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A review by sue_loves_to_read
The Thief On the Winged Horse by Kate Mascarenhas
2.0
The Kendrick family have been making world-famous dolls since the early 1800s. But their dolls aren't coveted for the craftmanship alone. Each one has a specific emotion laid on it by its creator. A magic that can make you feel bucolic bliss or consuming paranoia at a single touch. Though founded by sisters, now only men may know the secrets of the workshop.
Persephone Kendrick longs to break tradition and learn the family craft, and when a handsome stranger arrives claiming doll-making talent and a blood tie to the Kendricks, she sees a chance to grasp all she desires.
But then, one night, the family's most valuable doll is stolen. Only someone with knowledge of magic could have taken her. Only a Kendrick could have committed this crime...
My feeling is that this is a book which couldn't decide what it wanted to be. The characters' language implied an historical setting but then there there were jarring issues of a mobile phone being checked or modern money being exchanged which reminded me that in fact it was set in the current time. The story seemed to hop about all over the place, is it supposed to be a crime novel, a magical novel or feminist fiction? It tried to be all three and failed to achieve satisfaction in any!
Persephone Kendrick longs to break tradition and learn the family craft, and when a handsome stranger arrives claiming doll-making talent and a blood tie to the Kendricks, she sees a chance to grasp all she desires.
But then, one night, the family's most valuable doll is stolen. Only someone with knowledge of magic could have taken her. Only a Kendrick could have committed this crime...
My feeling is that this is a book which couldn't decide what it wanted to be. The characters' language implied an historical setting but then there there were jarring issues of a mobile phone being checked or modern money being exchanged which reminded me that in fact it was set in the current time. The story seemed to hop about all over the place, is it supposed to be a crime novel, a magical novel or feminist fiction? It tried to be all three and failed to achieve satisfaction in any!