Changeling (Order of Darkness, #1)

by Philippa Gregory

Fred Van Deelen (Illustrator) and Sally Taylor (Illustrator)

'Attractive characters, several layers of mystery and, as one might expect, meticulously researched historical detail.' Daily Mail
'A great read. Appealing characters and detailed historical setting.' Kiss
'Romping and intriguing' The Daily Telegraph

The year is 1453, and all signs point to it being the end of the world.

Accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old, Luca Vero, is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe and travel to the very frontier of good and evil.

Isolde, a seventeen-year-old Lady Abbess, has been trapped in a nunnery by her brother to prevent her claiming a rich inheritance. But when the nuns in Isolde's care show signs of maddness, she's accused of witchcraft and outisde the abby a pyre is being built to burn her for her wickedness. Luca is sent to investigate and all the evidence points to Isolde's criminal guilt, but is there something more sinister behind the maddness?

Forced to face the greatest fears of the dark ages - black magic, werewolves, madness - Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they take the unknown ways to the real historical figure who defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.

• ISBN10: 144245346X
• ISBN13: 9781442453463
• Publish Date: 29 May 2012 (first published 1 May 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon Pulse
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

* The blurb stating they wind up traveling together wounded typical tension. Instead of "who did it?", I was mainly wondering how those 2 kids were going to get out of it, rather than if they were going to get out of it. Kind of like...
* Scooby-doo. Not just with knowing how it'll end but wandering around busting mysteries. I loved it for that.
* Frieze was an ass towards the end. She warned him & he deserved it. His whining was annoying then his actions after she admitted she was wrong about something else made me want to smack him. No means no. She's not some beast for you to tame, jack hole. Considering, she's a POC, that's especially odious to read.
* Investigator Luca is interesting. Makes me wonder how it's going to go for his faith.
* Historically fascinating. I'm not much of a buff and always found it hard to get into during class. It was so dull. Which is why it's so captivating to read how 0 was so revolutionary from a POV that's new to it. That's context or at least a perspective I've sorely missed. Because it's one this to say "this is how it was" and another to show it. Not that traditional history needs to be replaced but something to help those like me would've been great. I know it's fiction but it can make you care & that makes learning the cold hard facts easier. At least it was when I fell down the rabbit hole of links and Wiki after finishing.
* Loved Isolde. She has guts and dealt with some major bullshit. Not that she was perfect. If she was, she'd have run the nunnery better. Or at least tried. Understand her feelings of inadequacy towards her friend. All her skills are useless now. She should work on correcting that and make them teach her some shit.
* Loved Ishraq. She may be the most unusual but it's not like badass women like her are a historical fraud. There's some we know of but all things considered it wouldn't surprise me how many we've lost to human sexism and limited recording of time.
* The scribe is blah. Not much seen or heard except for loyalty to the Order and religious piety.


Rating: 3.5 stars
Recommended for: YA and historical fiction and mystery fans

I won this from (look up). Shit, it's been years and can't find the info. :(

I was intrigued by the blurb of course, but no lie that dragon symbol cover had a lot to do with it as well. I love dragons and was disappointed at the lack of them.

The one thing most people feel differently is that the author made me pause rather than an asset. I tried reading The Other Boylen Girl when it blew up, but I hated it, didn't give a fuck about the people and lineage, and didn't finish it with no regrets.

The Order of Darkness is a solid historical mystery story. There is the traditional sexism, classism, and racism, including rape threats and fear how it ruins women.

I love how in historical novels the time periods come to life. Of course, you have to take it with a grain of salt but it leads to research being easier. This worked very here as apposed to my other Gregory attempt.

[lizarodz]

This book is different, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It takes some getting used to, but overall I did like Changeling.

I think the reason why I didn’t like Changeling as much as I thought I would is because of the lack in insight about the characters. The story is told in the third person, which I always like and it allows the reader to ‘be’ in many places at one. Luca is an inquisitive and handsome child, born to an older couple and the superstitious people of the village tag him as a ‘changeling’ (a fairy child). Luca’s parents send him to the monastery, the only option available for the poor to get an education. The story is mostly about Luca and his quest as an inquisitor of the church.

I have mixed feelings about Isolde. On one had she is raised by her father as an educated lady, with the expectation that she will inherit and oversee part of his lands. I know that Isolde’s lack of common sense can be blamed, in part, by her age and her suffering after her father’s death; but it was really obvious to me what was going on! How can a brother be such a bastard is beyond me. I have no idea how the attraction that Isolde and Luca feel for each other will pan out and if she will ever regain what she lost.

Ishraq, a girl of Muslim roots, is raised with Isolde and trained in medicine and fighting in order to better protect Isolde. Freize has something that a lot of people of this age lacked: plain common (and good) sense. I liked Ishraq and Freize a lot more than the main characters, which was somewhat unexpected.

The story is set in Italy, in the 1400’s in a time where women had no rights, the church has a lot of power, and most people were very superstitious. The plot is a bit complicated, consisting of a few storylines that merge and at the end there are still many unanswered questions. The story is not a romance, but rather an introduction to the Order of Darkness, the characters and the time period. The writing is straightforward and true to the historical era. Overall, I liked the story enough to read the next installment.

[Stephanie]

Changeling by Philippa Gregory was an interesting read. I didn’t really find that I cared one way or another about it. Changeling wasn’t be but it wasn’t memorable either. I can remember vaguely patches of the story (lesson: write reviews promptly after finishing a book), but overall I remember a young man, his kitchen animal whispering squire/page, a young woman and her companion…oh! and a wolf and some crazy nuns.

This was my first Philippa Gregory novel and I feel like that might have been a mistake. I don’t hold this as a bad story against Gregory. I just have a feeling that I would vastly enjoy her adult titles more than this type of book.

This feels like a very botched up review but I honestly can’t drum up enough feeling to write a better one. It’s a solid three stars. Not bad, but not great either.