The Oddmire book 1: Changeling by William Ritter- ARC Review

Magic is fading from the Wild Wood. To renew it, goblins must perform an ancient ritual involving the rarest of their kind—a newborn changeling. But when the fateful night arrives to trade a human baby for a goblin one, something goes terribly wrong. After laying the changeling in a human infant’s crib, the goblin Kull is briefly distracted from his task. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already perfectly mimicked the human child. Too perfectly: Kull cannot tell them apart. Not knowing which to bring back, he leaves both babies behind.

Tinn and Cole are raised as human twins, neither knowing what secrets may be buried deep inside one of them. Then when they are twelve years old, a mysterious message arrives, calling the brothers to be heroes and protectors of magic. The boys must leave behind their sleepy town of Endsborough and risk their lives in the Wild Wood, crossing the perilous Oddmire swamp and journeying through the Deep Dark to reach the goblin horde and discover who they truly are. (taken from Amazon)

                                        Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This will be available to purchase on July 16th.

After reading and loving William Ritter’s adult series, the first of which is titled Jackaby, I was desperate to get my hands on this book as soon as possible. And I am so, so glad that I was able to! It’s fantastic. There isn’t a single thing that could possibly have been improved.

I love that the main characters are twins, but each has a very distinct personality. While both boys were great characters, I have a soft spot for Tinn. His sweet, anxious nature reminds me very much of my oldest child. I also loved their mom, who goes charging in to the Oddmire after her boys, exactly as any caring mom would do.

The main characters are easy to relate to, and the storyline is wonderful. There are fantastical creatures aplenty (Hinkypunks! How cool is that?), danger around every turn, and a subtle, but sweet message about being who you are- no matter what.

I could go into all the reasons a parent or teacher should love this book: it talks about feeling like you don’t belong, conquering your fears, and that those differences are gifts.  Each twin sees good things in the other that the other hasn’t realized about himself, which is something that I think a lot of people do; they tend to think everyone else has everything figured out. I could talk about how the book doesn’t talk down to its intended age group, how it showcases the power of love.

Or I could just talk about how amazingly fun this book is! I’ll be buying a copy for my son, and I encourage every child (or child-at-heart) who enjoys a good fantasy to pick this book up.