William Ritter

“Funny, exciting, and ultimately epic. Wow. I can’t wait for the next one.” —Adam Gidwitz, author of the New York Times bestseller A Tale Dark and Grimm “Set in a magical world filled with incredible creatures from folklore, this fast-paced fantasy will keep readers turning the pages . . . A captivating series opener.” —Booklist, starred 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 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. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already perfectly mimicked the human child. Too perfectly: Kull cannot tell them apart, so 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. When they are thirteen years old, a mysterious message arrives, calling the brothers to be heroes and protectors of magic. The boys must leave their sleepy town and risk their lives in the Wild Wood, journeying through the Deep Dark to reach the goblin horde and uncover who they truly are. In this first book in a new fantasy-adventure series, the New York Times bestselling author of Jackaby takes readers on a journey of monsters, magic, and discovery.

The Oddmire, Book 1: Changeling

Ryan LaFerney

A wonderful middle grade fantasy book about goblins, fae, and the love of a mother! Highly enjoyable and rewarding.

Christian Huss

Candyce Kirk

When I picked up Changeling, I went in knowing very little. I read the synopsis awhile ago and that was it. I'm so happy I decided to read this book. It has everything I look for in a book and even more. The writing is amazing and brings you into a really magical world. The pacing kept me on the edge of my seat and the book included some really cute illustrations!

Let's start off by talking about the setting. Tinn and Cole are off on adventures into The Oddmire. The woods are dark and creepy. Also, these woods are filled with things you don't want to run into. This setting was amazing and I loved how everything was described. I know if I was still in the age group for this book, I would've thought it was scary. I think younger and more vulnerable children in this age group could think this is a bit too scary. All in all, this would be the perfect read for the darker months and around Halloween. Even though I would read it anytime of year!

Now let's continue to talk about the plot. It starts with Kull, a goblin, trying to switch the changeling with a human baby. This doesn't go quite according to plan and he has to leave before taking the human child with him. Thirteen years later, if the changeling doesn't come to the forest, all magic will be lost. This leads our main characters to an adventure in the dark forest. I won't give away too many details, but they go on an adventure with little twists and turns. 

And we can't forget about the characters and the important message this book brings! Tinn and Cole are typical twin brothers. They go on great adventures together and love each other unconditionally. Both of them don't care who the goblin is, but they just want each other to be safe. It was fun seeing them get into trouble little kids get into when playing outside. Also, I have to say how amazing it was to have the mother, Annie, be such a big part of the story. So many fantasy books have parents that are either horrible or aren't alive, but Annie was everything. It was so nice to see a mother play such a big part in their sons' adventure and how loyal they are. We also have some side characters that we meet in the forest. My favorite being Fable. She was so much fun to read about. I loved her free spirit.

As I said before, Changeling also has an important message in the story line as well. Family isn't always blood and a mother's love is unconditional. Annie loved both of these boys with all her heart and she didn't care for one minute that one of them wasn't "hers". Families have all different shapes and sizes and I loved seeing a strong mother figure in a middle grade book. When I finished this book I had a smile on my face and can't wait to read the sequel!

Emily

** spoiler alert **
           Thank you so much to Alonquin Young Readers for providing me with an ARC of this for review as part of the blog tour! 

I think that this is a perfectly good book for a middle-grade reader. Was I particularly blown away by it? No, I can't say that I was. However, that does not mean that there weren't any aspects that I particularly appreciated. 

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, the goblin Kull is briefly distracted from his task of laying the
changeling in a human infant’s crib. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already
perfectly mimicked the human child. Not knowing which to return to the goblin horde, 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. When 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 to discover who they truly are. 

I loved Ritter's discussion of identity throughout this novel. Both Cole and Tinn struggle with their own identity and what potentially being part goblin could mean for them. I found this to be particularly applicable to children split between two cultures in today's world. I could see many kids relating to the feelings of Cole and Tinn as they try to fit in to the many identities that they believe they must embody. 

His whole life, he had only ever been a reflection of his brother. Tinn's stomach turned. He had no idea who he really was.

The bond between brothers was also something I really enjoyed in this story. They stood by each other through thick and thin no matter which one of them wasn't fully human. They always considered themselves fully brothers. 

To add on to this, Annie Burton, their mother, was my absolute favorite character. She never once doubted the legitimacy of either of her sons, even though she knew one of them wasn't biologically hers, or even fully human. She also never gave up on finding either of them, and really gave off some strong Joyce Byers vibes. 

"Stop it," Annie said. Her jaw set and she drew a long, determined breath. "You're all talking as if my son is gone, but he's not! He's in there! He is right in front of us!" She jabbed her finger at the bramble. "Tinn is alive in there somewhere, and he needs me, and I am not leaving this forest without him!"

She was an incredibly strong single mother, and so was the so-called 'Queen of the Deep Dark.' I loved the underlying connection between them as they both dealt with the abandonment of their husbands. 

