User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Changeling by Molly Harper
1st book in the Sorcery and Society series. YA magic. Historical with a touch of steampunk.
Society is divided between the magic users as upper class and those without magic as the servant class. 14 year old Sarah has been sickly as long as she can remember until one day she saves a vase using magic. The family she works for forces Sarah into impersonating as a distant relative and she finds herself in a magic school she is ill-prepared for. Magic familiars, competitive classmates and a book that can’t be read are all part of the strange new world for Sarah.
Engaging and enthralling, I was hooked listening to the audio.
Now that Sarah, aka Cassandra has magic, she needs to figure out who she is inside. Nice? Snarky? A follower? Turns out she doesn’t want to be influenced by who can make her important.
Growing pains.
I really enjoyed this “coming of age” troupe paranormal and will read the second as soon as possible.
Rating: really liked it
Calling a spade a spade...
Pygmalion meets
Harry Potter meets
Charmed.
It's not all that original. I picked the villain very early in the book. But it's testament to Molly Harper as a writer that I don't really care.
Changeling was a hoot and I loved it despite the fact that it's derivative.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars. I’m rounding up as I will read book two.
It's a commonly said these days that there are no original ideas left to write about. While this may be true to a certain extent there is usually a new way to spin a similar story or make it your own. Molly Harper has 'borrowed' from so many of the most popular YA/Teen fantasy story lines that it's almost funny. Yet, the way she puts these ideas together, and her compulsive writing style, had me flipping pages quickly and deciding that I was okay with her borrowed ideas.
Borrowed ElementsLet's start with Harry Potter. The following are direct correlations in Changeling: - orphan who didn’t know she could do magic = Harry Potter (but female this time)
- little blue bird (familiar) = Hedwing the owl
- Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies = Hogwarts
- Houses = Houses... there's five instead of four, but whose counting...
- Snipes = Muggles
From Buffy the Vampire Slayer and/or Charmed:- magical tomes that can only be read by certain people
- magical spells that may give you 'too much' power
- demons and vampires; and not all are evil
Cinderella:- ‘Auntie’ = stepmother
- slave who cleans = Cinderella herself
Now, you might be thinking: 'oh boy Mel, how can this be good?' Honestly I didn't think it could be at first. But our leading girl, her friends and even the possible love interest(s?) are all solid characters unto themselves.
CharactersThese are not just characters dropped into a cliche setting. Instead I felt connected and had empathy for each of the students we meet. I even began to like the Auntie/stepmother at points. Creating anti-hero characters is not easy and yet Harper has made it seem effortless in Changeling.
Additionally both our main boys are strong, unique and realistic. And neither sparkles! It helps that there is no insta-love and (so far) no love triangle, square or other shape. By creating genuine relationships between characters Harper has done what so many other teen authors continue to fail to do. This alone puts her a step above the average teen genre writer.
Political IntrigueWe all know noble families must be entrenched in corruption (lol). Harper takes the conspiracy, greed and backstabbing to a whole new level in Changeling. Not only does everyone keep their friends close, and their enemies even closer; but they all have dirt on one another that could ruin them. Add a stepmother with a steely glare and a bunch of ridiculous laws in place to keep Snipes ‘in-line’ and you've got a complex society to try and navigate. And our gal goes from scrubbing the floors to walking across them in glass slippers. So to say she has trouble navigating this new political landscape would be an understatement. There are so many opportunities that Harper has clearly opened up for future books in the nobles and rich families narrative that I would want to read more of this series even if it didn't have good characters. And did I mention amongst all of this is magic?
OverallIt's an odd thing to realize that a book is really a bunch of other stories you know well dropped into one and yet feel like you are reading a new story. I really didn't expect, from the opening 50 pages, to like Changeling so much. I expected to get frustrated and bored quickly. Instead Harper has set-up a world that is both familiar and original in it's own way. If you want to revisit your youth, get some Harry Potter magical school vibes or just visit a cute little fantasy world where the teens are not immediately in love with each other (how refreshing!), then Changeling may be for you. But watch out as you may be hooked and find yourself frustrated that book two hasn't even been announced (never mind have a name or a cover)! Someone needs to let Molly Harper know that she now needs to keep feeding the readers she has entrapped in her cute story web.
