The Changeling Book Review
The Changeling is a 2017 fantasy horror novel by Victor LaValle. It was published by Spiegel & Grau on 13 June 2017. The novel was adapted into a TV series that premiered on Apple+ on 8 September 2023.
The premise of the book follows Apollo Kagwa and his wife Emma Valentine settling into their cosy life of parenthood. What seems like post-partum depression takes a sinister turn as their world turns into a dark and twisted fairy tale filled with mystery, myth, love, loss and madness.
The Good
I read this book after watching Season 1 of The Changeling which raised more questions than it gave answers… and post reading the book I now understand the series better and how it was surprisingly on the nose with the plot – the series had a more of a show don’t tell thing going on which didn’t adequately give the viewer enough to figure out what was happening.
One of the main reasons I picked up the book was a profound curiosity to know what Emma Valentine’s third wish.. I had my suspicions but I wanted it spelt out… well, I got my answer.
At its core it’s a story about parenting – how parents usually try to better at, well, parenting than their parents before them and the extent a parent is willing to go through for their child.
"...New Dads fix all the mistakes the Old Dads made. New Dads are the future, or at least they plan to be, but since they’re making all this shit up as they go along, New Dads are also scared as hell"
- The Changeling
The Changeling is a fairy tale about love – Apollo and Emma’s love story which starts from a chance encounter in a library, she a librarian and him a rare book collector that seems almost fated, when you retrace their back stories to see how they ended up in the positions they are…. Serendipity.
"Parenthood is a story two people start telling together"
- The Changeling
Having watched season 1 of the TV Series adaptation which ends at about roughly halfway through the book I thought I knew what to expect – but the book had a way of weaving the story in unexpected ways that you could only but keep going to see where it would lead.
The book is a modern day fairy tale, which makes a couple of not so metaphorical references to how technology is dark force that can invite evil into our lives.
The Bad
There is some vagueness to the storytelling, that can leave you frustrated, you will go through the book not entirely sure whats what – the reality is blurred and you are not sure if characters are simply projecting from their childhood trauma and abandonment issues or post-partum depression or there is more to it…
And on the post-partum depression, as a partner Apollo seems to handle that rather terribly, when Emma expresses some of her concerns he tells her to simply take a pill, and when he thinks she is acting unhinged he locks her outside – at some point you actually resent his character and the way he is always two steps behind reacting rather being proactive.
The Ugly
The book takes us back to the origins of fairytales, when they weren’t all sunshine and happy ever after stories meant for kids – Fairy tales were dark creations, deceptively sweet fantasies turning into nightmares.
There is some implied violence in the book central to the plot but disturbing none the less, I am not a parent but I was still triggered, so I can imagine some parents would have a visceral reaction to violence on kids implied or not.
Final Thoughts
The book is a bit of changeling itself – its not exactly one thing, it’s a fantasy, horror, mystery, thriller, romance, folktale – on one side it’s a story about two parents facing challenges reaching a boiling point to become a trip into the world of folktales and myths.
Have you read The Changeling or watched the series?
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?