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timerippleFor lack of any hilariously entertaining real-life incidents, I thought I might as well post a review that I've been sitting on for a while. It's Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement, and this is a book that surprised me.
I love being surprised like this. This is maybe a little more enthusiastic than it would have been, had I not read The Replacement on the heels of a number of books that disappointed and enraged me with their smug mediocrity, abuse of cliches, and failure to examine their own premises.
If you’re a Celtic mythology purist, you will probably not like The Replacement. Happily I am not. As long as you don’t misspell anything, I don’t care who you conflate or combine or just plain make up.
The plot goes something like this:
MALCOLM "MACKIE" DOYLE: I’m allergic to iron and I have a disturbing tendency to swoon at school blood drives. Also, I can’t go on consecrated ground.
TOWNSPEOPLE: Oh la, Mackie, it’s too bad that completely normal teenage rebellion against your pastor father will keep you from attending poor little Natalie Stewart’s funeral! It’s so sad that these things happen in our otherwise strangely perfect and prosperous town. Her sister must be so devastated.
TATE STEWART: That thing they buried? Not my sister. Because MY SISTER’S NOT DEAD. And you, Mackie “Weirdly Hot, Shame About the Fainting Fits” Doyle, are going to help me get her back.
MACKIE: No, I’m not.
TATE: Yes, you are.
MACKIE: No, I’m going to pass out in front of the town slag heap, discover the underground court of the dead and other disturbing things, have a chat with their creepy, adorable little princess the Morrigan, and play a guest gig with the local superstar fae rock band.
TATE: And then you’re going to help me get my sister back.
MACKIE: No, I’m not. I’m going to learn about the other fae-and-things court in town, have a chat with the Morrigan’s sister and her little pet sacrifice...kid...crap.
TATE: MACKIE.
MACKIE: FINE, OKAY? *FINE.* P.S. I find your intense, desperate stare kind of compelling.
TATE: Let’s make out. But make it quick, because in about ten minutes we need to crash an ancient ritual to save my sister and I need to beat a dude up with a crowbar.
MACKIE: ...hot.
After eyeing this book askance for months, I was pleasantly surprised. Astonished, even. Dark and atmospheric, this is the latest in a lineage of books with echoes of Tam Lin and changelings all mixed together. And... I liked it. A lot. It’s not a perfect book, but it is an intensely interesting one.
There are few narrative surprises here. We know up front what’s wrong with Mackie, what’s wrong with the town. (Mackie’s a changeling. Guess what happens to the real kids.) But the constant play between beauty and ugliness, chosen and biological families, charmed lives vs Dealing With It kept me fascinated. I loved the textures of Yovanoff’s worlds, particularly once we meet the Morrigan, the toothy tattooed little princess. The Morrigan, who Kirkus described as “Tim Burton-esque,” which is pretty accurate. But for me she (and the whole slag heap) were also Sendakian (Maurice Sendak, of the Outside Over There Sendaks). I keep imagining her and the others under the slag heap in cave-Gollum colors, textures--black and silver, strings, scales, pointed teeth and dark fishblood dripping. (Crap, how awesome would a Sendak-illustrated LotR be?)
And oh, how much do I love Tate Stewart-the-love-interest? Tate “Monsters Stole My Sister and I WANT HER BACK” Stewart. Desperate, fierce Tate Stewart who faces down the Cutter: scourge of the Hall of Misery, doer of dirty work and dirty deeds, sadist and masochist both, wearer of claws and threatener of significant others. When faced with him, most people (including Our Hero) run away, piss themselves, or get hurt very, very badly.
Tate? Tate whips out a f***ing crowbar.
I love a girl who’s prepared.
On the one hand, I think this would have been an awesome story to see from Tate’s point of view, because she is awesome and can beat people up if necessary. But on the other hand, I really love hearing the monster’s voice. Instead of yet another “Oh there is a pale mysterious boy at my school, I think he has something to do with these mysterious goings-on!” story, we get “I am a pale mysterious boy, but surely these mysterious goings-on (which totally have to do with me) don’t ACTUALLY have to do with me! La lalala can’t I just sit here in the corner and play my bass and daydream about girls and OH CRAP I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE MYSTERIOUS GOINGS-ON NOW.”
