Beyond my years, even as a child.

Fun times with faerie-land in modern-day New York City. Sherman has created a charming, engaging world with intriguing characters. Incidentally, does anyone know of urban fantasy set in Chicago besides  The Last Hot Time by  John M Ford? Why should New York get all the love?

Some fairy books can cross over from young reader to older reader and the fanatasy world can be interesting for both groups. This books is really only for younger readers. I would not read it again. The character is interesting enough to finish the book but not to worry for or about, you don't get attached to Neef or the Changeling. The plot is simple problem and answer. But the unique animal characters and over all fantasy aspect should satisfy a new reader.

Delia Sherman takes readers on a wild romp throuhg the New York that we know and the unseen faerie-New York as we tag along on protagonist Neef's quest to regain her home in CEntral Park. Neef is a changeling, so she has access to much of the faerie world, but there's still a lot for her to learn; By teaming up wih the half-faerie girl who she was swapped for at birth, Neefs gets to make new friends (supernatural and Changeling alike), travel to places outside her normal stomping ground (Wall Street and the New York Harbour), and gets to use heedr skills at questing and faerie lore. Sherman manages to pack a lot of adventure into the pages of this book, and the only thing that I didn't like was Neefs faerie-half. Her behvaior was so out of whack that started to wonder if she has a mental disability rather than writing it all off as "faerie behaviour."

This fantasy set in NYC is delightful. It's both scary and funny.

This was a really fun read. It is structured in your basic 'magical middle grade quest' arc that fans of Rick Riordan will be familiar with, but Changeling and Neef are both characters and I love how they play off each other. I particularly liked how Changeling exhibited several kind of autistic behaviors [even though it's never discussed explicitly in the text] because a lot of the reasons that people historically would accuse someone of being a changeling would be because they were acting 'weird' and expressing behaviors now associated with autism although they obviously didn't have a name for it back then but I thought that was a nice little touch. I also liked how the author updated a lot of the 'classic' fairy tales to fit into modern New York life, like Jack and the Beanstalk became Jack and the Extension ladder, and having fairies hold domain over things like Broadway and Wall Street instead of more traditional fairy knowes. Definitely going to be checking out the next book!

It took me a bit to get into this book, I suspect there were several in-jokes about New York City that went over my head, and I never did understand why the Folk want mortal changelings in the first place. Neef, the narrator, is all right, but I decided my favorite character was Changeling, a distinctly different character than I often find in fantasy novels. And overall, it's a nice, quick read and an entertaining, modern spin on fairy tales.

Neef is a changeling, a mortal child switched at birth with a fairy and raised among the Folk. There are many changelings in the world, but Neef is the only changeling of Central Park. She lives with her fairy godmother Astris, a giant white rat, and spends her time with the assorted Folk of Central Park. All this changes, however, when she accidentally breaks the geas that was set upon her when she was brought into Central Park. Now, exiled from Central Park and a fugitive from the terrifying Wild Hunt, Neef must go on a quest across all of New York Between for the keys that will let her return home.

If you love New York City, fairy tales, or both, this is a perfect book. I loved Neef’s New York. I loved seeing the Folk version of Broadway, of the Harbor, of Wall Street. I especially love the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with its kindly Curator and fiercely protective docents. And I love the modern fairy tale retellings that pepper the text – the stock broker’s daughter, little red baseball cap, etc. This a perfectly delicious fairy tale for the modern age, and I devoured it in one sitting and then was reluctant to turn the last page.

Charming. That's the first and most obvious thing I can say about this book. If you love Folklore at all, you probably won't be able to resist this book's overall charm, despite the fact that it takes a bit (I found personally) to get into.

I loved the modern New York fairy tale alternate universe the author creates. It's a world I'd love to spend more time in, so I'd probably follow this series just for that alone. It's enchanting and does make one really want to visit the real New York just to see if it is even the TEENSEST bit as magical as this book makes it seem.

That said, I had a hard time liking the main character Neef. She was a static character for most of the book. Things just seem to happen to her and, while she angsts a lot about how 'hard' her life allegedly is, she does get out of things fairly easily, usually with the help of other characters she barely acknowledges until the end when they've all become bffs because reasons.

I guess Neef wasn't horrible, and learned SOMEthing by the end of the book but not much.

