Book Review: The Dollhouse by Charis Cotter

There were a lot of really cool elements here, but on the whole I must confess that I found it rather confusing. Particularly as a middle grade-themed book. I’m still not entirely sure what was real and what wasn’t – and not in a good way.

I really enjoyed the descriptions and the setup. But as the back-and-forth got more intense and there seemed to be no rules, rhyme, nor reason to any of it, I found myself floundering both in my feelings of coherence about the story and, frankly, in my connection to it. It never occurred to me to stop reading, I was constantly on the lookout for the thread that would tie it all together, but it never came. As a result it left me confused rather than entertained.

Still, there was a lot of really fantastic stuff here. The description and characterizations very interesting, and there are some novel constructs that I really enjoyed seeing introduced. But the whole thing felt really fuzzy, and I’m not sure I’d easily be able to recommend it as a result…

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.