Title: The replacement.
Author: Brenna Yovanoff.
Pages: 343.
Published: September 21st 2010 by Razorbill/Penguin Group
Sort: Stand alone.
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.
“Do you really want to know where we come from?" she said. "In every century, in every country, they'll call us something different. They'll say we're ghosts, angels, demons, elemental spirits, and giving us a name doesn't help anybody. When did a name change what someone is?”
I wished I loved this book. I was looking forward to read it, because the blurb sounds amazing and look at the cover! It’s so dark and beautiful in a twisted way. Unfortunately, this book didn’t meet my expectations and I will tell you why in a minutee.
Tate’s little sister Nathalie is dead, at least, that’s what everybody pretends. They bury the body, but Tate knows that this is a replacement. Everybody knows about it, but nobody talks. As long as you don’t say it out loud, you can pretend that everything is fine. Not for Tate.
She tries to talk to Mackie, a boy who is different. He is alive because of Emma, his loving sister (this is explained in the book.) His father always tells him to stay low, so he turns away from her. That is until strange people talk to him and tell him that he is dying.
One day, he goes to the world he actually comes from and he receives a special medication. In return for that, he must play in their music band to keep the people from Gentry happy. Things are about to change when Mackie discovers his feelings for Tate; he will help her to get her Nathalie back, but that won’t be an easy task. ‘The Lady’ is planning to sacrifice the little girl and she will do everything to make sure it will happen.
Opinion.
This story is told from Mackie’s view. I always like a male POV, since there aren’t so many books, but he wasn’t such a thrilling person. I expected more from a Replacement than whining and lusting after unkind Alice, until he decides he likes Tate. Tate is a tough girl, but she has a slight stalker behavior. She keeps popping up around Mackie, forcing him to say out loud that he is a Replacement. Leave the damn boy alone! It also feels like she hates him, but she still takes her clothes off and kisses him in a whim. I didn't get it. The only person I liked was Emma. She is loving and sweet. She stands up for her own believes.
The story is slow and the writing isn’t very good. There are many strange lines where words contradict each other. Like, “she is strange and normal” how is that possible? There were also weird things going on. Giving rock concerts to make the people of Gentry happen, but you still steal their children to sacrifice them for your own good? And that would make the town prosper, but it doesn’t sound like they have much happiness and richness. They are suffering.
There is also a lot of dialogs about the same subject. It felt like I read the same thing twice. I can’t go into details of the plot without spoiling it, but there are some holes. Just strange things I don’t understand and I hate that. When a book ends, I want answers to all my questions and I want it to be solid.
I guess this just wasn’t my book, because I saw many positive reviews on Goodreads. What I really liked was the cover! Gorgeous! And I will read another book from this author, perhaps that one works for me.