Why is it called "Changeling" Sisters? Urban Fantasy Series title explained

 

*Warning, spoilers for the series*

 

The Changeling Sisters Series is an urban fantasy series that explores themes of family, multiculturalism, and spiritual balance. To escape tragedy, the Alvarez family moves to Seoul, South Korea, where they get caught up in a supernatural war between the shapeshifting Were Nation and the power-hungry Vampyre Court over control of the spirit world of Eve.

“Changeling” originated from European folklore. They were believed to be the offspring of magical folk such as elves or fairies and left in the place of human babies. The Changeling resembled the missing child through sorcery and was shunned when their behavior grew increasingly “demonic.” It was a disruptive force in the perceived “true” family. “This babe is a fake!” the mother wails. “Where has my real child gone?”

I felt the word fit the series well in the sense that feeling like a “Changeling” means negotiating one’s sense of belonging in the world. What happens when you aren’t the person your family hoped you would be? What happens when you feel that way about yourself?

The Changeling Sisters Series follows Citlalli and her younger half-sister Raina. Raina is the child of an affair between Citlalli’s mother and a mystery Korean man. The secret was not discovered until Raina’s birth, when her Asian descent became apparent. In Year of the Wolf (Book I) Raina is the object of whispers in school halls and even outright hostility from her older brother. She feels a stranger among her Chicana siblings, who innocently or knowingly use her background to gain sympathy from the public at large. Upon moving to Seoul, Raina has the looks to fit in but can’t because of her lack of knowledge about the language or culture. Feeling unwanted and rejected, Raina is overtly sensitive to the attentions of others, and ultimately feels this subservience made her prey to the Vampyre Court, who call her the “Changeling” Soul. Raina struggles with which heritage she belongs to—Alvarez, Mejía, Yong—but as the White Tiger tells her in Year of the Dragon (Book III), most only know one world in a lifetime. She can know three.

Meanwhile, Citlalli involuntarily joins the Were Nation after suffering a werewolf bite in defense of a homeless man who is later revealed to be a spy for the Vampyre Court. As the beast awakens within, she doesn’t recognize who she is becoming. In Year of the Tiger (Book II), something else awakes inside her. Its terrible power forces a realization that the beast was her all along. Citlalli must claim her failures as well as her successes to find herself, but as she asks in Year of the Rat (Book IV), how can she trust herself again when she knows she is capable of great failure?

In Year of the Dragon, we meet the other half of Raina’s heritage: the dragon-shapeshifter Yong clan, responsible for maintaining seasonal balance. Similarly, there is a perceived “perfect, true” child among the three Yong siblings—Sun Bin, Ankor, and Heesu—although everyone has a different opinion about who that is.  

The eldest, Sun Bin, feels like a disappointment to her father for liking the “wrong” gender and wonders if she should have been born a boy to match her twin brother. She recognizes that she is her father’s child but feels as rejected by her father as she does her mother—Sun thinks her interests (fine jewelry, designer clothes, flaunting her social power over others) are disappointing to her mother.  In Year of the Rat, Sun reminisces that she and her twin brother Ankor may as well have been “Changelings” as far as their mother was concerned—Umma never saw herself in them as she did Heesu. Meanwhile, their father views Heesu’s gentle personality and disinterest in material wealth as weak, and not fitting for a Celestial Dragon.

The final connection is the story behind the mysterious “Changeling” Soul that led the Dark Spirits to pursue the Alvarez family for so many years. I look forward to unveiling the mystery in the upcoming final installments of the Changeling Sisters Series, Year of the Snake (Book V) and Year of the Crow (Book VI).

The Changeling Sisters Series is available on major online retailers and in paperback on Amazon.com.