Immerse In The Changeling Detective Produced By Phillip Berrie Accessible As Hardcover
has the unique ability to change the shape of his face and the sound of his voice to mimic anyone he chooses, Having hooked up with a barmaid called Ruth, they team up to find a dirty cop by the name of Brown, who murdered her father, In the meantime, a crime boss by the name of Newman, who is also a changeling, tries to kill him, but then claims to be Johns father, It turns out that both John and Newman can heal even from gunshot wounds, but are they immortal
The changeling detective is fast paced and full of action and drama.
I was however disappointed, because I was expecting a crime story and instead got an urban fantasy, With his “always frightened” sissy behaviour, I found it difficult to like John and, Ruth was little better, The firstperson style of writing also took some getting used to, Overall, I found the plot disappointing as it lacked twists and purpose and relied too much on action and drama, which got tedious, Having said this, if you like urban fantasy, this book is well worth a read, Despite a few mentioned issues the book is a page turner, I would definitely read any further books in this series,
For a private detective, being able to change your face is a distinct advantage, The Changeling Detective thought he was unique, a mutant of sorts, like those he had read about in comics when he was younger, However, when he becomes the focus of a vilesmelling crime boss with similar abilities and meets a genuine witch, the Changeling Detective has his whole world turned upside down.
An urban fantasy/detective noir story in an Australian setting with elements of crime, horror, witchcraft and deeptime science fiction,
What would you do if you could change your features to be anyone you wanted What would you do if you discovered you weren't the only one who could do this Who would you trust
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So what is it that would make a facechanger possible Phillip handles that wonderfully giving his main character an ability that is far from perfect, Limits and consequences is something surprisingly lacking in a lot of stories where special abilities are the perfect solution to whatever the problem is, but they never present their own range of problems.
People are the same way, When confusing emergencies are thrown in our laps, we make wrong decisions all the time, Never does a person work it all out as if the script were written in advance, Read this book. Real people walk, or sometimes run, through its pages, Follow them as they struggle to figure it all out, And above all learn what it takes to make a facechanger possible, And is that all that's possible You'll find out, Me, I want to know if they get the dirty cop, but I guess I'll have to wait for the next book to find out, The Changeling Detective by Phillip Berrie is a short novel about a private investigator who can change his appearance shocking revelation based on the title, I know, It was first selfpublished inand has recently been picked up by Hotspur Publishing, The latter edition is the one I read,
Above all, I would call this an actionpacked read, There is a mystery element to it, of course, but it ends up focussing mostly on the origins of the detective rather than on an unrelated crime as it first looks like it might.
For that reason, I'd be inclined to label it more urban fantasy than crime, although I imagine sequels might swing in the other direction, For lack of a better descriptor, I'll refer to the detective as John for the rest of this review not his real name but one of the aliases he was using.
John is very much the only central character in this story, There are other characters present in the narrative, of course, but they all play second fiddle, Ruth, the love interest/sidekick is a fun character and provided a I hesitate to say normal nonshapeshifter perspective, There wasn't that much room with everything else going on for a lot of time spent dwelling on their relationship but the building blocks were certainly there, There is quite a bit of potential for sequels to develop it further,
The bad guy, Newman, was adequately dangerous and somewhat confusing, in a good way, A reasonable part of the story focussed on John trying to work
out why Newman was trying to kill him, Let's just say it wasn't the reason he originally thought, And I liked that the answers left some back story to explore in sequels which are hopefully forthcoming,
All in all, The Changeling Detective was a fun read, It's more or less what it says in the title, I recommend it to urban fantasy fans after a quick read, particularly one with a lot of action, Oh, and I should mention it's set in Canberra, which may be a selling point for those sick of New York and other American cities or is that just me.
/stars
Source: courtesy of the author
Disclaimer: Although the author is a friend, I have attempted to write an unbiased review,
You can read more of my reviews on sitelinkmy blog, The Changeling Detective is a solid mix of noir and fantasy, and contains plenty of tension and mystery as well,
Primarily an origin story, it delves into the darker aspects of the main character's ability to change his appearance, and as such offers a refreshing take on the genre.
Most of the answers give rise to more questions with each revelation shaking the protagonist's understanding of the world to the point where he's forced to question his very existence.
The characters are solid and believable, and there's plenty to keep you guessing, A few things have been left unexplained, but I suspect those questions will be answered in further instalments,
Overall, an easy read and very enjoyable, The Changeling Detective follows Australian private detective John Adams, who from a young age has been able to physically mould his appearance to change his face, voice and overall appearance.
John considers himself a mutant, after the comics he read as a child, but when a standard catchacheatinghusband goes awry John learns he may not be the only mutant out there and this his origins may not be what hed expected.
Phillip Barrie does a fantastic job of slowly building normalseeming Sydney and Canberra locations into an urban fantasy world, The slow pace the fantasy elements are revealed at works incredibly well for the story and for the protagonist characters so we learn at their pace and only as discoveries and information searches become relevant.
It also blends quite well with the noir elements, . . though at times I was left feeling the author was a little TOO in love with the noir genre, to the detriment of other elements, For example, the protagonist and his sidekick the spunky Ruth, who is marvellous both come across as a decade or two older than they actually are due to a strong obsession with noir movies, culture and actors that date them beyond their actual ages.
The author hasnt quite managed to separate his own interests and voice from the main characters who should realistically have a more distinct voice and interests due to a generation difference.
