Take a photo of a barcode or cover
michellesbogsnak 's review for:
Doll Bones
by Holly Black
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I don’t really feel like it’s a ghost story or at the very least the ghost part of the story plays a very minor role compared to the issue of growing up. For the most part I was enjoying myself reading this story, I liked the concept of not wanting to grow up – in some ways it reminded me of Peter Pan syndrome, but in a good way. I liked how Zach was unwilling, or partly just too naïve, to realize that he was growing up and that things were changing around him.
It’s a story set in that difficult time in your life when you’re too old to be a child any longer but still not old enough to be considered a real grown-up and this causes some problems in your life. I think this transition is captured perfectly in the quest Holly Black has created for this little trio of friends, all of whom have different reasons for wanting to go on this quest.
The only thing missing from this story is some more ghost-ness. The creepy China-porcelain doll makes for a good diversion for the three friends, and the original cause for their quest, but as the quest continues, although they want to do it because of the doll, it slowly gets pushed to the background for other reasons driving these not-so-children any longer to actually want to carry on and finish the quest. Due to the fact that it looked and sounded much spookier when I first decided to put this on my to-read list this was the only thing I felt lacking when I read it.
The language is easy and there are no kinks along the way to make you stop and wonder what the author had in mind with a particular sentence. At least there seems to be few things hidden in the language, and I would say that is quite suitable for a book with the target age this one would have, which I would assume to be something around 10-13/14 maybe.
Overall it was a nice read and I would recommend it to others who are interested in stories that could make them think of Peter Pan and then face reality and the time it will take to grow up.
It’s a story set in that difficult time in your life when you’re too old to be a child any longer but still not old enough to be considered a real grown-up and this causes some problems in your life. I think this transition is captured perfectly in the quest Holly Black has created for this little trio of friends, all of whom have different reasons for wanting to go on this quest.
The only thing missing from this story is some more ghost-ness. The creepy China-porcelain doll makes for a good diversion for the three friends, and the original cause for their quest, but as the quest continues, although they want to do it because of the doll, it slowly gets pushed to the background for other reasons driving these not-so-children any longer to actually want to carry on and finish the quest. Due to the fact that it looked and sounded much spookier when I first decided to put this on my to-read list this was the only thing I felt lacking when I read it.
The language is easy and there are no kinks along the way to make you stop and wonder what the author had in mind with a particular sentence. At least there seems to be few things hidden in the language, and I would say that is quite suitable for a book with the target age this one would have, which I would assume to be something around 10-13/14 maybe.
Overall it was a nice read and I would recommend it to others who are interested in stories that could make them think of Peter Pan and then face reality and the time it will take to grow up.