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leila_scola's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
fitzsbeloved's review against another edition
1.0
I am at a loss for words. This is only the second time I have ever given up on a book.
I got up to page 69 before calling it quits. Yeah, few weeks, 69 pages. It was that bad.
From the first sentence, I knew it was going to be terrible. Now, I may be wrong, but I do not believe there were handguns in the 1400's. So, comparing the banging of a door to the shots of a handgun is a pretty bad choice.
I have never read any of Gregory's adult novels, but I do know she is supposed to be a master at historical fiction. I will give her the benefit of the doubt, but it did not shine through in her YA debut.
In the very beginning, our main protagonist, Luca, is said to be rumored a Changeling. Hence the title, I suppose. From what I read, and what I have heard from others who have read this book, is that it was only mentioned one other time. Whether this is going to be brought up in future installments, I guess I'll never know.
Speaking of Luca...Yeah, I don't like him. He is a bit of an ass. A boring ass, at that. As for our heroine, Isolde...She's boring, too.
The only character I liked, at all, was Isolde's friend and servant, Ishraq. She was the only one with ANY personality what-so-ever. I love you, Ish. I love you.
I did not get up to any parts with romance, but considering the main characters are so boring, I cannot believe I am missing all too much.
I don't see myself picking this back up.
I got up to page 69 before calling it quits. Yeah, few weeks, 69 pages. It was that bad.
From the first sentence, I knew it was going to be terrible. Now, I may be wrong, but I do not believe there were handguns in the 1400's. So, comparing the banging of a door to the shots of a handgun is a pretty bad choice.
I have never read any of Gregory's adult novels, but I do know she is supposed to be a master at historical fiction. I will give her the benefit of the doubt, but it did not shine through in her YA debut.
In the very beginning, our main protagonist, Luca, is said to be rumored a Changeling. Hence the title, I suppose. From what I read, and what I have heard from others who have read this book, is that it was only mentioned one other time. Whether this is going to be brought up in future installments, I guess I'll never know.
Speaking of Luca...Yeah, I don't like him. He is a bit of an ass. A boring ass, at that. As for our heroine, Isolde...She's boring, too.
The only character I liked, at all, was Isolde's friend and servant, Ishraq. She was the only one with ANY personality what-so-ever. I love you, Ish. I love you.
I did not get up to any parts with romance, but considering the main characters are so boring, I cannot believe I am missing all too much.
I don't see myself picking this back up.
harriet64's review against another edition
4.0
A good book with interesting historical and philosophical points! However it wasn't the quickest to read
raeanne's review against another edition
3.0
* The blurb stating they wind up traveling together wounded typical tension. Instead of "who did it?", I was mainly wondering how those 2 kids were going to get out of it, rather than if they were going to get out of it. Kind of like...
* Scooby-doo. Not just with knowing how it'll end but wandering around busting mysteries. I loved it for that.
* Frieze was an ass towards the end. She warned him & he deserved it. His whining was annoying then his actions after she admitted she was wrong about something else made me want to smack him. No means no. She's not some beast for you to tame, jack hole. Considering, she's a POC, that's especially odious to read.
* Investigator Luca is interesting. Makes me wonder how it's going to go for his faith.
* Historically fascinating. I'm not much of a buff and always found it hard to get into during class. It was so dull. Which is why it's so captivating to read how 0 was so revolutionary from a POV that's new to it. That's context or at least a perspective I've sorely missed. Because it's one this to say "this is how it was" and another to show it. Not that traditional history needs to be replaced but something to help those like me would've been great. I know it's fiction but it can make you care & that makes learning the cold hard facts easier. At least it was when I fell down the rabbit hole of links and Wiki after finishing.
* Loved Isolde. She has guts and dealt with some major bullshit. Not that she was perfect. If she was, she'd have run the nunnery better. Or at least tried. Understand her feelings of inadequacy towards her friend. All her skills are useless now. She should work on correcting that and make them teach her some shit.
* Loved Ishraq. She may be the most unusual but it's not like badass women like her are a historical fraud. There's some we know of but all things considered it wouldn't surprise me how many we've lost to human sexism and limited recording of time.
