Review: Changeling by Philippa Gregory

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: May 24, 2012

Pages: 266

Source: For Review from Simon & Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 2 Stars

Italy, 1453. Seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is brilliant, gorgeous—and accused of heresy. Cast out of his religious order for using the new science to question old superstitious beliefs, Luca is recruited into a secret sect: The Order of Darkness, commissioned by Pope Nicholas V to investigate evil and danger in its many forms, and strange occurrences across Europe, in this year—the end of days.     
Isolde is a seventeen-year-old girl shut up in a nunnery so she can’t inherit any of her father’s estate. As the nuns walk in their sleep and see strange visions, Isolde is accused of witchcraft—and Luca is sent to investigate her, but finds himself plotting her escape.     
Despite their vows, despite themselves, love grows between Luca and Isolde as they travel across Europe with their faithful companions, Freize and Ishraq. The four young people encounter werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers as they head toward a real-life historical figure who holds the boundaries of Christendom and the secrets of the Order of Darkness.      

In short: Though Philippa Gregory is well known and liked for her adult historical novels, I do not believe her writing and characterization translated well to her YA debut, Changeling.

The synopsis for Changeling is a bit misleading. I was led to believe it would be historical fantasy, what with the mention of werewolves and witches, but instead it is just plain historical fiction. Not that that's a bad thing - after all, historical novels are what author Philippa Gregory excels at. Changeling is set during the Crusades, a period of utter ridiculousness, which allowed for a plot that was ripe with possibilities for entertainment. Seriously, the stuff people used to believe - without any concrete evidence beforehand - is beyond insane and unfounded. Philippa Gregory makes sure to exploit the ridiculousness of the Crusades, with her expert knowledge of history, to its full extent.

Despite this, I can't say I was completely entertained and enthralled with Changeling. The story felt very disjointed as it was split into two completely separate story lines, one revolving around a nunnery and one a werewolf, and neither of them were particularly interesting. The characterization was also bland, save for a few secondary characters, making it hard to care much about what happened to these characters. And the writing, to be honest, left much to be desired, which was surprising because I was expecting a lot from Philippa Gregory. But at best the writing was bare-boned, without any flourish or interest, and at worst, kind of... well, bad. (Note: I really dislike describing an author's writing as bad because I am by no means a good writer myself, obviously, so my apologies for my hypocrisy here).

I have not read any of Gregory's adult historical novels, but I understand from their popularity that they are quite well done and detailed. It's unfortunate then that my first exposure to her work was though Changeling, her YA debut, as I do not believe Gregory's writing and characterization translated well to YA. As such, I will not be continuing with this series. It wouldn't feel fair for me to judge her writing just based off of Changeling though, so I would like to give her adult works a try sometime.

Other Reviews:
Hooked on Books
Midnight Bloom Reads
Musings of a YA Reader

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