To read this and more of my reviews visit my blog at Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
Rating: really liked it
Imagine mixing a potion of all of your favorite stories. Let’s start with Charmed and the power of three, then add in Harry Potter with schools for the magically gifted, familiars and loads of secrets. Let us not forget the non-magical folks known as Snipes (Guttersnipes), and the Ministry of Magic known as the Guardian of Law. Add a pinch of the Moorchild with changelings. Next, stir in a Victorian setting with a smidge of steampunk and vivid characters who breathe life into the tale. Stir counterclockwise and poof you have Changeling the first novel in the Sorcery and Society novels.
The book was full of so many elements I loved about each of the books and series mentioned but Molly Harper adds her own little spins from magical books to secrets.
14-year-old snipe, Sarah Smith has her life irrevocably changed when a series of incidents, childhood rebellion and kindness cause her to reveal magical ability in front of her guardians. A magical ability she didn’t know she possessed and according to the law is downright impossible. To protect everyone in the household and mayhap for personal gain, Sarah is transformed into a distant cousin and renamed, Cassandra Reed. In the blink of an eye she goes from scullery maid to student. They enroll her at Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies.
The tale that unfolds has magic, mean girls, friendships, a touch of romance, loads of secrets. It was an engaging tale that kept me listening into the wee hours. I loved watching Cassandra gain confidence and find herself. Along the way she will make startling discoveries, friendships and enemies. As her confidence grew we discover this kind, but cheeky young woman. It was delightful.
The overall story arc for the series itself stems from secrets about an unnamed House, and changelings. I am keen to see what direction Harper takes the story. I already love the motley crew of friends, Cassandra has surrounded herself with. Mrs Warren and her family also added interest, humor and support. I am hoping we learn more about Ivy and Alicia’s magical condition.
While I loved the fast-pace of the story, I am really hoping we gain more information about the history of the Houses, magic and how society members like the Warren’s became responsible for the snipe families. We gained some information about this guardian society and I geeked out over the science aspects but I want more and would love a full-length prequel.
Amanda Ronconi was the perfect narrator for Changeling. I loved her voices for Cassandra, the school librarian and Mary. While I felt she sometimes broke accent, she gave each character a distinct voice and enhanced the climactic scenes along with the humorous ones. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
Rating: really liked it
I love that Molly Harper takes these wild jags into genres she's never done before. That probably makes me some kind of super-fan, but I have yet to be disappointed in following her into a new space. That holds in this story, as well. This is a YA historical fantasy with magic and an added mix of boarding school and it was a great deal of fun.
I'm not sure the era of this as the historical timeline diverged heavily in the early nineteenth century (after steam trains, but before the industrial revolution took firm hold) when the magical folks took everything over, discarded all that reform crap from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence and instituted a reversion to a feudal system complete with non-magical serfs. That revolution is at least a century in the past, but technical innovation came to a grinding halt and magical innovation is highly concentrated on the utility of the elite (and since magicians are all elite, there's nothing like a magical industrial base that'd trickle any of that stuff down to commoners). So it's Victorian-ish but with a much more calcified social and class structure. All of which is challenged if/when commoners should develop magical powers, somehow. That's where Sarah/Cassandra comes in. Because she develops magical powers and right in front of the matriarch of the family that "guides" her family.
The plot hinges on Mrs. Winters (said matriarch) being bloody-minded enough to believe she can foist Cassandra onto the magical school for young girls but kind enough not to kill her outright. Cassandra's very existence challenges the embedded social structure and should her origins be discovered, the entire Winters family stands to lose a great deal—though not the ignominious death Cassandra would face. Around that structure, Harper weaves a very engaging story with the young Cassandra finding her way, finding friends, learning about her magic, and becoming a very special person when a magical book chooses to bind itself to her. I found Cassandra herself interesting and I loved her growth and the relationships she forges (not least with the indomitable Mrs. Winters). I have some minor quibbles with one or two plot aspects being a little too extreme (the mean-girl clique and Cassandra's non-magical sister, mainly), but those were very minor and didn't affect my rating at all.
Nearly affecting my rating was the atrocious copy editing. I've seldom seen worse. There are dropped words, wrong tenses, added words with a different tense to the sentence, and there's one paragraph that consists of the same two sentences repeated over again. It was so bad that I looked up the publisher and that became it's own delve into madness (as it appears to be a combination of self-publishing but with some very big niche names using it as a vehicle, including Ilona Andrews, Loretta Chase, Suzanne Enoch, and many other Molly Harper works).