* The scribe is blah. Not much seen or heard except for loyalty to the Order and religious piety.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Recommended for: YA and historical fiction and mystery fans
I won this from (look up). Shit, it's been years and can't find the info. :(
I was intrigued by the blurb of course, but no lie that dragon symbol cover had a lot to do with it as well. I love dragons and was disappointed at the lack of them.
The one thing most people feel differently is that the author made me pause rather than an asset. I tried reading The Other Boylen Girl when it blew up, but I hated it, didn't give a fuck about the people and lineage, and didn't finish it with no regrets.
The Order of Darkness is a solid historical mystery story. There is the traditional sexism, classism, and racism, including rape threats and fear how it ruins women.
I love how in historical novels the time periods come to life. Of course, you have to take it with a grain of salt but it leads to research being easier. This worked very here as apposed to my other Gregory attempt.
michellemm85's review against another edition
3.0
3-3.5/6 I believe
Not a bad book, but predictable. BOTH mysteries in this book were predictable. The nunnery and the werewolf. I was hoping that Isolde's problem would be solved what with the solving of the nunnery mystery, but the villain (also highly predictable) got away. This book kind of had a fairy tale feel to it, and I wonder if the rest of the series will have similar "happy endings"? Surprisingly finished this in one day! An easy read. I wonder if the next one is just as predictable. Only one way to find out lol
EDIT: Someone else mentioned that this book seemed like two novellas smashed together, and they're totally right. The werewolf bit is only 70 pages long and is totally disjointed from the nunnery bit. Kind of like when an author releases an e-novella in between "numbered" volumes in a series.
Not a bad book, but predictable. BOTH mysteries in this book were predictable. The nunnery and the werewolf. I was hoping that Isolde's problem would be solved what with the solving of the nunnery mystery, but the villain (also highly predictable) got away. This book kind of had a fairy tale feel to it, and I wonder if the rest of the series will have similar "happy endings"? Surprisingly finished this in one day! An easy read. I wonder if the next one is just as predictable. Only one way to find out lol
EDIT: Someone else mentioned that this book seemed like two novellas smashed together, and they're totally right. The werewolf bit is only 70 pages long and is totally disjointed from the nunnery bit. Kind of like when an author releases an e-novella in between "numbered" volumes in a series.
readindigo's review against another edition
2.0
cool concept but flat characters and no real climax or conclusion.
cmdro's review against another edition
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lshorner's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
It wasn’t the best book I ever had read, but it did keep you turning the page.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
There is a part where they are burning a person at the stake.twentystitches's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Not as bad as I thought 💀
The story was quite engaging and easy to follow and adventurous.
But...no way this happened in the 1400s some of the stuff was sooo modern and the way they spoke also they are 17?? No way all this is happening. But still a fun(ish) read. And the author did apparently put some research in so...there's that
The story was quite engaging and easy to follow and adventurous.
But...no way this happened in the 1400s some of the stuff was sooo modern and the way they spoke also they are 17?? No way all this is happening. But still a fun(ish) read. And the author did apparently put some research in so...there's that
jazzyjan94's review against another edition
3.0
This review can be found on my blog: https://confessionsofabookwormweb.wordpress.com/2016/09/03/book-review-changeling/
Philippa Gregory is known for her historical novels, such as The Other Boleyn Girl, and this is the first book in a YA series called Order of Darkness. I enjoyed this book, but it ended up being kind of different from what I was expecting.
Changeling takes place in Italy, 1453 and it tells the story of Luca, who has recently been kicked out of the monastery for heresy because he dared to question one of the relics that they have. He is then recruited to join the Order because there are weird things going and they want someone to go and investigate these events and whether it truly means that the end of world is near. His first assignment is at an abbey, where weird things are happening to the nuns that lived there. All the evidence for these strange occurrences all seem to point to the new Lady Abbess, Isolde, who was forced to into the position after her father died. Is Isolde guilty of witchcraft or is there something else going on at the abbey?
Let me start by saying that the synopsis on the back of this book is kind of misleading because it gave the impression that there would be werewolves and magic, but there isn't any of that, so I was kind of disappointed because I thought there was going to be some fantasy in this novel.
