The Replacement

Amazon.com Review Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff: Author One-on-One Maggie Stiefvater is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Forever and Lament . She lives in Virginia with her husband and their two children. Recently she sat down with Brenna Yovanoff to discuss Yovanoff's debut novel, The Replacement . Read the resulting interview below, or turn the tables to see what happened when Brenna interviewed Maggie. Maggie: Having read The Replacement , I have noticed that all of the people are weird. Having met you, I’ve noticed that you’re also weird. Which of your characters do you think is most similar to you? (Don’t say Roswell. Because he’s the only normal one.) Brenna: Look, I know you’re trying to force me to say the Morrigan, because she likes dresses and dead things and being creepy. But I am not a petulant underground princess. Also, I’m taller and have fewer teeth. But if I can’t say Roswell . . . (I wouldn’t say Roswell anyway—he is too normal). If I can’t say Roswell, I’d have to say probably Carlina—even though I really-really-really can’t sing—because she wanders in and out whenever she feels like it and is a fairly agreeable person. She’s kind of like a cat who sings blues and has a beehive hair-do. Maggie: Again on this weird thing. One of the things that first attracted me to your writing, way back before you were published, when we first became critique partners, is the weird atmosphere in your books. On the back of The Replacement it says that your writing is Tim Burtonesque, which I think is incredibly appropriate. Do you consciously skew things toward the whimsical, or is that the way your writing comes out of the faucet? Brenna: I wish I could say that it’s all a carefully-constructed technique full of forethought and intention, but it kind of just comes out of the faucet that way. I’ve always been a huge fan of ambiance, the creepier the better. I love anything macabre, especially if it’s whimsical or surprising. Also, as we’ve covered already—I’m weird. Maggie: Will you ever name any of your characters after me? Brenna: Yes, if you start spelling your name Mackie Doyle . Maggie: Reviewers often call the relationships in my books things like “sweet” and “respectful.” If I had to classify most of the relationships in your books, I’d go for “hot” and “dysfunctional.” Is this just an extension of your characters’ oddness, or does it reflect what you see in real life? Who is your favorite literary dysfunctional couple? Brenna: Brenna: I think it’s mostly an extension of the characters. I tend to write about really strange, dysfunctional people because I think they’re interesting, and then I feel like there’s absolutely no way they could go on to have functional relationships without a lot of time and personal growth, so I give them messed-up ones. This probably doesn’t qualify as literary, but my favorite dysfunctional couple has to be Veronica and Logan from the TV show Veronica Mars . It is hot. And dysfunctional. Maggie: No, seriously, are you ever going to name any of your characters after me? Brenna: Remember what I said about spelling your name Mackie Doyle ? Start spelling. Maggie: One of the things that bemuses me most about being your critique partner is the way that you write your novels. It’s at these times that I most doubt your humanness. Would you care to share with the readers here on Amazon how you draft? Brenna: No, I would not. Because it makes me look crazy. But now that you’ve called me out on it, I probably should, huh? Okay, kind people on Amazon, here’s the thing: it may come as no surprise that I am really weird about writing. It’s sort of like I hear the story in my head, but not clearly enough to transcribe it verbatim, which means at any given time I only know about half on a sentence, and the rest is just a sound. So, I write down the parts I’m sure of and leave the other parts blank. Only to mark the blank parts so I remember to go back and fill them in, I do like this: ,,,, So, any given sentence in a draft could look like, “With,,,, he ,,,,, to the,,,,,,,and,,,,,.” It is basically the Mad Libs of drafting. Maggie: As someone who writes and reads about homicidal faeries myself, I loved the creepy creatures who lived under Gentry. The Morrigan was my favorite character in the entire book. Do you think you’ll ever return to the world of faeries? Brenna: As of right now this-very-minute, there are no concrete plans for another Gentry book, but that doesn’t mean my brain isn’t clamoring with possible scenarios (my brain clamors a lot). I make no promises, and leave it at this: never say never. From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up–In this grim debut novel, the Doyles hide the terrible secret that 16-year-old Mackie is a changeling who was swapped for their real son when he was a baby. In their town of Gentry, there is an unspoken acknowledgment that a child is stolen every seven years in an uneasy bargain for the town's prosperity. Mackie's struggles to go unnoticed are made more difficult by his severe allergies to iron and other metal, his inability to set foot on consecrated ground such as his minister father's church, and his tendency to become severely ill around blood. Now he is dying. When a classmate's baby sister is abducted and a Replacement left in her place, Mackie is reluctantly drawn into the age-old rift between the Morrigan and the Lady, sisters who lead the two changeling clans who live underneath Gentry. Mackie agrees to help the Morrigan maintain the unwitting townspeople's goodwill in exchange for a drug he needs to survive. Meanwhile, he and his friends plot to rescue Tate's stolen sister from the Lady. Yovanoff's innovative plot draws on the changeling legends from Western European folklore. She does an excellent job of creating and sustaining a mood of fear, hopelessness, and misery throughout the novel, something that is lightened only occasionally by Mackie's dry humor and the easy charm of his friend Roswell. The novel ends with a glimmer of hope, though the grisly and disturbing images throughout may overshadow the more positive ending. Still, teens who enjoy horror and dark fantasy novels will no doubt flock to the shelves for Mackie's story.–Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement—left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

Edward Scissorhands meets The Catcher in the Rye in this wildly imaginative and frighteningly beautiful horror novel about an unusual boy and his search for a place to belong.

Publishers Weekly

Many high school students feel like outsiders, but in this dark fantasy Mackie Doyle has better reason than most to be alienated. Mackie is a changeling, a fairy child exchanged for a stolen human baby. Everyone knows it, though no one will acknowledge it, for fear of upsetting a deal the town made long ago. What, after all, is one baby taken every seven years, in exchange for continued economic prosperity? Everyone else's unemployment skyrockets, and their tech plants go bankrupt and their dairy farms fail, but not ours, says Mackie's sister, Emma, one of the few who will acknowledge the town's secrets. Mackie, however--sickened by iron, terrified that his neighbors will turn on him--has paid a terrible price, as has Tate Stewart, who is traumatized by the loss of her baby sister, the latest stolen child. Eventually, the two teenagers join forces in an attempt to overturn the town's intolerable status quo. Debut novelist Yovanoff offers well-developed characters, a fascinating take on the Fairy Court, and an exciting story line. Combined with wicked cover art, this book has the makings of a success. Ages 12 up. (Sept.)

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world. Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs. Edward Scissorhands meets The Catcher in the Rye in this wildly imaginative and frighteningly beautiful horror novel about an unusual boy and his search for a place to belong. Mackie Doyle is The Replacement - left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. He has been raised among us. But he is not one of us. Now, he must face the dark creatures of the slag heaps from which he came and find his rightful place - in our world or theirs.'Unsettling villains and intriguing moral ambivalence make this effort shockingly original and...breathtaking.'- Booklist, starred review'Even after finishing the book, readers will be left with the eerie sensation that... the true darkness has yet to abate.'- BCCB, starred review'Well-developed characters, a fascinating Fairy Court, an exciting story line, wicked cover art...this book has the makings of a success.'- Publishers Weekly'A fast-paced, dark delicacy.'- Kirkus Reviews Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle knows that he replaced a human child when he was just an infant, and when a friend's sister disappears he goes against his family's and town's deliberate denial of the problem to confront the beings that dwell under the town, tampering with human lives