And that? That feels fresh and interesting and the more I think about it, the more gleeful I get. (I love subversion.) I've left out a few things, like Mackie's devoted sister Emma and her bio lab study partner Janice, and Mackie's best friend (whose name I have sadly forgotten). I love them too!
As for the underdeveloped elements (there are a few: I would’ve loved to see more of Mackie’s changing relationship with his human family, especially his plot point mother)--saying “More of that, please, it’s great!” is as much a compliment as it is a criticism.
I love being surprised like this. This is maybe a little more enthusiastic than it would have been, had I not read The Replacement on the heels of a number of books that disappointed and enraged me with their smug mediocrity, abuse of cliches, and failure to examine their own premises.
If you’re a Celtic mythology purist, you will probably not like The Replacement. Happily I am not. As long as you don’t misspell anything, I don’t care who you conflate or combine or just plain make up.
The plot goes something like this:
MALCOLM "MACKIE" DOYLE: I’m allergic to iron and I have a disturbing tendency to swoon at school blood drives. Also, I can’t go on consecrated ground.
TOWNSPEOPLE: Oh la, Mackie, it’s too bad that completely normal teenage rebellion against your pastor father will keep you from attending poor little Natalie Stewart’s funeral! It’s so sad that these things happen in our otherwise strangely perfect and prosperous town. Her sister must be so devastated.
TATE STEWART: That thing they buried? Not my sister. Because MY SISTER’S NOT DEAD. And you, Mackie “Weirdly Hot, Shame About the Fainting Fits” Doyle, are going to help me get her back.
MACKIE: No, I’m not.
TATE: Yes, you are.
MACKIE: No, I’m going to pass out in front of the town slag heap, discover the underground court of the dead and other disturbing things, have a chat with their creepy, adorable little princess the Morrigan, and play a guest gig with the local superstar fae rock band.
TATE: And then you’re going to help me get my sister back.
MACKIE: No, I’m not. I’m going to learn about the other fae-and-things court in town, have a chat with the Morrigan’s sister and her little pet sacrifice...kid...crap.
TATE: MACKIE.
MACKIE: FINE, OKAY? *FINE.* P.S. I find your intense, desperate stare kind of compelling.
TATE: Let’s make out. But make it quick, because in about ten minutes we need to crash an ancient ritual to save my sister and I need to beat a dude up with a crowbar.
MACKIE: ...hot.
After eyeing this book askance for months, I was pleasantly surprised. Astonished, even. Dark and atmospheric, this is the latest in a lineage of books with echoes of Tam Lin and changelings all mixed together. And... I liked it. A lot. It’s not a perfect book, but it is an intensely interesting one.
There are few narrative surprises here. We know up front what’s wrong with Mackie, what’s wrong with the town. (Mackie’s a changeling. Guess what happens to the real kids.) But the constant play between beauty and ugliness, chosen and biological families, charmed lives vs Dealing With It kept me fascinated. I loved the textures of Yovanoff’s worlds, particularly once we meet the Morrigan, the toothy tattooed little princess. The Morrigan, who Kirkus described as “Tim Burton-esque,” which is pretty accurate. But for me she (and the whole slag heap) were also Sendakian (Maurice Sendak, of the Outside Over There Sendaks). I keep imagining her and the others under the slag heap in cave-Gollum colors, textures--black and silver, strings, scales, pointed teeth and dark fishblood dripping. (Crap, how awesome would a Sendak-illustrated LotR be?)
And oh, how much do I love Tate Stewart-the-love-interest? Tate “Monsters Stole My Sister and I WANT HER BACK” Stewart. Desperate, fierce Tate Stewart who faces down the Cutter: scourge of the Hall of Misery, doer of dirty work and dirty deeds, sadist and masochist both, wearer of claws and threatener of significant others. When faced with him, most people (including Our Hero) run away, piss themselves, or get hurt very, very badly.