There is an overarching plot that will continue throughout the series, Luca investigating strange occurrences for the Order, however there were two successive minor plots that take place. The first one is the whole situation at the abbey, and the second one is after those events. I felt like the second plot point was disjointed from the rest of the book and that it was just shoved in there so that a page requirement could be met. It was still interesting, but it didn't fit within the whole framework of the novel.
The events that take place at the abbey were interesting and the author gives enough information about the religious climate of this time. The end of this plot point had a surprising outcome, even though in the back of my mind I kind of knew what might happen, it was still a shock. The second plot point was where I expected the fantasy element to start coming through in the work, but it didn't, there is no fantasy whatsoever in this book.
I really enjoyed getting to know the main characters in this novel, Luca and Isolde are both compelling characters and I kind of want them to get together eventually. Some other characters that are kind of main characters were Fierze, who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut but he does give some comic relief to the novel, Brother Peter, the sober scribe, and Ishraq, Isolde's best friend since birth. They were all really interesting and even the villains in this novel were pretty well-written.
I loved the historical and religious details, Philippa Gregory definitely does what she does best by trying to make the setting as historically accurate as possible. She paints a very accurate description of the atmosphere of superstition during the Middle Ages, as well as a description of the Catholic culture that was prevalent in Italy.
While I liked this book, I'm not exactly in a rush to read the rest of the series, maybe if I see them at a library I will pick them up, but it was just an okay read.
I am giving this book 3.5/5 Stars because even though I liked reading this book, I was disappointed that there wasn't any fantasy in it, which I had been led to believe would be in this book.
Philippa Gregory is known for her historical novels, such as The Other Boleyn Girl, and this is the first book in a YA series called Order of Darkness. I enjoyed this book, but it ended up being kind of different from what I was expecting.
Changeling takes place in Italy, 1453 and it tells the story of Luca, who has recently been kicked out of the monastery for heresy because he dared to question one of the relics that they have. He is then recruited to join the Order because there are weird things going and they want someone to go and investigate these events and whether it truly means that the end of world is near. His first assignment is at an abbey, where weird things are happening to the nuns that lived there. All the evidence for these strange occurrences all seem to point to the new Lady Abbess, Isolde, who was forced to into the position after her father died. Is Isolde guilty of witchcraft or is there something else going on at the abbey?
Let me start by saying that the synopsis on the back of this book is kind of misleading because it gave the impression that there would be werewolves and magic, but there isn't any of that, so I was kind of disappointed because I thought there was going to be some fantasy in this novel.
There is an overarching plot that will continue throughout the series, Luca investigating strange occurrences for the Order, however there were two successive minor plots that take place. The first one is the whole situation at the abbey, and the second one is after those events. I felt like the second plot point was disjointed from the rest of the book and that it was just shoved in there so that a page requirement could be met. It was still interesting, but it didn't fit within the whole framework of the novel.
The events that take place at the abbey were interesting and the author gives enough information about the religious climate of this time. The end of this plot point had a surprising outcome, even though in the back of my mind I kind of knew what might happen, it was still a shock. The second plot point was where I expected the fantasy element to start coming through in the work, but it didn't, there is no fantasy whatsoever in this book.
I really enjoyed getting to know the main characters in this novel, Luca and Isolde are both compelling characters and I kind of want them to get together eventually. Some other characters that are kind of main characters were Fierze, who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut but he does give some comic relief to the novel, Brother Peter, the sober scribe, and Ishraq, Isolde's best friend since birth. They were all really interesting and even the villains in this novel were pretty well-written.
I loved the historical and religious details, Philippa Gregory definitely does what she does best by trying to make the setting as historically accurate as possible. She paints a very accurate description of the atmosphere of superstition during the Middle Ages, as well as a description of the Catholic culture that was prevalent in Italy.
While I liked this book, I'm not exactly in a rush to read the rest of the series, maybe if I see them at a library I will pick them up, but it was just an okay read.
I am giving this book 3.5/5 Stars because even though I liked reading this book, I was disappointed that there wasn't any fantasy in it, which I had been led to believe would be in this book.