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While I never really warmed up to Neef, the protagonist, I thought her changeling counterpart totally, utterly rocked. I loved Changeling from the start, and she made perfect sense to me as what a fairy changeling raised in our world might be like, too.Also, the time spent in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was worth the price of admission (so to speak) by itself.
This was a really fun read. It is structured in your basic 'magical middle grade quest' arc that fans of Rick Riordan will be familiar with, but Changeling and Neef are both characters and I love how they play off each other. I particularly liked how Changeling exhibited several kind of autistic behaviors [even though it's never discussed explicitly in the text] because a lot of the reasons that people historically would accuse someone of being a changeling would be because they were acting 'wei...
This fantasy set in NYC is delightful. It's both scary and funny.
This book was really good, so the parts of it which were frustrating were really more frustrating than they would have been in a mediocre book, sadly. Fantastic world-building and a smart, self-aware protagonist -- yay! But that protagonist couldn't manage a believable interaction with any of the other people in the book -- boo! Neef had pretty much no empathy for anyone, no sense that she should be concerned in anything but a mechanical how-does-this-affect-me way with other people's feelings.
Some fairy books can cross over from young reader to older reader and the fanatasy world can be interesting for both groups. This books is really only for younger readers. I would not read it again. The character is interesting enough to finish the book but not to worry for or about, you don't get attached to Neef or the Changeling. The plot is simple problem and answer. But the unique animal characters and over all fantasy aspect should satisfy a new reader.
First, this book is in the same world as Delia Sherman's "CATNYP" from the Datlow/Windling "The Faery Reel" anthology & "Grand Central Park" from Datlow/Windling's "Green Man". CATNYP introduces us to the protagnonist Neef & her friend Fleet; "Grand Central Park" gives us the Central Park Genius Loci (the seriously Big Bad here) & the fairy Bugle (mentioned in passing in Changeling). I liked both those stories; I loved the idea of New York Between.Unfortunately...Like others have stated here, I
Changeling is funny and fresh and fine, another in the short list of fabulous books set in New York City published in the past year. It is takes place in New York Between, and Sherman balances the Between of Faerie with a terrific young heroine named Neef, ringing changes on every single New York and Faerie trope you can imagine, and a few you can't.
I absoulutley loved this book. It was fantasy so there were mermaids,demons and the main character boy was she a handful. so if your done with your book pick this one up i garuntee you will love it.
Great read! Fun little twist on fairy tales and magic lands.
A well handled quest. I'm glad to hear it went so smoothly. A lot of people get sick or even die on quests. It was comforting to know she had a fairy godmother looking out for her.
I really wanted to LOVE this book but instead, I just liked it. :( From the time I turned 5 and began reading the Wizard of Oz series (Yes, I taught myself to read at the age of 3 using my brother's comic books and my reading level has always been exceedingly high!), I have loved mystical fantasy. This book had it all or so I thought. The beginning of the book was good but then I began to realize that the fairy kingdom was as arrogant as the humans in the real world. The story got a little confu...
Unknown to ordinary mortals, there are at least two New Yorks, which share geography,but not reality. Changeling is mostly set in New York Between, and Neef is the Changeling of the title, and lives in the Otherworld of New York Between. More specifically, she lives in Manhattan's Central Park, under the guardianship of her fairy godmother Astris the White Rat, and her fairy godfather, the shapeshifting Pouka, and the protection of the genius loci, or Genius of Central Park, The Green Lady.Neef...
smiles all around... this book was amazingly fun... kind of exactly what children's literature should be... plenty of amazing characters, lots of mythological beasties, and loads of funny dialogue... kinda perfect that the important characters were girls, and not all about their appearance and "where are the cute boys??"... just a joy to read...
I truly don't think I could rate this book fairly. Some middle grade fantasy books can be enjoyed by young readers and adult readers. This story is clearly for children. I probably would have enjoyed this book if I was a child. Some of the conflicts in the story didn't make sense to me. I just came to the conclusion that I'm just too old for the story .
The in-between is the fairyland where the folk lives along with the Hunt in Central Park ... if the Hunt should catch you will most properly regret it big time. A quest is what the changeling soon realizes has some dire circumstances in store for her and her doppelganger Jennifer. I enjoyed the story and many of the charming characters.
