Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by marthmuffins
The Dollmakers by Lynn Buchanan
3.0
The Dollmakers - 2.5/5
So, The Dollmakers. I thought it was... fine? It was very readable, even without chapters (a decision I don't entirely understand), and the prose flowed quite well for me which meant once I got started it went by quickly, but it didn't entirely grab me tbh. I like a lot of the concepts, like the Dolls, but I don't think the book really explores the implications or ideas surrounding them.
As for the characters, I found I liked reading Ikiisa's PoVs the most, finding her characterisation to be the strongest and the one that lent itself the best towards discussions around the dolls and their place in One. I found her panic attacks and intense anxiety pretty effective, although let down by the fact that we don't really get enough of her to get a grasp on where they're coming from until the 2/3rds mark, and that she doesn't really get a resolution at the end, instead just fading into the distance as Shean leaves Web. Ah, Shean. I found her being so unaware and overconfident pretty interesting and it's bold to make your main PoV so shitty for most of the book, although even with her generally shittiness I still kind of liked her, even if I didn't entirely buy her change by the end. It largely works, but just required a little more of us seeing the "good" side of Shean leading up to her and Ikiisa finally talking. Her overall conflict was less engaging than Ikiisa's, but generally I still liked it.
As for Roque. I don't really care for the style of worldbuilding this book is going for, namely laying out the world through exposition, and that's all Roque seemed to be around for (other than to have a very perfunctory """""romance"""""" with Shean). I also dislike how possessive both Shean and Ikiisa are of him? It feels a little icky, and Shean especially kind of exoticises him in a very iffy way that I found mildly uncomfortable. I simply do not care about his quest as the ancient immortal lore spewer to break the marks and this time could've been better spent developing Shean or especially Ikiisa, or focusing more on the dolls themselves. I did like some of the world. Web is cool, I love spider-towns, the giant elk was nice, and again the general idea of the dolls is really cool and interesting, I just found that much of it was delivered with relatively flat exposition, either from Roque or someone else, and that just does not appeal to me as a reader.
Overall though, this was a decent enough read but it didn't particularly connect with me, nor do I think it'll really stick with me for long. I don't regret reading it or anything, it was definitely engaging and I enjoyed following Shean, and later Ikiisa, but it doesn't really stand out to me as anything other than a solid fine in terms of my general thoughts after finishing it.
So, The Dollmakers. I thought it was... fine? It was very readable, even without chapters (a decision I don't entirely understand), and the prose flowed quite well for me which meant once I got started it went by quickly, but it didn't entirely grab me tbh. I like a lot of the concepts, like the Dolls, but I don't think the book really explores the implications or ideas surrounding them.
Spoiler
The only time it felt like it was going even a little deeper was during the huge info dump at the end which was desperately trying to tie up some of the lingering questions about the connection between Doll and Shod, who knows what, and what they're doing about it. But the book doesn't seem interested in how alive the Dolls actually are, outside of vague moments like Silver's actions or Ikiisa being given flowers, and instead wants to focus on a lot of, quite frankly, boring stuff about the Shod, a concept I found pretty meh all round.As for the characters, I found I liked reading Ikiisa's PoVs the most, finding her characterisation to be the strongest and the one that lent itself the best towards discussions around the dolls and their place in One. I found her panic attacks and intense anxiety pretty effective, although let down by the fact that we don't really get enough of her to get a grasp on where they're coming from until the 2/3rds mark, and that she doesn't really get a resolution at the end, instead just fading into the distance as Shean leaves Web. Ah, Shean. I found her being so unaware and overconfident pretty interesting and it's bold to make your main PoV so shitty for most of the book, although even with her generally shittiness I still kind of liked her, even if I didn't entirely buy her change by the end. It largely works, but just required a little more of us seeing the "good" side of Shean leading up to her and Ikiisa finally talking. Her overall conflict was less engaging than Ikiisa's, but generally I still liked it.
As for Roque. I don't really care for the style of worldbuilding this book is going for, namely laying out the world through exposition, and that's all Roque seemed to be around for (other than to have a very perfunctory """""romance"""""" with Shean). I also dislike how possessive both Shean and Ikiisa are of him? It feels a little icky, and Shean especially kind of exoticises him in a very iffy way that I found mildly uncomfortable. I simply do not care about his quest as the ancient immortal lore spewer to break the marks and this time could've been better spent developing Shean or especially Ikiisa, or focusing more on the dolls themselves. I did like some of the world. Web is cool, I love spider-towns, the giant elk was nice, and again the general idea of the dolls is really cool and interesting, I just found that much of it was delivered with relatively flat exposition, either from Roque or someone else, and that just does not appeal to me as a reader.
Overall though, this was a decent enough read but it didn't particularly connect with me, nor do I think it'll really stick with me for long. I don't regret reading it or anything, it was definitely engaging and I enjoyed following Shean, and later Ikiisa, but it doesn't really stand out to me as anything other than a solid fine in terms of my general thoughts after finishing it.