Hardcover, 352 pages
Published September 21, 2010 by Razorbill
From my personal collection
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.
Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.
Rating: 4/5
*caution: spoilers! (sometimes I get carried away, so read at your own risk)*
My Thoughts: First, I would just like to congratulate Brenna Yovanoff on a fantastic debut novel. The Replacement is a wonderful story of love an finding one's place in the world. The beginning was a bit slow, but soon I was sucked in Gentry and the life that the town allowed to continue. I was almost disappointed to leave.
I have been reading reviews on this book for a while, and I was so excited read it. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Mackie's story is intricate and complicated and I felt bad for him through most of the beginning of the book. He so wanted to be defined by his differences that he didn't let his friends and his sister love him they way they wanted to. I thought that Mackie was a little annoying and whiny through the beginning of the book, until the House of Mayhem, because he didn't stand up for himself or allow anyone to help him. Once he began to believe in himself, the character of Mackie opened up and I now have an epic literary crush on him. Tate, on the other hand, I loved from the beginning. She is tough and determined and doesn't take crap from anyone, but she is still soft enough to fall for Mackie and let him be her hero. I thought that all of the characters were extremely well written and easy to relate to, and I really wanted to be friends with Roswell.
The only complaint that I had was that the beginning of the story was a little slow. There was a lot of buildup to the House of Mayhem but I still didn't really understand who Mackie was or who the Morrigan's people were. It took a while before I really liked Mackie or empathized with what he was going through. The story of Mackie's mother seemed like just a side note, though I would have liked to know more about that. Ms. Yovanoff's writing style is simple but elegant and her words draw you into the world of Gentry. There are a few instances of cursing, but I didn't see it as taking anything away from the story. They mostly come from Mackie, and lets be honest, he has a reason to be angry. I would recommend this book to anyone who is mature enough to understand the purpose of the profanity.
In the end this was a story about love, about allowing people to love you and allowing yourself to love others. It's about realizing your place in the world through the people who love you and I think Ms. Yovanoff does a wonderful job.
Find Brenna Yovanoff
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I've not read this book yet, but I really want to. I didn't read your review because of the spoiler alert. I'll come back later after I've read it.
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