“A fairy tale moment, the old kind, when such stories were meant for adults, not kids.”

a friend gifted me a copy of the changeling by victor lavelle and boy am i glad for it because i never would have picked this book myself. there are many ways to describe this incredible journey of a novel: a modern-day odyssey, a dark fairytale, horror, thriller, murder mystery, family drama, a history of immigration, a snapshot of the present political climate, a commentary on how easily women become demonised, a critique of the way parents expose their children to the internet, a condemnation of online trolls and voyeurs who live in their parents’ basements, etc, this novel does it all.
for the most part the novel introduces magical elements only to undermine or rationalise it away, then halfway through it suddenly plunges the reader into the deep end by affirming the existence of a magical parallel world that threatens what only appears to be reality. every time i think something is going to happen, something else happens instead and i am completely taken by surprise. it took me a few days to finish this novel because i kept going back to reread certain sections to search for clues that i missed. my favourite thing has to be how magic isn’t automatically a benevolent force. wishes come true, yes, but baby-eating monsters also exist and sometimes they wear human faces. the novel reinstates magic to its former status as an ancient chaotic power that cannot be modernised away. evil evolves with the times, but thankfully the myths still hold true and what they teach us can show us how to defeat the monsters.