Changeling

By Philippa Gregory

I have to say, I didn't like this book that much. I read the description and I was like, "Oh cool! This sounds good." 78 pages in, I said, "Nothing has happened." All of the action in the book happened in 10 pages. Out of 256 pages. Most of the time, it's just Luca being confrontational with his own supposed best friend and interviewing people that tell us nothing in the world. There was also a stretch where it took up like, 27 pages about just traveling on horses, nothing else happening. The only way I got through it was by thinking the whole time, "After this one, I get to move onto the 24 books I have to read after this! They're sure to be better!" :|
Things I dislike:
1. The characters are boring. No development at all. The only one that might be half decent is Ishraq. But I mean, really.
2. The cover. First off, neither of the people there are that attractive (at least to me) and Luca is supposed to be really REALLY handsome and Isolde is supposed to be really pretty. HA. Bring me to the person who chose there people so I can check they aren't blind. Secondly, the way the characters are set up makes you think that Isolde is the main character and she's accompanied by Luca. But I beg to differ. Instead it follows Luca, who spends his days arguing, reminding people he is in charge and saying that he makes all the decisions. And he's terribly boring.
3. The plot lines. Yes, that's right. More than one. We have the first one, promised on the flap with the nuns. It takes about 130 or something pages to get to the climax of it which lasts 5 pages. Then they hit the road again and come across another plot line, with werewolves. They are COMPLETELY disconnected from each other. It's absolutely ridiculous. It's like Ms. Gregory took two little ideas for stories and said to herself "Ah, look here, two little stories! Let's put them into one book so that I actually have enough pages for it to be considered a novel!" Ugh.
4. Luca. At the beginning he says like, "Oh, I see the whole world in numbers. That's just how I've always thought. OH MY BIEBER. Is that a sheet with numbers on it?? I have to learn it! AH. It has the number zero! INSPIRED." Then that whole thing never comes up again. And he switches between being all "Whatever, do whatever the heck you want to." and saying "I'M THE LEADER. DO AS I SAY. I KNOW BEST. HE APPOINTED ME AS INQUIRER." Oh, and at the beginning he and Freize are introduced as best mates. But for the rest of the book, Luca yells at Freize and tells him that he's useless and to get out of his way. I mean really? Your best mate?
5. The plot was way too predictable. I mean, really. A four year old could guess all of the plot points.
6-∞. Things that are too small for me to point out and that are in the small aspects of the book.
One thing that was okay about this book? It was entertaining and will do well if it was the last book on this planet. :)
It gets on the lower side of a two. It only gets that hight because as I said above, it was mildly entertaining. And it made me feel good because I could guess the plot points (thanks to the over predictability) and that made me feel like Sherlock Holmes. : ) Even so, I might be too generous.