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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Between Quest, April 17, 2008
Changeling (2006) is a standalone fantasy novel. This fairytale is set in New York Between, a version of New York City with the same landscape and slightly variant buildings. It also has a very different populace, including almost every kind of mythical creature and even literary characters.
In this novel, Neff is a changeling. She was Kid-napped as a child from New York Outside by agents of the Bureau of Changeling Affairs. In her place, these agents left a fairy creature that looked like her, but who had a very different personality. Don't tell anyone, but their name is Jennifer Goldhirsch.
Now Neff lives in Central Park Central with Astris, a giant white rat who is her fairy godmother. Neff is the only mortal changeling within Central Park and has the protection of the Green Lady, Genius of the park. If you are not aware of the term, a Genius is the spirit of a famous place and is very powerful.
When the time comes for spring cleaning, Neff has to tidy her room. Yet Astris doesn't have the time to fetch the Blockhouse brownie. So Neff convinces Astris to let her go instead. She is finally big enough to have her own solo adventure.
Neff knows that it is foolish (and dangerous) to go off the marked path in the North Woods. Yet she turns off the path to follow a previously unnoticed trail. The trail gets steadily worst and finally vanishes at a swampy green pool.
A voice seems to come from the pool and sounds like sharp teeth and hunger. It questions whether she is tender and delicious. Neff immediately responds with the proper words, claiming the protection of the Green Lady. Sounding very hungry, a second voice complains about this protection.
The first voice belongs to Peg Powler, a bogeywoman. The second voice belongs to Blueberry, a demon. Both are part of the Wild Hunt and would eat her if it wasn't for the Green Lady's protection.
Peg tells Neff about the Solstice Dance on Midsummer Eve. Neff loves to dance and is very curious about the festivities. But Peg also tells her that Astris has lost other mortal changelings to accidents. Neff vehemently objects to her statements, but she wonders about the truth of these claims.
In this story, Neff attends the Solstice Dance and finds herself in deep trouble. The Green Lady removes her protection and the Wild Hunt closes in on her. Yet Neff is snatched away by a tengu.
Eventually, Neff escapes to the Metropolitan Museum. But the Green Lady comes after her and Neff has to negotiate an alternative to the Wild Hunt. She goes on a quest for three significant objects with which she can buy her return to the park.
This story introduces Neff to her fairy changeling from New York Outside. The tengu has also abducted the Outsider and they meet in the closet where both are being held. Her copy is subject to typical fairy faults, such as having violent fits of temper, but she also knows a lot about computers. Neff names her Changeling.
On the quest, Changeling sometimes is rather a bother, but other times she produces small miracles of computer science. They never do become real friends, but learn to get along despite their many differences. Besides, Neff has promised to protect Changeling from harm and would give her life to safeguard the Outsider.
Highly recommended to Sherman fans and to anyone else who enjoys tales of magic realms, smart girls and unusual adventures.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Changeling is a real treat!!!, December 25, 2006
I read this immediately after Valiant by Holly Black and enjoyed it immensely because they have similar themes and settings, but very different heroines. Changeling is more for the jr high/ MS crowd and Valiant for HS types. Both are urban fantasy taking place in New York City. To the other reviewer who wondered if you needed to live in NYC to understand Changeling, I'd say no more than one needs to live in Newford to read Charled de Lint's books.
Neef is a mortal changeling, raised in New York Between with a talking rat fairy godmother and a pooka fairy godfather. Neef gives them the slip and attends a Solstice fairy dance, so the Green Lady of Central Park withdraws her protection. Neef must go on a quest to get three magical items from three other Genuii of New York Between. Neef is helped on her quest by her counterpoint, the one the fairies left when they took her. She calls her Changeling, but their name is Jennifer Goldhirsch and she has Asperger's. She doesn't like to be touched, tends to freak out, is a very literal thinker. I hope Delia Sherman writes another of these; it would be real treat to see Neef in Jennifer's world. I have read all of Delia Sherman's books -- this is a real keeper!
