Rating:

“A great fairy tale tells the truth.”

Author: Victor Lavalle

Apollo is determined to be the father he never had. He dotes on his son, Brian, carrying him everywhere, uploading hundreds of pictures to social media, boring well-meaning friends. It seems that life is perfect, but soon Apollo’s wife (and Brian’s mother), Emma, starts to act strange. She asks weird questions about the baby. She claims she is getting pictures of Apollo ignoring him – pictures that immediately disappear from her phone. She says that the baby isn’t there’s – isn’t even a baby – and that her real son is gone. Apollo puts the warning signs down to stress, maybe postpartum depression. At first, he ignores, then he belittles.  Soon Apollo’s happy dream of the perfect family is shattered when Emma murders their son and leaves Apollo fighting for his own life.

When he finally reclaims his mind and his life, Apollo determines to find Emma and exact his revenge, but this quest soon leads him into a world of folklore and dark magic. Was Emma right – was Brian never a baby at all? Is Apollo’s real son still out there, alive somewhere? If so, what is buried in his grave, and what is orchestrating such a heartbreaking scheme and why?

The Changeling is a weird, brutal story, interweaving aspects of the modern world with ancient fairy tales. The incursion creates a terrifying atmosphere where the mundane, everyday world is used to hide the monsters of old. It’s an effective cover, and even in Central Park, the ancient still lies, undisturbed and demanding its dues.

The story is an emotional rollercoaster. At first, I was bored. It takes awhile to get started, to know Apollo and Emma, to follow Apollo’s book buying and selling business (which gets a lot of page space and is ultimately not pertinent). Then, Baby Brian is born, and Apollo’s simpering love is a bit dull for the reader at first. We FEEL like we’ve seen his hundreds of baby pictures, flashing back to overly enthusiastic friends and family in our own lives. So much for the escape from reality into the book world. But this is all necessary: the normal, personal bliss. When Emma’s shattering act comes – and it surprises even the reader – we are sickened and heartbroken. Yes, Baby Brian bored us as a plot point, but we’d come to love him and to secretly adore the fact that Apollo was such a good, doting man. And now, this betrayal of everything! We are along for the revenge ride. To hell with Emma. Let’s get her. We’re willing to go all the way with Apollo into very dark places. His inescapable grief chokes our own throats. Victor Lavalle knew what he was doing with that slow beginning. It’s almost too much. That poor child. That horrible woman.

Image by Diego Perez from Pixabay

Then, the story pivots again. It morphs from a revenge plot into an odyssey. As Apollo looks for Emma, he follows a breadcrumb of clues. He digs up Brian’s grave in a morbidly heartrending scene and soon discovers a hint of the monstrous plot in which he is enmeshed.

From here, he journeys further into an ancient world, a living legend, where he ultimately meets a man who claims to know the truth. But the truth is a slippery thing here, and he is torn between two opposing forces. Should he believe the women or the man who claims to have the answers?

All along the way, where things continually morph and half truths lurk through magically dark forests, we are emotionally invested. LaValle paints a world that despite its antiquity is harshly, eerily believable in modern times. He takes an ancient legend and breathes life into it, making us feel that it definitely could come walking down the street at any moment, demanding that which we do not want to give. It’s a clever use of legend and layering of emotion and investigation. It’s quite a ride, and all the answers aren’t fully revealed until the end.

As the story continues, investigation succumbs to action as well. By the time the final battle(s!) go down, we’re in it all to stay, and we’ve long since forgiven the slow beginning.

I came to The Changeling with low expectations, made worse by a slow, seemingly unmoored beginning. I came out a fan, purchasing a hard copy for my library, because I will be reading this again. Highly recommended.

 

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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