It's Supernatural • The Changelings

The Changelings by Elle Casey
Series: War of the Fae #1
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: February 5, 2012
Source: Received via tour site (Thanks) || e-book
[I received this book for a tour. This in no way affects the contents of my review.]

Jayne Sparks, a potty-mouthed, rebellious seventeen-year-old and her best friend, shy and bookish Tony Green, have a pretty typical high school existence, until several seemingly unrelated incidents converge, causing a cascade of events that change their lives forever. Jayne and Tony, together with a group of runaway teens, are hijacked and sent into a forest, where nothing and no one are as they seem. Who will emerge triumphant? And what will they be when they do?

The Changelings has many elements that I find appealing: (1) a snarky, kickass, female protagonist, (2) a cast of incredibly fun and decidedly distinct secondary characters, (3) an interesting new world filled with supernatural elements and (4) a plot that twists and turns when I least expect it. I found it intriguing, amusing and am now wondering just what is going to happen next.

The Character

Jayne Sparks is another kickass female heroine - and she's got sarcasm, stubbornness and a ferociousness to boot. When faced with uncertain situations or new surprise elements, I like how Jayne would try to approach the situation as intelligently as she possibly could. Plus, when her softer, more vulnerable side is revealed, I loved her even more. It's her slightly snarky personality and her fighting spirit that really caught my attention.

The Story

Honestly, reading the first few chapters, I had no idea where this story was going to go. But after having finished the novel, I think that the beginning is the perfect set-up to demonstrate Tony & Jayne's friendship. It's relatively "normal" in comparison to the rest of the novel, which really grounded me in the reality of Jayne's world.

The transition between the real world to the supernatural one was very interesting. Everything was set up perfectly to give Tony & Jayne the opportunity to get to the place where they would be yanked out of the familiar into the unfamiliar. I'm not certain that this really bothers me, but this is a fair warning to future readers.

This is not to say that the supernatural stuff isn't fun in this book, because it really is! A variety of interesting fae creatures are encountered, and there are definitely some situations that I found I reacted to quite incredulously. The action sequences, the creatures, the journey, the friendships - I thought these were all very well done and quite entertaining to read (even when characters I liked found themselves in peril!).

As for romance, well, there's a bit of it in there, but nothing has really developed yet. I'm not too found of one of the love interests (simply because I didn't see any basis for it on either party's end), but maybe that will get more of an explanation in the rest of the series. I'm glad that romance wasn't so much a focus as an extra occurrence happening alongside the real action.

Personally, I say you should...

Read this novel if you're a fan of YA that features supernatural creatures, snarky yet intelligent heroines and interesting plot twists. The Changelings is an intriguing first book in the series, and I'm definitely going to check out the rest of it!

This was posted as part of the tour hosted by Ashley of What's Your Story Book Tours.