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Changeling - Steve Feasey
16/3/09 11:58Trey Laporte lives in a care home run by a sadistic manager until an intense man claiming to be his uncle spirits him away. The strange Lucien quickly reveals that Trey has been living under a delusion of normality. Everything changes as Trey discovers he is part of a supernatural world he never knew existed. Trey is in fact the last known hereditary werewolf, and that means he’s in danger.
How is this book like Harry Potter? Let me count the ways:
The main character Trey is an orphan
Both his parents were killed by an evil adversary
His mother died protecting him
Lucien, a mysteriously powerful adult arrives to rescue him from his rubbish life
Trey discovers he has a power he never knew about
Trey is in danger because of a prophecy
Trey discovers there’s a whole supernatural world he never knew existed
Oh and in that age old, beloved plot easer previously impoverished Trey finds out he has lots and lots of money. He’s actually a millionaire. Because nothing slows your plot down like a kid without cash.
If you’re looking for a new supernatural YA action/adventure series to replace the hole Harry left then I’d recommend trying 'Changeling' by Steven Feasy. It’s scene setting is Harry Potter with fur, in fact when I googled the book most of the links that came up related to how you’ll love this book if you enjoyed Harry Potter.
Trey Laporte is not like Harry Potter at all despite the similarities above. His voice is different and he has a completely different feel to him, but he is so obviously modelled on the boy wonder, for no apparent reason. I felt like there was no need for it. Trey is fun to follow around; he has a strong character energy, he has an awesome werewolf power and there’s a genuineness about him that made him a joy to read about. He would have been a fantastic character without all the ‘next HP’ identifying traits thrown in, and I found all the similarities extremely distracting. It took a while for me to get into the book because every other chapter something would happen that had clearly been influenced by the Harry Potter school of plot development.
Still Potteresqueness aside this book has got some gumption. As I said Trey is fun to follow around because he’s energetic, he’s inquisitive and he has a strong spirit. I thought he spent minimal time moping around after finding out that he’s a werewolf with powerful enemies, in fact he spent an incredible amount of time beating himself up for supposedly wallowing in his pain. That guilty streak just made him more likeable, it’s nice to see a character who is hyper aware of other people’s feelings.
The pacing of the plot was spot on and the rapid launch into Trey’s adventures in the demon world propelled me through the aspects of the book that tried to interfere with my connection with the book’s universe. All the action scenes had obviously been refined until they flew. They contained the most natural writing in the book, which is a real achievement because so many writers overdescribe and stilt the physical surge of their action. The other characters were intriguing and I found myself hungry for everyone’s backstory. I want to learn more about Tom, I want to hang out with him while he cleans his guns! It was wonderful to find that when main characters passed out from pain or got knocked out I didn't have to follow them into oblivion and listen to what happened being related by someone else later. Feasey just picks up with another character and shows his readers the scene as it happens, which was a nice change.
I found a few other issues distracting throughout the book, for example there’s a bit of brand dropping which is just a personal dislike. I know that mentioning a brand can be a useful shortcut for explaining parts of a character’s personality, but I find it a bit lazy. The writing is also a little self-conscious in places, like Feasey is relying heavily on Word’s thesaurus, but this is the first book in the first series he’s ever written, so I’m sure he’ll find a way to smoothly integrate his interest in using a varied vocabulary.
Alexa feels a bit underutilized, the girl has serious sorcery skills and a great big intellect yet she spends most of the book shopping to ‘recapture normality’ and is inactive during the most fast paced battle as she’s been kidnapped. I’m going to assume that due to the exciting revelation at the end Alexa’s character will be more involved in the second book. I’m also going to hope that Trey will get over his odd attitude to Alexa in the next book. He needs to stop saying things about how she looks much prettier without her rock girl makeup, and randomly deciding he might love her because, well, it’s very, very annoying. It's just my girls opinion but it irked me.
