The Replacement

 This was interesting and dark, but I was hoping it would end up being more than that. I fully admit this has been on my TBR list for quite some time because of that cover. I really love that cover. It is totally creepy and fantastic. I also, for full disclosure, should admit that I generally don't like "faerie" stories, at least insofar as they involve actual "faeries". I have made exceptions (lots of them, probably, if I bothered to count them up), but at the very least I don't consider that to be a draw in a book. This still managed to hold my interest rather well, however. I enjoyed the romp through a very strange town, where the unexpected are considered normal to some extent and where you have faeries among the townsfolk. The atmosphere was the strong point in the book. It was strange and fantastical and still totally normal-feeling, which is hard to pull off. The background of the faeries was interesting to see explored, and the darkness of Mayhem was nifty. The plot is where things kind of started to fall apart. It wasn't terrible, but I'm not sure, in the end, that the basic idea of what the faeries were doing made any real sense. <spoiler>The rock concerts to try to gain worship of people who were already sacrificing their children to you? The fact that although apparently they are sacrificing their children to you in exchange, the town is a complete dump and nothing good seems to happen? What are they sacrificing for? Why are they bothering with this whole charade? </spoiler> It was questionable, and not helped by a main character who felt a little bit like a maiden heroine from an old gothic romance novel--he was continually fainting or feeling faint and it got a little bit old. His "love interest" was kind of a huge bitch, as well, to not mince words, and his "best friend" was a horrible slimy creep. I enjoyed the novel, in the end, primarily due to the atmosphere and to trying to figure out what was going on, but I doubt I'll read it again or pick up the sequel.