Reviews

• Bon était en général

  En bonne condition en général, mais la page d’introduction est dommagee.

• I read this in highschool and again and an adult

  This book is great, I have read it a few times. I also found out that they made a movie so I will be watching that as well. As for the book itself, I love it as much now as I did then. The characters have their struggles but are still willing to help each other out.

• Growing up it's like magic

  The first time I read it I was a teenager and I loved it. Laura it's easy to respect, young me could relate with her. A few years later I re-read it again, because sometimes a well loved book is what you really need. And I saw Laura like a younger sister, I better understood her. Now I'm older and finally I can read in English the books I loved translated when my language skills weren't enough. And I love it all the same and quite a bit more. I'm not more a teenager, I'm a mother myself, I read the book with adult eyes, but all the same the strength of Laura's love for his brother, the determination to save him, the need to change, to grew up, to became what is needed hold my respect. And I grew up with her. I really suggest to give this book to your teenagers daughters!

• Better than the movie.

  Saw the movie adapted from the book first on Netflix, so I had to read the book. It was written ages ago. (I'd need to google how long specifically is ages but I can't be bothered) but going by the prose it's definitely ages, as in yonks. Still happily enjoyed the book just as much as the movie. If you liked Twilight and any other cringe teen paranormal you'll like this book. It's only much better written than its counter parts probably because it was written yonks ago.

• Changeover from boring modern stuff to numinous old-style writing!

  I almost don't know where to start. Margaret Mahy came to my attention recently after her passing from this world. She comes from New Zealand, and her books have a special flavor because of it. Her details and diction are not like an American's, and it's charming stuff, like the work of Roald Dahl or Kerry Greenwood. Be patient with the opening of this book. I confess that I felt like skimming a bit at the beginning, when Laura Chant wakes up and first gets the "warning" message about trouble on its way, and they're just going through the motions of getting ready for school and work. But you need to know all this setup stuff. Books used to open more slowly this way. I promise you it's going to be worthwhile. The plot (spoiler alert?) concerns Laura's "changeover" to being a witch. Her three-year-old little brother is attacked by a psychic vampire (they don't call him that--but that's the idea) and is being slowly drained of his life-force, and the boy at school who has always seemed odd to her turns out to be a witch--along with his mother and grandmother--and they tell Laura that the only way to rescue the boy is to become a witch herself and remove the drain and in fact send the vampirish spirit back to the netherworld. At the same time, she's dealing with her mother's new romance (very sudden) and her own attraction to the odd boy, Sorry, who is also falling in love with her--as much as he can, anyway, as damaged and unreal as he is. This decision is not made lightly, for it can kill you to fail at the changeover, and once done, it's done: there's no going back. I enjoyed the book in a way I haven't enjoyed a fantasy since Madeleine L'Engle's WRINKLE IN TIME and the Narnia books and Tolkien when I first encountered them. It will renew your faith in finding good young adult fantasy novels that don't have explicit sex or gore/violence in them, and yet are numinous with the ethereal fairy-land stuff seldom seen in modern writing. Unfortunately, you'll have to find it used from an Amazon independent seller, because it's OOP and there's no Kindle edition. I ordered an Australian edition and got to curl up under a tree with a real paper book. Nothing like it! If you like these sorts of stories (Enid Blyton, The Railway Children, Roald Dahl, and so forth), you'll enjoy The Changeover.

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