Book Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Series: The Replacement #1
Date of UK Publication: 6th January 2011
Pages: 375
Source: Bought
Synopsis from Goodreads.com:
Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie comes from a world of tunnels and black, murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattoed princess. He is a replacement - left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago when it was stolen away by the fey. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood and consecrated ground, Mackie is slowly dying in the human world. Mackie would give anything just to be normal, to live quietly amongst humans, practice his bass guitar and 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, where he must face down the dark creatures and find his rightful place - in our world, or theirs.


My Thoughts:
I didn't really know what to expect with this book. I think I was expecting a creepy and scream-worthy story. But I didn't really get that.

I've read so many glowing reviews for this book. It sounded awesome, and completely unique. I've never read anything like it before, which was nice, because there is a lot of the same YA stuff out there, so to find something different is exciting. And, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the book, because I did, but I just didn't think it was as good as so many reviews have said it was.

First, there was the fact that I thought it was going to be really creepy and really scary, and make you want to sleep with the lights on. I'm pretty good at getting scared; I hate rollercoasters, scary movies, too much blood, the usual stuff that freak people out. But I wasn't scared of this book. The plot was a little rushed for my liking, and I felt that Yovanoff didn't have enough time to write the book so it was scary, if that makes sense. Had it been 50-100 pages longer, I think I could have been freaked out. So, I was a little disappointed by that.

Second, I didn't really like Mackie at the beginning. I enjoyed the fact that Yovanoff chose to write The Replacement from a male perspective, something that is rare in YA fiction, but I didn't really like him as a character. He annoyed me. I know he was meant to be struggling to live in a human world full of things he was allergic to, (iron, blood, and consecrated ground) but I think he was a little wimpy. Not sure why, but he just came across as a little cowardly, especially towards the beginning of the book. By the end though, he was a lot more brave, and I began to like him. But just a little bit. ;)

The setting of the book, however, I loved. I loved the whole world that Yovanoff has built, and I loved the whole idea of the book. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the book, there was no world building, and the reader just gets thrown in, with no information or anything to explain who and what Mackie is, and whether people knew about him, and things like that, which made me confused, more and more as the book went on. And I don't like being confused.

However, even after saying all this, I really did enjoy reading this book. I read it in two school days. I don't normally have time to read after I get home from school, because I have homework and clubs, but somehow, I made time to read, because I couldn't stop thinking about the characters and what was going to happen. I had no idea what was going to happen and whether everything was going to be okay, so I had to keep reading so I could find out. So, even though I found lots of things that I could complain about, I managed to look over them, and enjoy it. So, for that reason, I'm going to give it 4 feet. It was good, but not quite what I expected it to be. Still, don't let that put you off, it's still really good, and still worth reading, if YA fiction is what you love.

Quote:
'"What kind of people?"
The dead kind. The still-walking-around kind. The reeking, stinking, rotting-from-the-inside-out kind. Toothy and grinning, nasty with the dark and the dust of abandoned strip mines. But none of that was the whole truth. They were more than that.' - page 135

My Rating:

I give it 4 Feet!

Challenges:
2011 Debut Author Challenge #4
2011 100+ Reading Challenge #10
2011 Paranormal YA Reading Challenge #7