Tate? Tate whips out a f***ing crowbar.
I love a girl who’s prepared.
On the one hand, I think this would have been an awesome story to see from Tate’s point of view, because she is awesome and can beat people up if necessary. But on the other hand, I really love hearing the monster’s voice. Instead of yet another “Oh there is a pale mysterious boy at my school, I think he has something to do with these mysterious goings-on!” story, we get “I am a pale mysterious boy, but surely these mysterious goings-on (which totally have to do with me) don’t ACTUALLY have to do with me! La lalala can’t I just sit here in the corner and play my bass and daydream about girls and OH CRAP I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE MYSTERIOUS GOINGS-ON NOW.”
And that? That feels fresh and interesting and the more I think about it, the more gleeful I get. (I love subversion.) I've left out a few things, like Mackie's devoted sister Emma and her bio lab study partner Janice, and Mackie's best friend (whose name I have sadly forgotten). I love them too!
As for the underdeveloped elements (there are a few: I would’ve loved to see more of Mackie’s changing relationship with his human family, especially his plot point mother)--saying “More of that, please, it’s great!” is as much a compliment as it is a criticism.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-05 05:12 am (UTC)So... echoes of Tithe, then. But in a good way. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-05 07:59 am (UTC)Sounds really fun, though. If you've read any Percy Jackson, how does it compare? (You said that thing about Greek mythology and gutting, and I immediately thought of Rick Riordan. I have moved on to his Egyptian mythology/teen hero books now.)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 04:18 am (UTC)...I would read the heck out of that.
I mean, you could read interspecies as code for gay, but I don't think it is, in this case. Just like sometimes vampires are just sexy bloodsucking fiends, you know, and not code for sekrit forbidden homosexual urges. (I've read some wackjob-agenda'd reviews in my time, okay.) Where is my saving-people-from-being-sacrificed-by-faeries LGBT romance?
Maybe the whole interspecies thing counts as queer, at least for some critics. *eyes dusty stacks of Intro to Crit articles*
*decides that getting enough sleep and being able to do my job tomorrow is more important than remedying my total ignorance of Queer Theory right this second*
no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:56 am (UTC)It doesn't really lend itself to comparison with the Percy Jackson books, I think, even though both are nominally concerned with what happens to gods when the world moves on. The tone and other concerns are so vastly different. I think it's actually closer to Neil Gaiman's work--American Gods or Anansi Boys, for example, and the later Sandman volumes, in terms of its treatment of gods.
I do like the Percy Jackson books, though! Some of the more blatant Americentric statements gave me pause (the whole bit about the pinnacle of Western civilization moving around--uh, way to just lay that out there). Having an adolescent satyr best friend would be somewhat problematic for a middle grade novel, but I guess Grover's obsession with food works as a pretty widely accepted symbolic stand-in for sex. I haven't read the Kane chronicles or the Roman-aspect books yet, but I probably will. Eventually. Is the first Egyptian one as rushed as everybody says it is?
no subject
Date: 2011-03-05 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-05 09:36 pm (UTC)YAY, I can finish the books on my shelf already and get that as a treat. As if that will happen...
no subject
Date: 2011-03-06 03:07 am (UTC)Also now I am considering giving the blurbing authors a second chance, based on the fact that I agree with them completely. (How's that for a new take on the whole do-blurbs-matter-or-don't-they-wah-YA-mafia thing?)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-10 05:07 am (UTC)HOMG THAT'S PIGRABBIT IN YOUR AVATAR
...sorry. I just love that thing.
Anyway, the reviewer was talking about agency in the MC or something like that. Your post here reminded me that the kind of issues they pointed out are not ones that bother me much as I read, though.
Also, sorry about the delay in replying. My LJ account for the first time is doing the extraspeshul treatment of having comment notifications pop up at erratic dates. And I literally JUST had this appear in my e-mail.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-12 03:55 am (UTC)I'll forgive a book a lot if it has fae rock bands, goblins, and sibling-rescue with crowbars. *l*