his sister Emma, who nursed him back to health again and again though she knew this Mackie is not her brother. He is the Replacement, one of the People beneath the slag heaps.

Mackie has spent his whole life denying the truth he sees in the mirror: in his black eyes and terrible allergies to blood and the consecrated ground of the church. But when an extremely irritating and yet very intriguing girl at his high school, Tate, loses her sister to the same sinister race that left Mackie in the baby's crib, Mackie and his friends are forced to confront the truth. Because there's definitely something rotten going down beneath Gentry. Evil plots and age-old battles being waged beneath the grime of the slag heaps. And if Mackie and Tate want to rescue her sister before All Souls' Night, when she is to be sacrificed to pay an ancient toll, they're going to have to descend into Mayhem and outsmart the immortal and inhuman residents of a town most unlike their own.

I bought The Replacement for two reasons: because faerie and dark faerie stories are some of my favorites, and because of the cover. It's beautiful and intriguing, capturing both the sinister nature of the story and the dark beauty of Brenna Yovanoff's writing. The cover features a quote from Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver and the Faerie Queen's Lament, etc): "I loved this eerie and beautiful story of ugly things. It should be read aloud after dark, at a whisper." No one could have said it better-- The Replacement is eerie and hauntingly lovely, surprising and a touch disturbing. It is a horror story, and a dark faerie tale which reminded me somewhat of Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale books.

Mackie Doyle is definitely one of the more complex and intriguing protagonists I've read about recently. He is at once a relatively normal teenage guy mostly concerned with girls and friends and a boy who feels like a stranger in the world around him. Most people feel like that at least sometimes, and this is where The Replacement reveals itself to be truly deeper than the cover synopsis. It is not just a book about a scary faerie race who steal away children, but also a story about finding where you belong, and who you are. At times the book can be gory and haunting, but it is several cuts above most YA novels dealing with the supernatural. I particularly liked Roswell, Mackie's best friend, and, of course, Tate. She is as capricious and daring as the Mayhem people themselves, and possibly still more vicious when it comes to defending her friends and family. Her determination to save her sister is powerful and utterly convincing. The romance between Mackie and Tate is perfectly played out and never feels like an idealist Bella/Edward kind of relationship.

I'm really looking forward to reading more books by Brenna Yovanoff and hoping that they will be as brilliant as this entrancing debut novel! The Replacement is also rare in that it's a book which can be enjoyed equally by girl and guy readers. Amazing all the way; creepy enough to make you think twice about who or what you might encounter while walking home alone after dark.

Show Less

Mackie Doyle is a Replacement. A baby swapped for another. In the small town for Gentary it has happened before.
Mackie is use to being different, use to blended in, use to the restraints of his health.
Then a little girl dies, is she a replacement too? And so the nightmare begins again.

A well

Show More

executed and dramatic first novel that has that recipe to be a hit. The characters were strong and dynamic. The storyline is gripping, thrilling and chilling. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read another from Yovannoff.

Show Less

Well, I made it to page 140-ish and folded up. The book seems well written, I just didn't care for the pace. Too many scenes didn't seem to move the plot along enough, and when they did they ended too soon. Just when I thought an interesting conversation would take place, something that felt

Show More

exciting or would reveal Mackie's true nature or someone's character, it would pull up short. Examples being Tate confronting Mackie in parking lot, Mom somewhat casually mentioning she was taken somewhere bad (while they were in kitchen), guitar player in bar. Maybe the author was trying to create suspense and compel her readers forward but I think she withheld too much and ended up short-circuiting my interest. The carrot was just too far away for me to keep walking after it. Kudos to the book designer, though. The cover and chapter headings were fantastic.

Show Less

Mackie feels like a lot of high school kids do, a freak. Except in Mackie's case, he really is a freak. He is only there as a Replacement to the real Mackie that was taken from his crib as a baby. A fact that no one will admit, except for Mackie's sister. Mackie is also allergic to iron, a problem

Show More

he has to try and hide from the town. Until reading The Replacement, I had no idea exactly how much iron we are surrounded by every day. Mackie also has to stay away from congregated ground. Not a big deal, right? Just stay away from churches. Except... Mackie's dad is the town's pastor. Mackie a was a character that I quickly felt for. He was the perfect mixture of normal teen and something else.

On the outside, Gentry seemed like your average small town. But you could tell something was up with the town of Gentry from the get go. What I love about this story was you only knew that in the subtleties. The author didn't just come out and tell you, she added crafty little snippets for the reader to pick up. Like Mackie's neighbor, smiling brightly like the whole world is fine as she hangs up an iron horse shoe over her door. Little things that let you know something bigger is happening.

I felt like Gentry was two worlds in one. You have the town of Gentry, then you have what's underneath it. Mayhem. Oh my God, Mayhem was one of the freakiest places I have read about. Seriously, I got shivers just hearing the descriptions of some of these underground creatures. But in some weird way, Mayhem was also a beautiful place. It sort of reminded me of The Nightmare Before Christmas in that way.

Besides Mackie, Tate was my favorite character. When her sister supposedly dies and the whole town goes on excepting it, Tate doesn't. Her eyes are opened to this silent agreement the town seems to have. She fights for answers about what really happened to her sister. I always admire those characters who go against what they are told to believe and find truth.

Overall, The Replacement has a solid and original plot, intriguing and likable characters (even some of the creepy ones), and fantastic writing. I really enjoyed this one, and I will definitely be reading more from Yovanoff. If you are looking for an original and creepy YA, you are going to enjoy this one.

Show Less

I remember reading that short story The Lottery in high school, where every year the town stones one of their residents as a sacrifice for a plentiful harvest. Creepy, right? Well, Gentry could top that small town in the levels of creepy, not because they randomly select one person to kill, but

Show More

because they’ve trained themselves to ask no questions when something strange happens in their town.
The thing that most impressed me about this book was the exceptional depth of the story. This isn’t just a paranormal book with a spooky cover that has nothing but clichés inside. It explores the truth behind actions, the fears people refuse to name, and the lengths people will go to just to feel normal. But there are people who are not okay with the status quo, people who aren’t okay to sit back and accept something without asking questions. Although Mackie has lived his whole life trying to keep a low profile, the combination of his weakening body and Tate’s questioning serves as a catalyst to fight against what has always been. When he uncovers the truth about Gentry, he’s not okay to let everything continue just because that’s how things are done.
Yovanoff breathed life into Mackie and the characters surrounding him, which results in complex relationships. The way that Mackie and his sister Emma cared for and protected one another was the highlight of the book for me. Though she saw the switch take place, Emma never treated Mackie as anything other than her brother, and his drive to keep her safe above everything tugged at my heartstrings. Even the relationships that weren’t given a lot of page time felt authentic.
At face value, The Replacement is a great story about a boy dealing with the mystery of his town. But looking deeper there is a wonderful story about the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive, even when it means others don’t.

Show Less