And yes, its noir written by a man so expect some cliches to show up no matter how proactive and awesome the female lead is, Shes still very much a sidekick to Johns hero, falls into bed with him very quickly, and
Johns religious beliefs also feel very tacked on, They really only come up when plot reasons need an excuse for him not to believe certain things, But it contradicts his basic lifestyle to suddenly be a devout Catholic, so it came off as quite odd,
All that being said, the plot is fast and tight, The action leads from one event to another, with only a very minor coincidence or two to prod things along oh, and some minor transphobia or at least rather intolerant views/descriptions for a very small period.
The climax and all the new revelations are great, and set up the protagonists for a sequel or longer series, with hints of much bigger opponents behind the villain of this novel.
Rating:,stars, rounded down as I always do to, Great worldbuilding and tight pacing, cant quite escape outdated voice and noir cliches, A good read, but not great or groundbreaking, and I dont know if Id pick up a sequel or not, Having read some of Phillip Berrie's work in short story anthologies, I thought I'd give this one a go, I'm glad I did. The Changeling Detective is nonstop action, which kept me guessing, It's rare to read a book where I can't see the ending coming from a mile away, but I had no idea with this one, It twists and turns with dizzying speed and a great sense of humour,
The protagonist is someone with which the reader can easily identify, as he struggled to discover who and what he really is, As the title suggests, he's a shapeshifter, but his origins are unknown to him, As the book progresses, he and the reader uncover more clues to his past, although what he finds is a strange world of magic and demons,
Love, lust, violence and Humphrey Bogart, the Changeling Detective has all of it, Most surprising of all, Phillip manages to do what no one else has managed to do, he makes Canberra sound exciting!
The downside it's the first book in a series, so the reader is left with a suspenseful ending and the desire for more! This book came with a book box subscription I signed up for.
It's so refreshing reading speculative fiction in an Australian setting, Cool premise likeable, relatable lead character warm sort of central romance that doesn't make you cringe or impose on the plot hoping there's more as everything took off at the end and left a lot loose for a sequel to be woven from.
I really enjoyed this. The Changeling Detective by Phillip Berrie is about the unwanted case of a private detective, Whilst involved in another investigation our changeling John Adams, part of AAA Detective Agency finds himself having bothered a crime boss,
The main character is a changeling who works as a private detective, as I'm sure you'll have worked out from the title, He was orphaned at a young age and, until now he's never really had much of an idea as to how he's obtained these special powers, Within this novel, he primarily uses the name John Adams, However, he rotates through a variety of others names, depending on who he meets and talks to, I think that the author has thought that portion through well, in connection with the changeling aspect the character has taken some very intelligent precautions to set up multiple identities and back up possibilities for his business not just for his safety, but for any potential outcomes or failings.
We meet Ruth Williams, an assistant manager who serves him a drink, It turns out that she's fairly important to the plot later and has an unwanted connection to one of the police officers involved, I think that she's a pretty good character, She does her best to help John, I appreciate that she's fairly calm and understanding when he reveals his secret to her, I find her to be very likeable and her motives within the book are fairly straightforward, Stephen Newman, plus his goon Bruno, are both great characters! Newman has made some understandable decisions for his criminal empire and, later on, I enjoy the portions of his identity and past that are revealed to us.
I thoroughly enjoyed Bruno's loyalty and the effort he was willing to put in for his boss, For the characters, I think that there were plenty of good interactions between them, Though, there was also some information left out, which leaves us with a bit of curiosity about what happens next,
For those who don't know, Canberra is the capital of Australia, and a great location for The Changeling Detective, Much of the events occur within the inner city areas and I appreciate the nods towards local hotspots that tourists might want to visit, Another part that I really like is that it takes reference from old private investigator media such as the character of Sam Spade, played by Humphrey Bogart, That, and some pretty stylised writing, gives it the touches of a classic PI novel, The main plot had a lot of strong points and had a good structure about the main events, Right from the beginning, with Newman's misunderstanding, up until the end was all fairly understandable and everyone has their part to play, In some portions, it felt kind of weird, For example, after John got shot, I felt it to be kind of strange that he healed so easily, but that was later explained and I think most of the weird portions only seemed that way because I didn't have all the information yet.
I kind of wish that there were more portions surrounding the investigation of the death of Ruth's father, though I can understand why much of that was left out I assume that it's being left for a future book, assuming there's going to be another in the series.
Though, I still think that there was more to tell in this book there are unanswered questions I have about it, The same with much of the changeling aspects, We got some fairly good information regarding his abilities and I think that the author has got a good basis so far, but I am definitely curious to know more about the condition.
Though, having said that, a lot of the questions I had whilst reading the book were answered later on in other portions, I felt that the supernatural and fantastical aspects of the plot were fairly well dealt with, especially considering that it wasn't just one person with a set of magical abilities.
I like that Ruth also has some unexplained powers to deal with, I like to think that there are reasonable amounts of other people in the city and world that have some sort of supernatural abilities, I think the changeling portions are done well, The author has obviously put time and thought into what the character needs in order to change reasonably large space, mirrors, etc, Not to mention how these changes affect the character's life, Cleverly, the character uses things such as reversible clothing, I appreciate that the changing isn't exactly easy for him and that it takes time and a bit of effort to do, It's nice to know that it's not as simple as it could be in the magical world of fiction writing,
Overall, I think the thing that helps the story most is that the story is set up in an intelligent manner the characters make some very smart decisions.
The characters are fairly likeable and I'm left curious as to what happens to all of them in the future, I liked the supernatural parts and felt that they were completely intertwined with the story, an important aspect to the book, After reading it, I'm very happy with the way it turned out and I'm hoping that the author ends up writing another, It's definitely worth a read,
I was lucky enough to win a hard copy of this book from a First Reads giveaway, here on Goodreads, I began reading it the very same day though unfortunately, due to health problems, I was unable to finish it until now, .