Review: Changeling

Changeling

Philippa Gregory
Published by: Simon Pulse
Released: May 24, 2012

Once again, I finish a book later at night, so I will send a special shout out to Goodreads and borrow the description from them once again.



Dark myths, medieval secrets, intrigue, and romance populate the pages of the first-ever teen series from #1 bestselling author of The Other Boleyn GirlItaly, 1453. Seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is brilliant, gorgeous—and accused of heresy. Cast out of his religious order for using the new science to question old superstitious beliefs, Luca is recruited into a secret sect: The Order of the Dragon, commissioned by Pope Nicholas V to investigate evil and danger in its many forms, and strange occurrences across Europe, in this year—the end of days.

Isolde is a seventeen-year-old girl shut up in a nunnery so she can’t inherit any of her father’s estate. As the nuns walk in their sleep and see strange visions, Isolde is accused of witchcraft—and Luca is sent to investigate her, but finds himself plotting her escape.

Despite their vows, despite themselves, love grows between Luca and Isolde as they travel across Europe with their faithful companions, Freize and Ishraq. The four young people encounter werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers as they head toward a real-life historical figure who holds the boundaries of Christendom and the secrets of the Order of the Dragon.

The first in a series, this epic and richly detailed drama is grounded in historical communities and their mythic beliefs. It includes a medieval map of Europe that will track their journey; and the interior will include relevant decorative elements as well as an interior line illustration. And look for a QR code that links to a note from the author with additional, detailed information about the setting and the history that informed the writing. With Philippa Gregory’s trademark touch, this novel deftly brings the past—and its salacious scandals—vividly and disturbingly to life.

I had high hopes for this book. I knew that Philippa Gregory was a talented writer who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl and I thought maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have that "Authors who writes for adults then attempts to write for YA because it is wildly popular" syndrome. Yup. She has it. The writing wasn't horrible; it held my attention. But the story was just weird.

I was hoping for some fast pace, action novel that took place after the fall of Constantinople filled with fantasy, breath taking heroes, romance, ect. Nah. Book didn't really have that. Half of it took place in a nunnery...Wow! Lots of action there *Rolls eyes* The story wasn't horrible. I finished it in a day. It held my interest, but still left me with a lot of confusion and questions. If I hadn't participated in our school's production of The Sound of Music last year, I would probably have been so baffled by everything that happened in the abbey and all of the "nunly" (Yes, I did just invent that) stuff. It's more like 2 short stories cramed between a cover, one following the strange events at the abbey and the other the werewolf problem. They weren't really related at all except for the fact that *SPOILER* Isolde and Ishraq escaped and was found by Luca and Freize when they were caught by bandits. Then it weaves into the werewolf story. *END SPOILER*  The plot was uneven. It didn't seem to mesh together like it should and it was very predictable. I guessed the whole book. I usually enjoy coming up with theories, but this was flat out obvious.

Kuddos for having it placed in Italy. I love all things Italian and one of my best friends is over there right now partying it up in Rome. If I was over there now, I would be tempted to follow Luca's path just like I did in Paris with the Die for Me and The Red Pyramid locations (L'obelisque est mon préféré!)

And what was up with the ending? This book is short, barely topping 250 pages! I don't even think it deserves the title of Cliffhanger because it was anything but. It was an abrupt ending because the author either became bored or thought that it was an excuse of a cliffhanger. Nope. It was just sucky! She could have easily gone on at least another 100 pages and left us readers with a lot of questions. I am sitting here so confused. How was this book even published?

SPOILERS BELOW

Okay. Let's talk about that one scene in the nunnery when the truth comes out. It is very disturbing to say the least and even though I pretty much predicted what happen because it was so darn obvious, it threw me a curveball.

Zombie Nuns. That's basically what they were. Zombie nuns who formed a mob and burned the Lady Almoner, moaning traitor the whole time. Yeah okay. Lady Almoner was guilty of everything: poisoning the nuns, the death of Sister Augusta, paning for gold. But the image I got from that scene was so disturbing I couldn't even form proper thoughts afterwards. I had to keep telling myself "Did I really just read that?" and I was just so...speachless. I don't think I would ever look at nuns the same way again.

It took me a while to pick the book back up again.

END OF SPOILERS

The characters. They were really flat in my mind. No true characterization occured in the novel. Maybe something will happen in the next ones. Ishraq was pretty cool, being all kick butt and everything. But that's about it. Luca seemed too happy in his role as inquistor. He took it way too seriously and put his authority out there whenever he could. Freize was just annoying as any character could be. She tried to hard to make him a sarcastic character and he really just annoyed the living crap out of me. Brother Peter just needs to go do something fun. Seriously, that guy's robe is in a twist because he is so moody, pouty. I feel like he has been sitting in time out for most of his life. Isolde is too...hmmmm...I really have no complaints on her other than the fact that she should have thrown her brother out of a window whenever she had gotten the chance. Her brother was so horrible that I wish I could jump into the story to strangle the guy. The characters don't feel like they are 17, 18 in my mind. They seem like they could easily be adults. Understandable, seeing how Philippa Gregory traditionally writes for adults and this is her first YA novel. Frankly, I wish this was an adult novel. It could be 10 times better.

So am I being generous giving it 3 stars? I hate giving below 3 stars because I try to love every story I read. There is just a handful of YA books that I flat out hated (Entwined being on the top of my list.) The idea of the story is brilliant; the writing kept me interested. It was the plot, or lack of it, that bothered me and the lack of character development. Maybe I'm being too harsh on the novel, but I seriously wished I waited until more of the books came out before I bought this one. I had such high hopes for this book and it kind of disappointed me. It left me with so many questions that I'm going to have to go out and pick up the rest of them just to get answers. The book held my interest and that's mostly why I gave it 3 stars. Maybe if it didn't end the way it did, or was longer, or had a main plot, I could easily give it 4 or 5 stars. But there were those issues that really bugged me and I can't over look them.

I don't recommend going out and buying this book new like I did. Wait until more of them are out and pick them up cheap or on an eReader. In my mind, it wasn't worth the $13 I paid for it (at Targets, discounted price). I was expecting this big medieval fantasy, but mostly ended up with medieval superstitions that were silly and mundane, not at all fantasy, but truly and horribly real (Hate reading normal books if you couldn't tell...) I'm curious to see how they all play out so I'm going to continue the series, I just wish I waited until more came out. I am seriously kicking myself in the butt for that now.

Review by Calypso