I liked Neef's fairy counterpart, the titular Changeling, a lot. I'd even say I loved her. She was just fantastic. Interesting, cute, maddening, and always saying something that made me grin at the book in my hands. Now, to be fair, I may have related to her on such a deep level because most of the things she does as a 'part fairy creature' remind me of things I do because I'm socially autistic. Such as the out of place comments about things, the hyper-focusing, the dislike for being touched, I found all of that so relatable I just wanted to give the girl a hearty air handshake (well I'm not going to hug her, we'd both hate that!) and I wanted to slap Neef every time the little snot got mad at her. Poor Changeling, she did her best!

Honestly, I would have favorited this book and given it five stars, no second thought, if Changeling had had her own POV. If we got to see her awkwardness back home, and get inside her head to see how discovering you're part fairy might feel (the book really glossed over that to have even more of a Neef pity party, which was annoying) I'd have loved this book to pieces.

Recommended reading, but fair warning that you probably won't fall in love with the main character, I certainly did not.

Highly recommended for New York City parents looking for a good book to read aloud to their young children as bedtime stories.

For everyone else... well...
Having read some of Delia Sherman's other books, I wasn't expecting this to be quite so juvenile. It is definitely a kids' book - aimed at 8-10 years old, I'd say, though younger kids would definitely enjoy it as well. However, a lot of the cleverness is probably going to zip right past a lot of kids, who might not have the background to 'get' all the references.

The tone of the book is primarily clever and silly, rather than eerie and magical. I can't deny that I was hoping for the latter, not the former - it wasn't bad, but I didn't really get into it.

Still, I do think that NYC kids will enjoy the adventures of Neef and her Changeling twin, as they quest through a fairy-tale version of New York, visiting the Metropolitan Museum, Chinatown, Wall Street, roaming through Central Park, etc.

Eek. I couldn't finish this book. Neef seemed to be constantly getting into trouble just for the sake of getting into trouble. She wasn't a strong female character - she was a dissatisfied and whiny female character! And while I was mildly intrigued by the world, the characters were so one-dimensional and flat and lifeless that I just couldn't bear it any longer. I gave up.

If you're one of the maybe 3 people who actually read my reviews, I'm sure you've realized by now that I am a sucker for any book/series that involves Faeries and the fair Folk. As a result, I have read various books by various authors about the Fae, and they have ranged from absolutely amazing and unforgettable (looking at you, Holly Black!) to boring, annoying, and agonizing to read (Sarah J. Maas, please stand up). Changeling falls somewhere in the middle. It's not bad, exactly, just... meh.

Neef is a mortal child, stolen from her crib as a baby by the Folk and replaced with one of their own. Raised by her fairy godmother Astris in the Fairies' "in-between" world of New York's Central Park, she finds herself thrust back into the humans' version of New York after she breaks a fairy law and must complete several tasks in order to clear her name.

To be honest, the characters were the single most disappointing aspect of this book. They are just devastatingly dull. How is it possible that Neef is a literal mortal who was ripped from her parents and raised by fairies, surrounded by their customs, following their rules, and yet she is not in the least bit interesting?? That's actually kind of impressive, to fail so utterly at making such a character not at all relatable or engaging. Luckily, Neef wasn't travelling alone. She was accompanied by the fairy that was left in her place all those years ago, simply known as "Changeling". Changeling was, hands down, the best character in the book. She was way more interesting than Neef, very relatable, and just felt so real and believable. I also liked how, while she was completely out of her element in many instances, she was still able to contribute and help Neef on her journey. The rest of the characters were pretty meh, which was a real shame, but it can't be helped.

The worldbuilding was where the book was really able to shine. Despite the lack of an engaging protagonist, I found myself immensely enjoying their journey and the things they saw. The book does a pretty good job of giving you an idea of what these places they're visiting look like, and what the Fairies look like as well. I also liked that, while these Fairies are much more tame than some other depictions have shown, they still indicate that they are not to be trifled with, such as the Fairy that tells Neef he'll sell her a ticket to a Broadway show in exchange for one of her hands. Very dark! I love it!

I won't lie, this book was a definite disappointment, mainly because Holly black herself rated it 5 stars so I was really excited to check it out. And again, it's not bad; I did enjoy reading it for the most part. But Neef was just so... blah. 3 stars.