Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Release Date: September 21st 2010
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 343
Source: Library

"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." (Goodreads)


The Replacement is a book I have been looking forward to reading for a long time, and when I finally got my hands on it at the library, I was ecstatic. Although The Replacement has one of the most original plots I have read this year, I found myself having mixed feelings throughout the book. Before I get into that I want to tell you a little about the story. 


Mackie Doyle just doesn't fit in with the people around him no matter how hard he tries. It probably is because he isn't like everyone else. Mackie is a changeling whom replaced the real Mackie Doyle when he was just a baby. All his life Mackie was told by his father to stay hidden and to not call attention to himself in fear of people finding out about his secret. If people were to find out, they would kill him out of fear like they did to another changeling a long time ago. It was never hard for Mackie to say in the shadows until Tate comes into the picture. Tate's little sister has just died, to everyone else it's just a tragedy, but to Tate it was mistaken identity. Tate swears that wasn't her sister she found dead, it was something else entirely. Mackie also knows the truth but is he willing to return from where he came in order to help save Tate's sister? The rest you all will have to find out for yourself!


The way Brenna writes is intriguing. I was captivated into the story by the first sentence. When I first started I thought it would an action packed story filled with gruesome things. While there were corpse-like fey and bloody scenes, it wasn't nearly as action packed as I thought it would be. I also found myself confused often to what was going on. 

I loved the friendships Mackie had with Rosewell and the twins. I wish there would have been more about the friendship then the relationship with Tate. Although I did find the relationship cute, It just didn't seem believable to me. I also never knew why Tate was compelled to talk to Mackie all the time in the beginning. Like I said, confusion! 


The story did keep me entertained though. I ended up liking it at the end and wanted to see how Mackie's life would change in Gentry. Over all I say this is a good fey book and encourage you all to at least try it! 


Rating: 3.5/5