This sounded like my jam, but I didn't much care for it. Neef was neither interesting or likable and the conception of New York between and the fairy world wasn't really interesting or special either.
Not great, not terrible.Even though I liked many details in the book, overall, I just didn't feel like the characters are interesting. The NYC citizens might find it a better reading since many characters and places are written in a way that might be too alien to a non-New Yorker.
A very enjoyable read.
Good book for the young adult. Silly and simple. The girl who eventually is called Changeling seems autistic to me, and I really related to that.
Beyond my years, even as a child.
I am, personally, not very fond of urban fantasy as such, especially in this particular kind of setting. The stories of an Other City (in this case, New York), created in the likeness of the human one and populated by fairy versions of the actual inhabitants (here: artistic types in the Village, vampiric fairy entertainers in Broadway and gold-hungry dragons, the magical Bear-Bull and a woman named DowJones in the Wall Street, to name only a few) very, very rarely seem convincing to me, because
Changeling tells the story of Neef, a little girl who lives in New York Between. Neef, born a mortal, is a girl different from everyone else. Neef is curious, bold, but most of all, she is stubborn. Neef eventually was punished by the Green Lady and exiled from New York Between. On her journey, she is accompanied by her overly, sensitive, mortal friend Changeling. Neef and Changeling are on a journey to recover three things in order to get Neef accepted back into New York Between or the Hunt wil...
Neef is a changeling, a human baby stolen by fairies who lives in the Central Park of New York Between, an Otherworld Manhattan that co-exists with our own, inhabited by all sorts of Fairy Folk. Neef (whose real name she doesn’t care to disclose to just anybody since – as you know – real names have power) has been brought up by her fairy godmother the white rat Astris and lives under the protection of The Green Lady, the Genius of the Central Park. Neef’s days are spent in relative tranquillity,...
Charming. That's the first and most obvious thing I can say about this book. If you love Folklore at all, you probably won't be able to resist this book's overall charm, despite the fact that it takes a bit (I found personally) to get into. I loved the modern New York fairy tale alternate universe the author creates. It's a world I'd love to spend more time in, so I'd probably follow this series just for that alone. It's enchanting and does make one really want to visit the real New York just to...
I will say that this book started off a bit slow and confusing for me, but I always find that with a new fantasy book. I just had to get used to the new world. It did help that it kind of took place in New York City, which I am familiar with, so I think that made it easier to grasp the new world. And once I had a handle, boy was the ride fun! Neef and Changeling are such fun characters and meeting all the fairy tale folk throughout the book was fabulous!Mostly I am excited about this book as a t...
Neef is a human changeling living in New York Between. She has an amazing fairy godmother, Astris, who happens to also be a white rat. Neef has lots of rules to abide by, but that's mainly to keep her safe. She knows that she's a changeling and that there is a fairy living in her place but it really makes no difference to her. She pretty much loves her life.Except she's DYING to attend the Solstice Dance. Astris manages to use magic to keep her asleep during this bi-yearly event but this time ar...
I loved the setting but was less into the main character.
Neef is a changeling, a human child taken and raised by fairy folk in Central Park. Her fairy godmother, who raised her and teaches her, is a white rat named Astris. Neef has begun to feel hemmed in by the rules she has followed all her life, and so, when she discovers there is a Solstice dance that she has never heard of, she is determined to attend. The disaster that follows sends her on a quest out into New York Between. This is a fun book. The fairy folk, as you would expect in New York City...
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” — Neil Gaiman (This is probably the best quote from a completely different author that I could put with this book. One, because 'Changeling' is a story about a girl raised by fairies. Two, because there is also a dragon in this story.)Neef is a changeling. She was taken as a young child and a fairy that looked exactly like her was put in her place. She was then take...
Neef is a changeling, a mortal child switched at birth with a fairy and raised among the Folk. There are many changelings in the world, but Neef is the only changeling of Central Park. She lives with her fairy godmother Astris, a giant white rat, and spends her time with the assorted Folk of Central Park. All this changes, however, when she accidentally breaks the geas that was set upon her when she was brought into Central Park. Now, exiled from Central Park and a fugitive from the terrifying W...