Comments on: Review: The Replacement, Brenna Yovanoff

By: Fiendish, Brenna Yovanoff - Reading the End

Fiendish, Brenna Yovanoff - Reading the End — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 10:01:16 +0000

[…] love in this space to Brenna Yovanoff, there just is not a good answer I can give you. I thought The Replacement was quite terrific, and if I hadn’t heard bad things about Fiendish, I’d have read it […]

By: Kailana

Kailana — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:59:00 +0000

I have The Replacement and keep picking it up to read, but haven’t actually done so yet… And, now I am going to look up The Perilous Gard that Teresa mentions above me. I love Tam Lin retellings!

By: Teresa

Teresa — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:10:49 +0000

You ask for faery story recommendations, and I have two! There’s The Perilous Gard, which is a variation on Tam Lin. And Little Big by John Crowley, which does involve a changeling. (And if Proper Jenny were here she’d especially urge you to read Little Big. It’s one of her favorites. I liked it a lot but need to give it a second read to fully appreciate it.)

By: Iris

Iris — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:45:53 +0000

Characters having lives of their own is really important, I think. You make this book sound good, and I like faerie stories, and Jodie recommending it now combined with you enjoying it = I think this needs to go on my wishlist.

By: Christy

Christy — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 21:44:17 +0000

You say some great stuff about this book, and I thought it sounded familiar and it’s because I put it on my to-reads list, lo! many moons ago. The sibling dynamic especially sounds interesting to me.

I’m trying to think of what makes great secondary characters great other than they seem to have lives of their own. But all I can think of are variations of that theme: that they don’t comport themselves like they are aware that they are secondary characters. That it is clear that the book only happens to have a viewpoint that makes them secondary, but in another world or book, they would not be the secondary characters. And yet, in a good book, you don’t want the secondary characters to be so much cooler than the protagonist, that you want to wander off with them more than you want to stay with the main story.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:32:23 +0000

In reply to litlove. Hahaha, I'm glad I could entertain you! I will always love them no matter what. No matter what. Forever.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:31:58 +0000

In reply to alitareads. Hahahaha, seriously! Although I also don't like it when a character gets some awesome supernatural stuff in his/her life and only spends his/her time moaning about the burden of having to do magic. The part of me that still secretly hopes I'll get into Narnia or whatever someday resents this. :p

By: litlove

litlove — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:08:56 +0000

Oh Jenny, you are so, so funny. Saints! I will always love you no matter what, is something I’m going to try to get into everyday conversation. It gives me the giggles every time I think about it!

By: alitareads

alitareads — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:12:37 +0000

Really, a character who, when faced with the supernatural, doesn’t go “Ah, right, THIS is what I’ve been missing all my life”? Amazing. That alone makes me want to read this.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:18:18 +0000

In reply to Jenny.

I was not expressing myself well. You glide over plot points so they’re not spoilers at all–Mackie’s mother “has a sad backstory,” indeed!