Book Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Series: The Replacement #1
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: Sept. 21 2010
My Source: Library
My Rating: 3.5/5

My Review:

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.

My Review:

I didn't realize how long it has been since I've posted a review. Allow me to apologize. :) Especially since I finished The Replacement about a week ago.

Maybe it's due to the fact that I haven't written a review in a while that this review is a bit unconventional. Or maybe it's just because The Replacement was not a very conventional book.

World building- I loved it so, so much. The small town of Gentry seems so typical at first, but we soon learn that dark secrets keep the whole town running. Weird things happen there all the time but the citizens are so ignorant, only believing what they want to, to avoid facing the dark truths. Yovanoff does an absolutely beautiful way of conveying this sense in her writing, characters, and the way the town is described. It's all very vague at first, which may bother some people, but I didn't mind it, because as the book progressed it became much more clear.

Mackie Doyle was amazing and I loved him. It was such a unique perspective to hear from. He wasn't supposed to live when he was younger, yet by the love of his family, especially his sister, he did. I also loved reading about Tate, Drew, Danny, and all the other supporting characters.

This book had so many good elements, but I had one issue that is a bit difficult to pin down exactly: it was too put-down-able. It took too long to really get to the plot and besides Mackie's charm, I found it hard to find something to keep reading. The resolution of the plot was fairly simple, and it all ended well, almost too well.

According to Goodreads, this is the first of a series called "The Replacement", so I'm expecting there to be sequels, though that is a bit disappointing for me because for some reason I think this book would be better as a stand alone. It wrapped up it's own story really well.

I almost don't want to rate this book, because I feel like I can't compare it to others. I didn't love it or hate it, it was just there somewhere in the middle. I'm giving this book a 3.5/5 rating, though I debated for a while about giving it a 4. I've read a lot of other people's reviews and they all love this book, so I would recommend it!

I want to caution anyone, I was surprised by the amount of strong language and f-bombs that frequently showed up in this book. It wasn't a ridiculously extreme amount, but if it bothers you this may not be the book you'd want to pick up.

Funny story- while I remember this- when I checked it out from the library the first time a section of 25 pages was missing from the middle, and it was a brand new book. I didn't realize they were missing until getting about a fourth of the way through it, and I was very upset! I finally got another copy though. Thinking back, this was a such a weird thing to come across in a brand new book and I think it makes this book all the more creepy. Maybe the Lady or some other creature cut them out? No, wait, they can't handle scissors. Metal. ;)

Cover: 5/5
It conveys such a creepy tone that really fit this book. Sharp metal objects hanging over a baby crib? Perfect.