⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book was fucking good
This was my first book by Victor LaValle. I listened to the audio version, which the author narrated, and I really enjoyed the story overall.
The Changeling begins with Apollo Kagwa’s origin story—two parents from different worlds (Uganda and the US) who fall in love and have a baby. In Act I, the author weaves fine threads of literary gold as he takes the reader on Apollo’s journey to adulthood. We get hints of monsters lurking under beds and hiding in closets, but we never fully realize them. The mere suggestions of things that go bump in the night was enough to keep my interest piqued and my Audible app working overtime. I was instantly sucked into Apollo’s story and rooted for him the whole way through.
In Act II, things begin to heat up—literally and figuratively. The introduction and evolution of Emma Valentine, Apollo’s wife, opens up plenty of story questions and kicks the pacing into overdrive when she ties Apollo up in the kitchen, clubs him in the head and breaks his face (we're talking about a dangling eyeball, folks), and murders their infant son. At this stage, the literary vibe from the first act begins its transformation into something more like commercial fiction. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it was a little abrupt. The story shifted from a bittersweet tale of a doting father and his all-encompassing love for his wife and son to a paranormal version of the film Taken. Apollo is ready to murder that bitch wife of his for what she did to their innocent child--if only he can find her. By the time Act III arrives, the story becomes Marvel-like in its epic over-the-topness. Some seriously Machiavellian shit goes down, and a dude who appears to be helping Apollo takes them out to an island with a fuck-ton of gun-toting witches on it. After winning Apollo's trust, that guy turns out to be a complete fuck and tries to get him killed. Things skyrocket into the fucking Twilight Zone when Apollo finds Emma through some crazed Norwegian guy who's also trying to kill him. Apollo digs up their son's grave and finds a changeling made to look like his kid instead of the actual kid. A troll shows up. Like, an actual troll from Scandinavian myths. Apollo and Emma kill that bitch and get their son back. The end.
Again, the plot points weren't necessarily bad (I loved the quest, the violence, the insanity of it all), but they were jarring to the point that it felt like I had read three different, loosely connected stories. The late introduction of Scandinavian elements might’ve had something to do with my reluctance to give this book 5 stars. Though I love Scandinavian folktales, the sudden shift in focus came out of nowhere. If there had been stronger hints in Act I of what was to come on this mythological front, I could’ve swallowed it better. The author sprinkled elements of wicca in from the beginning, and I devoured those, eager for more. I assumed the changeling part of the story would stem from more Celtic-leaning origins, but we never got an explanation about the witchier aspects of the book.
All that said, I loved how the author repeatedly led me down one path and abruptly zigzagged into another I didn’t see coming. I fell for it every time, too. The writing was top-notch, engaging, and haunting. The author’s narration had me hanging on every word. I finished this book in a couple days, which is faster than I usually read. I kept thinking about it and put on my earphones every chance I got, even staying up late last night to finish it because I didn’t think I could sleep without finding out how it would all end.
The Changeling was a consuming read that I recommend to anyone who enjoys well-written stories that blend old myths with the modern world.