Tuesday, July 23, 2013

A review of Doll Bones by Holly Black.

I liked this book.  I thought it might have needed more emotion, a little less action, more explanation, and it would have been much better it there was an epilogue.  Overall, though, I liked it.  
            Some bits of the book were totally awesome:
            *there was a creepy doll made of a little girl's corpse
            *the main characters had to go on a creepy quest to Ohio
            *the doll could move and do things that were so creepy!
            There were also things that could have been improved.
            There could have been more explanations: Why did some people see the doll (known as the Queen) as a real person?  For instance, in the diner ("Table for four?"),  and on the bus ("I'm not talking to your blond friend!"), and at the donut place (I can't remember the quote, but what the man said was something close to, "Your blond friend looks hungry, here's a donut.")  The man on the bus could have been crazy, it wouldn't surprise me.  After all, he was talking about aliens.  Then there was the man at the donut shop.  It didn't seem like he was kidding, and if he was, he was really convincing.  What about the lady at the diner?  Did she really think the Queen was a person?  Who knows and, without the author explaining, we will never know.  
            There was maybe too much action.  I know that the main character was a boy, and in boy books there tends to be more action than emotion, but with two-thirds of the main characters being girls, it would have better with more emotion. 
            It wasn't exactly clear who was the main character.  I think it was Zach.  Alice and Poppy were just his friends.
            The book left many questions unanswered. 
            Was it the Queen who wrecked their campsite?  (I would say yes, but I would love if there was something paranormal.)
            Were the people just pretending that they thought the doll was real?  (The guy on the bus was crazy, no question about that, but what about the other people?  The world may never know...)
            How did the Queen get into the girl's bathroom trashcan?  Did Poppy really just go to the bathroom and leave the doll there by accident?  I would hope that the doll moved, but, if she didn't wreck the campsite, I would have to say that she was left in the bathroom.
            Why did Eleanor's (the Queen's) father turn her body into a doll!?  (If he really missed her so much he should have given her a proper burial.)
            The first 160 pages went by very slowly.  The last thirty pages rushed by so fast it didn't make sense!  
            I guess I couldn't really identify with anyone.  The characters all either ran away from home, stole, or told each other's secrets like they were nothing!  I found all of these traits to be out of character for me so much that I couldn't really relate to people who acted that way.
            I liked the book.  It wasn't the creepiest horror novel I've ever read, but it wasn't the worst.

             Three and a half stars.  Four if there's a sequel with all the secrets revealed. 

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