The Changeling
By Victor LaValle
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy/Thriller
Recommended For: Ages 16+, fans of thrillers with a twist of magic, old school folklore with a modern perspective
Apollo Kagwa has had strange dreams that have haunted him since childhood. An antiquarian book dealer with a business called Improbabilia, he is just beginning to settle into his new life as a committed and involved father, unlike his own father who abandoned him, when his wife Emma begins acting strange. Disconnected and uninterested in their new baby boy, Emma at first seems to be exhibiting all the signs of post-partum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go far beyond that. Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act—beyond any parent’s comprehension—and vanishes, seemingly into thin air.
Thus begins Apollo’s odyssey through a world he only thought he understood to find a wife and child who are nothing like he’d imagined. His quest begins when he meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have information about Emma’s whereabouts. Apollo then begins a journey that takes him to a forgotten island in the East River of New York City, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest in Queens where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever. This dizzying tale is ultimately a story about family and the unfathomable secrets of the people we love.
The Hit List:
- Intriguing and suspenseful story
- Poetic writing and beautiful style for describing the emotions and perspectives
- Slow pace from too much description
- Good character development, but not much variety in personalities
- Lots of loose ends and set-ups with no pay-off
- Probably would not recommend
The Review:
The Changeling is a conglomeration of multiple genres. It’s an alluring mix of fantasy/folklore, thriller, suspense, and drops of horror. The story follows Apollo Kagwa as his peaceful life after the birth of his first child is rocked by an unspeakable tragedy committed by his wife, Emma. She disappears, but when evidence surfaces of her whereabouts, Apollo can’t help but follow it and try to find her. The journey only leads to more twists and confusion as the story unravels for Apollo.
I was excited to ready The Changeling. The appeal of the mix of genres with the intriguing premise called to me. And while there were some very compelling elements of it, as a whole, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. But let’s start with the good parts.
The writing style is very beautiful and poetic. The way LaValle describes a person’s personality and emotions are particularly moving. He utilizes this well to get inside Apollo’s head and let the reader to feel like Apollo is someone they know.
Another tender part of the story was witnessing a father’s genuine, unconditional and sacrificial love for his child. LaValle does an excellent job of showing this love through internal monologue or the glimpses of small acts of love Apollo performs for his son. It is heart warming and endears you to the story’s protagonist right away.
The last thing I think LaValle excelled at in this novel was how he worked in the magical elements. It wasn’t over the top or gratuitous. It was simple and felt so natural it made me feel like magic really could be hiding out there, and I love when contemporary/urban fantasy books do that.
And that’s about all I liked of The Changeling, and it wasn’t enough to make it a particularly enjoyable read for me.
The most difficult hurdle for me to get over was how incredibly long it took to get to the main plot. I think I was almost halfway through the novel when I finally saw what the plot would be and where the story was going. There were an insane amount of unnecessary scenes and backstory that ended up having no connection to the main plot, at least none that I could see. The amount of time he spent on certain scenes or aspects of the story made me think it would have a big roll later on or lead to something, but it rarely did. It was a long drag through the first section to get to anything that felt suspenseful or worthwhile. And the lack of payoffs made it feel like I’d wasted my time for a lot of the beginning.
Related to this, the pacing was not good in my opinion. Set aside how long it took in the beginning to get somewhere interesting. There were several times when we were in the middle of something fairly exciting, or something that felt like a big moment, and the pace would halt when the author went off on some long-winded passage about what the character thought or felt. I want to know what they thought or felt. I don’t want it to take so long to convey that I loose that excitement and suspense from the tension.
The author did a lot of work to develop the main character, and yet, there were still a lot of things that surprised me. He spent so much time in the beginning building Apollo up to be the certain type of person, but then a situation would be thrown in and Apollo’s reaction completely shocked me, in a bad way, a way that didn’t follow with all the set-up LaValle had been doing. Sometimes it felt like whiplash how quickly Apollo’s mood and reactions switched.
One of the genres this book is advertised in is horror. Now, I’m too much of a scardy-cat to read horror, but I was never scared during this book. There were some creepy, slightly skin-crawling moments, but if you’re picking this book up for jump in your seat, keep the lights on horror, you will be disappointed.
And in the end, there were a lot of loose ends never tied up. This kind of relates to my first point of too much in the beginning that never seemed to go anywhere. But if felt like he laid a lot of breadcrumbs that led to nothing. Questions never answered. Mysteries never resolved. Now, is it possible they were small reveals and I missed them? Yes. But there were several loose ends, and I think if a book is well told, there wouldn’t be multiple loose ends a reader misses.
In summary, unfortunately, I probably would not recommend The Changeling to most people. Honestly, the three Lunas rating is a bit generous from my experience, but it also wasn’t the worst book ever. I could see myself suggesting it to someone who specifically liked the strange mix of genres and storytelling elements this book contains.
Luna’s Lucky Rating: 3/5 Lunas
