Review: Changeling (The Oddmire #1)

Title: Changeling (The Oddmire #1)
Author: William Ritter
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Thomas Allen and Son (book distributor)
Format: Paperback
Release Date: July 16, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Magic is fading from the Wild Wood. To renew it, goblins must perform an ancient ritual involving the rarest of their kind—a newborn changeling. But when the fateful night arrives to trade a human baby for a goblin one, something goes terribly wrong. After laying the changeling in a human infant’s crib, the goblin Kull is briefly distracted from his task. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already perfectly mimicked the human child. Too perfectly: Kull cannot tell them apart. Not knowing which to bring back, he leaves both babies behind.

Tinn and Cole are raised as human twins, neither knowing what secrets may be buried deep inside one of them. Then when they are twelve years old, a mysterious message arrives, calling the brothers to be heroes and protectors of magic. The boys must leave behind their sleepy town of Endsborough and risk their lives in the Wild Wood, crossing the perilous Oddmire swamp and journeying through the Deep Dark to reach the goblin horde and discover who they truly are.

Review:

This was an exciting adventure story that alters the fairytale of the changeling.

A changeling is a baby that has been switched by a fairy or goblin for one of their babies. However, in this story, when a goblin goes to switch the babies, he gets distracted and forgets which baby he brought. He ends up leaving both babies, so the family is left with both their baby and a changeling that looks identical to the baby.

On their thirteenth birthday, the twin boys, Tinn and Cole, go on an adventure into a magical part of the forest called the Oddmire to find out which one of them is the changeling and which one is the human. They meet magical creatures along the way, such as goblins and hinkypunks.

The boys’ mother was an important part of the story. She raised the boys on her own because her husband left soon after the changeling arrived. Often in children’s fantasy stories, the parents are absent or absent minded. I liked seeing a very involved parent, who was willing to risk her life to save her children.

I loved this story!

Thank you Thomas Allen and Son for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read Changeling? What did you think of it?