--- title: The Changeling: 100 Best Fantasy Books description: Find out why The Changeling by Victor LaValle is on TIME's list of the best fantasy books of all time canonical: https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898512/the-changeling/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-14T21:14:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:43:27.981Z og:title: 'The Changeling' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books og:description: Here’s why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898512/the-changeling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5de8592685da7f/698a132e0116825d8597fec4/The-Changeling-Victor-LaVelle-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'The Changeling' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Changeling' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books twitter:description: Here’s why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5de8592685da7f/698a132e0116825d8597fec4/The-Changeling-Victor-LaVelle-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 14, 2020 # The Changeling by Victor LaValle by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  Over his two-decade career, Victor LaValle has excelled in writing stories that meld modern realities with fantastical elements. _The Changeling_, published in 2017 and set in present-day New York City, exemplifies his unique approach. It follows Apollo, a new father who deals with racial profiling and professional tedium. But after Apollo’s wife viciously attacks him and their baby boy and disappears, the city turns into a whirlwind of demon giants and glowing witches—and Apollo must prove himself in a series of Olympian challenges. There are few authors who could convincingly render both New York subway showtime dancers and glowing witches, much less fold them into the same story, but LaValle does so with seamless grace in his update on the classic changeling myth. **Buy Now:** _The Changeling_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780812985870 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/33HUiuU "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898512/the-changeling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898512/the-changeling/"},"headline":"'The Changeling' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books","datePublished":"2020-10-14T21:14:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:43:27.981Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898512/the-changeling/","keywords":["Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5de8592685da7f/698a132e0116825d8597fec4/The-Changeling-Victor-LaVelle-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5de8592685da7f/698a132e0116825d8597fec4/The-Changeling-Victor-LaVelle-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898512/the-changeling/","name":"'The Changeling' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books"}}]}] ```