Besides these two characters, I felt like the others could have been fleshed out a bit more. The only things I really knew about them were that Cole is the troublemaker and outgoing, while Tinn has always wanted to be more brave. I never felt very connected to the boys in this story, which is unfortunate considering they are the protagonists. I understand that it is a middle-grade book, and that they usually don't require a huge amount of character-building, but I do feel like it was missing a little something. 

To sum everything up, I thought this story was charming, and a good pick for a typical middle-schooler, but I don't think it was anything groundbreaking.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: The Oddmire Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Publication Date: July 16, 2019

Genre: MG Fantasy

Recommended Age: 12+ (slight scary moments)

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

Pages: 272

Amazon Link

Synopsis: 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.

Review: I thought this was an absolutely cute and amazing book. It’s wonderfully targeted towards kids! It’s got a dark side but I don’t think it would be too scary for the young ones. The characters were strong, I loved the commentary on non traditional families and how differences don’t make you less loved. I also thought the pacing was amazing as well.

However, I did think that the book was a tad predictable, but I’m almost 30 years old and I have a great track record of predicting endings. 

Verdict: If you have a young one or like young books definitely get this one!

Lottie oliver

Welcome to the Blog Tour for William Ritter!     When I hear that William Ritter was writing a middle grade book I didn't quite understand how it would work. As silly as it sounds, I'm still not quite sure how it works... But it does.     I don't know where this is going to go in the long run but I am there. I am going to be reading this series where ever it takes me.     Let's start with the synopsis:      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.      Let's start with the cons as that's a small list, literally like one. It's dark... I know William Ritter writes dark YA, Young Adult, but I didn't think that this would be so dark as its a middle grade. When I was growing up the darkest children's book/series was the Goosebumps.     As a child these were chilling. The storylines were simple enough and sometimes that's all it needs. A simple idea to get stuck in the child's mind. Oddmire was not chilling. It was dark, as in the way that some things are described. There is the talk of the Twins crawling over the bones of the victims of The Thing. You also have the way that The Thing talks to one of the twins.     Other than this... That is it. That is my list of cons. I think that the book is aimed at the older of the middle grade group, even to the age of the younger Young Adult. It is almost as if William Ritter is getting children ready for the world of YA before they even know it.     What can I say. This is a breath of fresh air as well as the vines that cause you to hold your breath. The characters, though are young, are very relatable as we have all been children. We all know the games that we played where your imagination would go beyond the believable. This is what reading is about.     Reading is finding your childhood again. It's exploring that unknown part of the forest that no-one steps foot in or climbing to the tip of the mountain. And that is what is so easy about this book. There is the sense of unknown throughout the whole story as you don't know which twin is the changeling, they both think they are, but all the way through right to the end, the only one who knows which twin the changeling is, is William Ritter.     I love the innocents of the language, the feelings. It's simple. After all things are simple to a child. Don't get me wrong, this book is not simple once you peel back the thorns, theoretically speaking.     For older readers that may be reading this, for them self or even to or with their child. Things will feel rather familiar. Through most of the first few chapters I kept getting the feeling that at some point Gandalf was going to come riding through the village on his cart, ready to sweep the twins off onto an adventure with the hobbits.     The way that the village is described reminds me of the shire and the Hobbits that live there. The people that live in Endsborough almost follow the same mentality as the Hobbits, keeping to themselves and not worrying about the world around them.     I just think that this has given the Middle Grade the boost it needed. This is a book I would be more that thrilled to recommend, and may already have. If your child wants some old folk tales without the Grimm's view, this is a brilliant alternative to get them started in the fantasy genre. A series to keep an eye on.     I would like to thank Algonquin Young Readers for providing me with a digital copy of this book through NetGalley. This was a brilliant eye opener.     A book that is innocent as well as dark. As wise as it is thrilling. Middle Grade just got a whole lot more interesting.      As far as star ratings go... no doubt. 5 stars.

Story Eater

“Funny, exciting, and ultimately epic. Wow. I can’t wait for the next one.” —Adam Gidwitz, author of the New York Times bestseller A Tale Dark and Grimm “Set in a magical world filled with incredible creatures from folklore, this fast-paced fantasy will keep readers turning the pages . . . A captivating series opener.” —Booklist, starred 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 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. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already perfectly mimicked the human child. Too perfectly: Kull cannot tell them apart, so 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. When they are thirteen years old, a mysterious message arrives, calling the brothers to be heroes and protectors of magic. The boys must leave their sleepy town and risk their lives in the Wild Wood, journeying through the Deep Dark to reach the goblin horde and uncover who they truly are. In this first book in a new fantasy-adventure series, New York Times bestselling author William Ritter takes readers on a journey of monsters, magic, and discovery.

The Oddmire, Book 1: Changeling

Reviews