Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Title: The Replacement
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Published: 2010
Pages: 375
My Rating: 4/5


Mackie Doyle is a replacement - a fairy child left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago, to replace the baby when it was stolen away by the fey. So though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie's real home is the fey world of tunnels and black, murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. Now, because his fey blood gives him 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 back home to the fey underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem, where he must face down the dark creatures, rescue the child, and find his rightful place - in our world, or theirs.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. And how quickly I got into it. I was taking a bit of a chance when buying it as it's not my favorite genre. But just thought I'd give it a go. I'm quite glad that I did. 


First off, I loved our lead character, Mackie. I have no idea what I liked about him so much, but I just found him very likable. As for the rest of the characters, I have to say, Yovanoff did a brilliant job writing them. They were all unique and individual with their own personalities. They were all real. 


I found the whole fantasy world very interesting. There was nothing specific, like vampires or werewolves, but there was a whole manner of different creatures with the theme of death. I did find that some of the details of how the world worked in relation to ours a little glossed over, causing me to get a bit confused at times. And I did find it strange how easily all the characters settled with the idea of the world. 


But overall, I found the writing very fast paced and enjoyable, with many likable characters and interesting scenes. I don't think it's one of the best Urban Fantasy books, but I liked it more for the writing and the characters than the fantasy aspect to it.