Audiobook Review – The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 11 hours and 53 minutes (336 pages)
Publisher: Recorded Books
Release Date: May 24, 2006
ASIN: B000FUG5P4
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 2/5 stars

I have had this book for a while to read and was excited to finally get to listen to it. I listened to this on audiobook, I pretty much finish every audiobook I get because I am driving anyway while I listen to them. This is one I almost didn’t finish as an audiobook. It was boring and pointless.

As mentioned above I listened to this on audiobook. The audiobook was well done; there are two different narrators…one for each character. They both do a decent job of narrating. It wasn’t fantastic but it was decent.

The book is about a boy named Henry Day who is stolen by changelings. He ends up being called Aniday by the other changelings and ekes out a living with them; an endless existence that is a struggle for survival. Meanwhile the changeling that takes his place takes on the name of Henry Day and takes over Henry’s life.

The book basically alternates between Aniday’s struggle to survive both an eternal existence as a child and everyday life. Meanwhile the new Henry Day is struggling to fit in and also struggling with his guilt over having taken over Henry Day’s life.

Mostly the story is just boring; like put me to sleep while driving boring. This is just a story about these two characters living their lives. The characters are not likable or even all that interesting. The most interesting part to the story is the new Henry Day’s search for information about his family before he became a changeling.

All of the characters are angsty and discontent throughout, mostly causing trouble and bringing down the characters around them. I just didn’t enjoy it.

This is supposed to be based on a Yeats poem about changelings and I wish we had seen more of the mythology around changelings rather than all this day to day life drama. This book reads more like a soap opera in which the two main characters happen to be changelings than anything.

Overall I didn’t enjoy the book and don’t recommend it. I am not sure what all the hype around this book is about; I personally would skip it.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– 2015 Audiobook Challenge