The Replacement

by Brenna Yovanoff

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

I became privy to this book, when another author that I enjoy reading recommended it to her fans, as Brenna Yovanoff is one of her friends. The way she described the premise of the book and the author herself, made me want to look into reading it. I immediately knew when I saw the cover, all bets were off. This would definitely be a book that I would enjoy.

This book easily fits into a genre that I'm no stranger to, at the moment. Actually, haven't been for years, if I'm honest. I like the main character Mackie and the fact that he wants to be nothing more than normal, which is quite the opposite of what he actually is. I also enjoy the fact that Emma, his sister loves him for who he is and not necessarily what he is, and that Roswell comes across as a very understanding and supportive friend that he can count on.

All throughout the back half half of this story, I found myself strongly associating the sacrifice of one of the town's baby with another short story I'd read years ago, The Lottery. The two stories are not exactly the same, but there is a thread of similarity there in that one sense. It's almost as if, they're sacrificing the one for the good of the many, and the towns people look the other way because they're too afraid to look at the truth.

The character's that come out of the House of Mayhem just may very well be some of the most colorful, unique, and favorite character's ever among many. From the Morrigan to the little pink girl, to the dead girls, and Carlina Carlyle it was all so interesting. The history and the mythology there, the fact that there was a whole world that lay beneath the two of Gentry in the Slag Heap.

Strange how sometimes something so ugly can come across so beautiful in ways that you couldn't begin to imagine, something that takes on a life of their own. Even the Lady and the Cutter, had their purposes. And the story seemed to re-iterate that when you give something a name, it gives that thing power - whatever it is. It's not exactly that these beings were evil and ugly, so much as they were just different and creepy and had their own agenda's and reasonings behind their actions. They were very well portrayed in everything they did or said. Nothing was without meaning.

The author's attention devoted to the imagery and detail of the story, showed in her vivid imagination, when creating The House of Mayhem and the spooky town of Gentry and all of the people and ugly things were part of what made this first published work of hers so phenomenal.

The only drawback for me as far as this book goes, was the pacing of it. For me, personally, it started off pretty slow and didn't seem to really pick up and gain momentum until about half way into the story itself. But, all of that aside, I really wanted to finish this book because I truly felt like it had potential and the back half of it just did not disappoint me. The rich storytelling and the creative imagery that she wove into it, has made me enjoy this book in ways that I hadn't imagined I would.