The Changeling is a fairytale about fairytales. It is the kind of fairytale that you sink into slowly, lulled and calmed by the gentle cadence of its familiarity - until you aren’t. LaValle is so skilled at the subtle deception that you barely notice the slip into the uncanny. It's slow in a way that only pulls you further down, and the characters are brilliantly rendered. Apollo and Emma orbit around each other in unexpected ways, and despite the near-predicability of the book's ending, its

Spoiler

sweetness is a pleasant surprise after the violence that precedes it.

I love this book for its balance of darkness and light, of the different kinds of love, of its fairytale tropes and new inventions. LaValle's narration of his own book is also stellar - his soft, New York accented voice is the perfect thing to carry the story.