The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Published: Sept 2010

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 352

Copy Provided by: Bought

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

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.

I LOVED this story. Brenna's writing was such a refreshing surprise! She has woven an intricate interesting storyline, different from anything else that I have read. The Replacement has been getting lots of buzz since it was first released a few months ago but I was never 100% sure of what it was about. Of course, the cover totally drew me in. Old style carriage with a scissors mobile. Creepy....and I have to admit, I'm all for creepy stories. However, it was not scary like I was originally anticipating. Less than 100 pages in and I the town was feeling a bit like Stepford Wives. Ms. Yovanoff is a brilliant writer giving the Replacement depth and the 'monster', wasn't even a monster at all. He was just trying to find his place in this world and where he belonged.

Here are my favourite lines

Page 40
'The simple truth is that you can understand a town. You can know and love and hate it. You can blame it, resent it, and nothing changes. In the end, you're just another part of it.'

Page 72
' "You believed me today. You believed me and it scared you, and now you're just too much of a pussy to man up and say it."...."Why won't you just say it?" ' Totally unrelated but after reading this, does anyone else want to complete this phrase and say - You're ashamed to be seen with me. You're ashamed to go out with me. You're terrified that your g**** rich friends won't approve. (Are you child of the 80s? Hands up if you know what movie this is from!!)

Page 220
' "You are massively unqualified to tell me what I deserve..." '

This was the beginning of a lovely girl fight starring Alice and Tate. Loved the character of Tate. She kicks ass!! The fight scene with her and Alice was awesome. Go weird girls! Alice TOTALLY deserved that....


So let's recap. If you're looking for an interesting storyline, girl fights, strange things happening in a small town and weird family dynamics, you have come to choose the right book. If you are one of our librarian followers and reading our blog to advise YA readers, I should mention that there is some language in this book. Not tons but enough to make a note of if you have a much younger audience that's just not ready for the language.

On another totally unrelated note, if you've already read The Replacement, do you think Nick (The Demon's Covenant and the Demon's Lexicon) and Mackie could be friends? They both seem to have some serious internal issues with their origins. Personally, I think they'd hit it off just fine. :D

Note from Curlypow: I know, I know, I know which movie it's from! It's one of my favourites.
Christinabean response - I LOVE this movie....Andrew ****** was so nice to look at.....sigh....