So while the main character is a werewolf I think Lucien features enough for me to count this as the second book in the vampire challenge, it's also YA so chalk up another for that challenge (which I think makes four). Let's keep those challenges rolling!
Other Reviews
Flipping Pages
Book Crazy
How is this book like Harry Potter? Let me count the ways:
The main character Trey is an orphan
Both his parents were killed by an evil adversary
His mother died protecting him
Lucien, a mysteriously powerful adult arrives to rescue him from his rubbish life
Trey discovers he has a power he never knew about
Trey is in danger because of a prophecy
Trey discovers there’s a whole supernatural world he never knew existed
Oh and in that age old, beloved plot easer previously impoverished Trey finds out he has lots and lots of money. He’s actually a millionaire. Because nothing slows your plot down like a kid without cash.
If you’re looking for a new supernatural YA action/adventure series to replace the hole Harry left then I’d recommend trying 'Changeling' by Steven Feasy. It’s scene setting is Harry Potter with fur, in fact when I googled the book most of the links that came up related to how you’ll love this book if you enjoyed Harry Potter.
Trey Laporte is not like Harry Potter at all despite the similarities above. His voice is different and he has a completely different feel to him, but he is so obviously modelled on the boy wonder, for no apparent reason. I felt like there was no need for it. Trey is fun to follow around; he has a strong character energy, he has an awesome werewolf power and there’s a genuineness about him that made him a joy to read about. He would have been a fantastic character without all the ‘next HP’ identifying traits thrown in, and I found all the similarities extremely distracting. It took a while for me to get into the book because every other chapter something would happen that had clearly been influenced by the Harry Potter school of plot development.
Still Potteresqueness aside this book has got some gumption. As I said Trey is fun to follow around because he’s energetic, he’s inquisitive and he has a strong spirit. I thought he spent minimal time moping around after finding out that he’s a werewolf with powerful enemies, in fact he spent an incredible amount of time beating himself up for supposedly wallowing in his pain. That guilty streak just made him more likeable, it’s nice to see a character who is hyper aware of other people’s feelings.
The pacing of the plot was spot on and the rapid launch into Trey’s adventures in the demon world propelled me through the aspects of the book that tried to interfere with my connection with the book’s universe. All the action scenes had obviously been refined until they flew. They contained the most natural writing in the book, which is a real achievement because so many writers overdescribe and stilt the physical surge of their action. The other characters were intriguing and I found myself hungry for everyone’s backstory. I want to learn more about Tom, I want to hang out with him while he cleans his guns! It was wonderful to find that when main characters passed out from pain or got knocked out I didn't have to follow them into oblivion and listen to what happened being related by someone else later. Feasey just picks up with another character and shows his readers the scene as it happens, which was a nice change.
I found a few other issues distracting throughout the book, for example there’s a bit of brand dropping which is just a personal dislike. I know that mentioning a brand can be a useful shortcut for explaining parts of a character’s personality, but I find it a bit lazy. The writing is also a little self-conscious in places, like Feasey is relying heavily on Word’s thesaurus, but this is the first book in the first series he’s ever written, so I’m sure he’ll find a way to smoothly integrate his interest in using a varied vocabulary.
Alexa feels a bit underutilized, the girl has serious sorcery skills and a great big intellect yet she spends most of the book shopping to ‘recapture normality’ and is inactive during the most fast paced battle as she’s been kidnapped. I’m going to assume that due to the exciting revelation at the end Alexa’s character will be more involved in the second book. I’m also going to hope that Trey will get over his odd attitude to Alexa in the next book. He needs to stop saying things about how she looks much prettier without her rock girl makeup, and randomly deciding he might love her because, well, it’s very, very annoying. It's just my girls opinion but it irked me.
So while the main character is a werewolf I think Lucien features enough for me to count this as the second book in the vampire challenge, it's also YA so chalk up another for that challenge (which I think makes four). Let's keep those challenges rolling!
Other Reviews
Flipping Pages
Book Crazy
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