Anyway, this ends up a solid five stars and I can't wait to continue with the next in the series (though that'll be mood-dependent as all my YA reading is).
Rating: really liked it
I wanted to like it, I really did. A Victorian Steampunk society with magic to boot! But even though the main character's story seems interesting (being always kind of sick and suddenly learning she isn't and that she controls magic!) I just couldn't seem to relate to the characters or the story per se...
Also, I was a bit lost on the world the author creates, personally I would have benefited of being more grounded in it before the story began picking up when Sarah discovers she can do magic once she stops taking the pills her mother gave her for her fragile health.
Probably the book wasn't for me as it has very good reviews, but I had to stop reading it as it didn't appeal to me.
Rating: really liked it
Wealthy 14 year old Cassandra Reed has a secret. That's not her real name. And she's not actually a member of the noble magical class that now rules the world. But as one of the non-magical Snipes who possesses magic, her secret must be kept so that she—and her family—can survive. So she has to blend in with the magical class. And attend school for wealthy magical ladies. She just can't slip up...
Ever read one of those books where you are just
certain that you've read it before, but you clearly haven't?
This was that book.
It's been over six weeks since I read this, and I have been dreading writing this review for so long that I now have a huge stack of other reviews to write because I was procrastinating on this one. The details are hazy, but my dislike for this book is not.
I've had it on my TBR for quite some time due to its high ratings and the rave reviews, and I wish now that I had removed it instead of going in and purchasing it with an Audible credit when I realized that that was the only way I'd actually read the book.
The audiobook is horrible, but I don't think that it really detracted much from the story itself.
Think gender-bent Harry Potter meets
Red Queen slapped into a dystopian world that never went past the Victorian era (there were some kinda Edwardian like things, but not enough).
Yes. One of
those books.
I'm not a huge fan of Victorian fiction to begin with, and it really irks me when writers do this with their alternate-history worlds, because societies and cultures do change. They do go forwards and backwards, but the thing is that the only constant is change. Having a culture stuck in lock-step Victorian sentimentalities for a hundred years just doesn't make sense.
Anywho.
I didn't like this book for other reasons.
It felt uninspired—like I had read it before—following similar tropes. Previously non-magical girl of the underclass discovers her magical abilities and is adopted hush-hushly into the ruling magical class to protect the status quo. Then non-magical girl goes to school (because, duh), and discovers that she is truly ~gifted~ for ~reasons~ and makes enemies of the popular girls, friends with the non-popular girls, and despite her obvious superior gifted talents still struggles with school and her magic for no other reason than to gain sympathy and add pages to the story. Then of course there's the Big Baddy at the school who is out to Ruin Things For Everyone and Change Society By Not Actually Changing It At All. The plot is ruined and things go back to normal. All talk of the girl actually fixing things in society to make it better are gone as she acclimates to her new life on top.
Yawn. Snooze.
Plus again, the audiobook narrator was horrible. Cassandra's accent changed all over the place. It sounded like nails on chalkboard.
Anywho, my opinions are my own. I'm sure that this book will call—and has called—to many others, but it hit every single trope that I abhor and that's entirely on me.
Rating: really liked it
A charming historical fantasy for YA.
Rating: really liked it
Great expectations, low results.
Despite not assuming this would have any deep plot, it still managed to disappoint in the overall development of the underdog shining in a place she was never meant to be. The whole idea and execution resembled Red Queen in the sense that the main girl was common folk who had barely had any right, but somehow she was born with powers no one expected and has to hide that fact and of course she is not the only one.
It is entertaining and it is refreshing that the romance is basically a side story to the book, which is appreciated, however silly it still is. The characters are likable and the development is there and there is a villain as well, but... there is 0 originality. It's a mishmash of various YA tropes that entertains but will not really make you want to invest.
Hopefully the second book will be more fullfilling, but as long as time passes easily, it will be a good read.
Rating: really liked it
Alright so this is a really fun light fantasy that pulls a lot of really commonly used and enjoyable tropes like the unknown chosen one with immense power, school for the magic and naturally a Victorian-ish setting and time.
