The Stolen Child: A Novel
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 5/12/2017
This book is in a Controlled Release!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 5/12/2017 This book is in a Controlled Release!
2 journalers for this copy...
I found this good-condition hardcover on the charity-sale shelves at a local Hannaford's, and nabbed it for another release copy of this book.
I enjoyed the book very much, though it was often very wistful, and featured some heart-breaking realizations as the cycle of "changeling steals human child, child grows up among changelings, eventually child-turned-changeling must steal another child in order to rejoin the human race" continues...
In some ways it's reminiscent of reincarnation, with the changelings sometimes retaining memories of their previous human lives even as they commence on new ones. And then there are the ways in which the changeling-turned-human, growing up and growing older at the normal rate, keeps crossing paths with the human-child-turned-changeling whose life he's living; we see these from the viewpoints of both characters, and it has something of a "haunted by your own childhood self" vibe in addition to the "what might have been" yearnings.
There's humor here and there, and some amount of "Lost Boys in Neverland' wild-child behavior on the changeling side (with hints of the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream, regarding their magical abilities) - but we also see that their wild lives are often uncomfortable or downright dangerous, and we find that both sides seem to have feelings of being in the wrong place, even if they don't always understand why.
I enjoyed the way the story progressed - I hadn't expected that genealogical side-trip, for one thing - and there were riveting, tense sequences as well as slow, poignant ones. Could cause nightmares for anyone who's felt that they don't really belong in their family - or perhaps it could comfort them, if they think it's literally true! (The parents whose children were taken have their own torments; some of them accept the changelings without a qualm, but others fight a growing unease that they can't quite justify, with sometimes-tragic results.)
Fascinating story, with its own variations on just how the whole "changeling" process works, and its explorations into time and change and identity - and family. [For more on changelings in various media, see the TV Tropes page.]
I enjoyed the book very much, though it was often very wistful, and featured some heart-breaking realizations as the cycle of "changeling steals human child, child grows up among changelings, eventually child-turned-changeling must steal another child in order to rejoin the human race" continues...
In some ways it's reminiscent of reincarnation, with the changelings sometimes retaining memories of their previous human lives even as they commence on new ones. And then there are the ways in which the changeling-turned-human, growing up and growing older at the normal rate, keeps crossing paths with the human-child-turned-changeling whose life he's living; we see these from the viewpoints of both characters, and it has something of a "haunted by your own childhood self" vibe in addition to the "what might have been" yearnings.
There's humor here and there, and some amount of "Lost Boys in Neverland' wild-child behavior on the changeling side (with hints of the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream, regarding their magical abilities) - but we also see that their wild lives are often uncomfortable or downright dangerous, and we find that both sides seem to have feelings of being in the wrong place, even if they don't always understand why.
I enjoyed the way the story progressed - I hadn't expected that genealogical side-trip, for one thing - and there were riveting, tense sequences as well as slow, poignant ones. Could cause nightmares for anyone who's felt that they don't really belong in their family - or perhaps it could comfort them, if they think it's literally true! (The parents whose children were taken have their own torments; some of them accept the changelings without a qualm, but others fight a growing unease that they can't quite justify, with sometimes-tragic results.)
Fascinating story, with its own variations on just how the whole "changeling" process works, and its explorations into time and change and identity - and family. [For more on changelings in various media, see the TV Tropes page.]
I'm putting this into the Otherworldly bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop soon. Enjoy!
Took out of the otherworldly bookbox.
I really wanted to like this book and I liked the concept of the story, but I ended up not being able to finish.
Given to a friend of mine.