As one who has read a lot about autism, Asperger's and changeling stories, is a special education teacher and parent of an autistic child I *appreciated* Sherman's frank discussion of Jennifer's difficulties. Autism and Asperger's were only named in the 1940's, but parents and others have been trying to come up with reasons for it for thousands of years. The changeling story was one of the explanations; a perfect looking baby, who around the age of 3 is no longer able to hold gaze, is slow to walk and or talk, or has speech and seems to loose it.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fairy Tale In New York, October 29, 2006
When you find yourself a New York resident living and worked right smack dab in the center of this magnificently overblown city, you being to lose your perspective. Sure, I was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but living in Manhattan is like drinking from the water of Lethe. I forget little things, like the fact that the world does not, in fact, revolve around NYC. So when I pick up something like "Changeling", I find myself in a difficult situation. The book is a heckuva lot of fun, but I have to remember that all the places in it are New York-based. My responsibility as a reviewer, then, is to determine how well "Changeling" will relate to a kid living in Alaska or Hawaii. Will non-New Yorker children enjoy this book? Well, quite frankly I can't see how they wouldn't. I mean, it's not the deepest piece of fiction you'll ever peruse, but it certain does owe a certain amount of allegiance to the form and function of fairy tales and quests. Plus it's fun. Did I mention that its fun?
We've all read plenty of stories from the point of view of Changelings in the past. Sometimes, as I'm sure you all know, a human baby will be exchanged for its fairy Changeling double. The Changeling will grow up as a human, never quite knowing why it's different from its fellows. Well Neef isn't a Changeling, but a child stolen by the fairies at quite a young age. Since then she has grown up in Central Park as the official Central Park Changeling. Her world exists apart from the world we live in, where all sorts of supernatural beings interact. As a human, Neef is naturally curious and when her curiosity upsets the Green Lady of Central Park (the ruling Genius) she comes in direct contact with the Changeling that once replaced her. Now Neef and Changeling are bound on an impossible quest to get the both of them home as fast as humanly, or rather magically, possible.
There's no denying that the book has a distinctly Manhattan (not Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, or Bronx) feel. The Green Lady of Central Park, for example, could have sounded like your standard Midsumer Night's Dream fairy queen. Instead, she's far more prone to say things like, "Okay, kid, here's the scoop." And then there are little details, like the fact that even otherworldly spirits would kill to see "Wicked" on Broadway, if they could. I appreciated too the fact that Sherman wasn't afraid to play with some old NYC standards. For example, the author had the wherewithal to notice that Kay Thompson's, "Eloise", is a good example of pure unvarnished evil. In this book she rules the Plaza Hotel and is the "official Patroness of Spoiled Brats everywhere." Also, though I'm sure it'll stick in the craw of some, for better or for worse George M. Cohan is now a vampire (and that goes double for Lynn Fontanne).
I did have a bit of a problem with the book equating Asperger's Syndrome with Changlings. It seemed a risky correlation for Ms. Sherman to make. She's never blatant about it, of course, but a quick examination of Changeling's personality (she says that when she was younger she needed a therapist to help her develop social skills) coupled with the note in the book's Acknowledgment section that reads that someone, "gave me an invaluable education on Asperger's Syndrome", was enough to put my hair on end. We don't really want to equate Asperger's with someone being physically from another world, do we?
So how does the book hold together as a whole? It's very nice. For anyone who enjoys a good series of impossible quests, this book may be right up their alley. The character of Neef is willful without ever becoming annoying or unsympathetic. I was a little surprised at the ending, personally, but it's entirely possible that Ms. Sherman is setting this book up to be the first in a series, if it does well. The types of fairies found here also have the same feel as those you'll see in Eoin Colfer's, "Artemis Fowl", so fans of one may enjoy the other. And Sherman is kind enough to provide us with an elaborate glossary of the supernatural beings that crop up in this book.
And now, a personal kvetch. Early in the book we learn that, "Important New York places - Wall Street, Broadway, Grand Central Station, the New York Public Library, the Village - have Geniuses." Very cool. And just at the beginning of Neef's quest it is suggested that she visit the library to get some useful information. I, an employee of such a system, was briefly delighted. Then Neef doesn't go, and we never get a glimpse of an otherworldly library system. Alas. The mentions of the library (there are two) suggest to me that there may have been a scene there in an early "Changeling" draft and that they were cut out so as to keep the narrative flowing smoothly. And while I celebrate the hopping speed of the book itself . . . bummer.
All in all, a pleasant little creation that deserves a look-see. Both Tamora Pierce and Holly Black were kind enough to give blurbs for the final book, so if you know of anyone who enjoys titles by either of them, you may wish to consider handing this little number over as well. A New York book that doesn't require that you live here to appreciate it. And in spite of the all too obvious lack of librarians, a great read.
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