So I read this via audiobook and I have to absolutely recommend this format. The narrators are fantastic and the comedic lines are delivered perfectly!
I am always a sucker for a girl finding the Draco of the school and then deciding to hang with her Ron and Hermione instead and then they stand together to defeat a great evil (Charmed anyone?). Sarah develops quite a bit over the story and I'm very curious to see what she'll do with her powers in the rest of the series but also how she'll help other changelings as well as how her friends will help her (and vice versa).
Rating: really liked it
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.
I am an unabashed Molly Harper fangirl, and I love young adult books set in a historical fantasy setting similar to Regency/Victorian England (I once made a website about them). In other words, I am the perfect audience for CHANGELING, the first in Harper's new YA series, Sorcery and Society.
CHANGELING is a delight. While it didn't have the laugh-out-loud humor I've come to associate with Harper's adult paranormal romances, I enjoyed the sly, sarcastic tone that Cassandra frequently had. Also in contrast to Harper's adult stories, there is little to no romance present here, though there is a sweet budding relationship between Cassandra and a certain gentleman. Cassandra's friends are great entertainment, and the scenes with them together were definitely some of my favorite in the book. The whole book was refreshing with regards to the strong and multi-dimensional women characters. Cassandra learning to not let herself be pushed around, both through the strength of her new friendships and the role model of the politically inclined Mrs. Winters, was a nice thread that I would like to see more of in YA fiction marketed to young girls.
I do have a few minor quibbles. The world building was not the greatest. A bit of Cassandra telling herself things in her head and a bit of her being lectured to by Mrs. Winters. Otherwise, we don't really get a ton of info on the magic system (I'm not even sure what the male magic users were called - maybe witches? I honestly can't remember if it was mentioned). There's a typical villain moment at the end where the bad guy feels the need to pontificate about their plans before they enact the final piece of the puzzle, and I felt that it was a bit too suddenly obvious who the villain was before it was revealed to Cassandra. But these are minor issues that don't really distract too much from the book as a whole.
While I felt CHANGELING wraps up a specific storyline, I feel there is more room for Cassandra to grow and learn about her powers and the new world she finds herself in. I was happy to read that Harper has planned for this series to be a trilogy and I look forward to reading about Cassandra's further adventures!
Sexual content: N/A
Rating: really liked it
Aug 2022 - a lot of the editing errors seem to have been fixed, but there still are a lot. One of the examples of the remaining errors is that "cache" is used for "cachet", multiple times. Ms Harper has a way with storytelling, that pretty much works in this. Moving on to Book #2, but the reviews of #3 are fairly dire; I may skip that.
9/4/18 - REALLY bad editing; at least 3 places by 25% in, which have the same sentence repeated within the same page.
9/15/18 - accumulated 24 total 'edits', including some additional duplicated sentences; wrong words, words left out, yada.
I nearly gave up on this book a couple of times, but it was still interesting, so I kept picking it up and going on. A 2.5 star rating, rounded to 3.
Rating: really liked it
3.5/5 stars
Rating: really liked it
My Thoughts:
This was a rather delightful book. Sara was so sassy, had humour and at the same time she was vulnerable.
Magicians rose up all over the world and took over. Now "normal" people work as servants for the high and might who rule the world.
Then there is Sara, who suddenly has magical powers. Her employers are scared that the higher ups will blame them and she is embraced into the family as one of them. In comes Cassandra Reed, who is sent to school to learn magic, and manners.
I liked the whole boarding school setup. There is the mean girl clicque, those who try to hide. Dances with the boy academy. It all works really well. Her "aunt" is never far away either as the boarding school is close by. She will get new friends and learna few lessons. Magical and non magical.
I liked Mrs Winter, her former employer. She was so proper, but underneath it all there is someone kind.
Everyone was delightful, and the baddies were wicked and needed a kick in the behind.
A fun YA that has a bit of everything. Friendship, magic, romantic feelings and an interesting world that is about to change.
I do recommend it, to YA fans and to adults.
Narration:
She was perfect for Cassandra at 14, and then she was perfect as Mrs Winter (and now I can hear her voice in my head to sit up straight.)
Rating: really liked it
I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, Harry Potterish romp through a world where those that have magic are superior. Great, original characters that I liked right from the beginning. Fast paced and Amanda Ronconi is, as always, spot on with her fantastic narration.
