The Dollmakers by Lynn Buchanan: How a Bad Protagonist Can Ruin a Good Story (book review)

GENRE: Adult Fantasy

LENGTH: 381 pages

 

PLOT

Shean is a dollmaker, someone who makes dolls which come to life and fight against monsters known as the Shod. However, she’s evaluated she’s given an artisan license to make dolls that will be toys and servants instead of warriors. Indignant, she travels deep into a forest to a town called Web where she challenges their dollmaker, Ikiisa, for her position.

CHARACTERS

This novel has a primary and secondary protagonist. Our primary protagonist is Shean while our secondary is Ikiisa. The girls are mirror opposites of each other. Shean needs to be humbled whereas Ikiisa needs to learn to stand up for herself.

Shean was the worst. There’s really no way to sugarcoat it. If she’d been a better protagonist I would have given this book a higher rating because it has a lot of redeeming qualities. However, having a bad protagonist can really ruin a reader’s enjoyment of the overall story. Your protagonist is your story’s heart – and this one has an ugly heart. Shean is arrogant and prone to physical violence and juvenile tantrums. She’s judgmental of those she views as being beneath her and is unable to concede to ever being wrong. She does make some progress in maturing very late into the novel, but by then my opinion on her had already solidified.

I don’t have as much to say about Ikiisa. As someone who has experienced years of bullying I did relate to how rejected and small she felt. I, too, struggle with standing up for myself (though it’s something I’m working on). I think she was probably the best influence on Shean. The girls are enemies (at least according to Shean), but when they’re forced o work together it’s an enlightening experience for them both.

Our primary side characters are Roque and Dola. Roque is a traveling linguist who encounters both Shean and Ikiisa separately on their journeys. He’s very mysterious. While there isn’t really a romance to speak of in this book,(that’s not a bad thing unless you’re specifically looking for fantasy romance) it’s pretty evident that Shean has a crush on Roque. If the writer was trying to make this attraction seem mutual she didn’t do a very good job as he comes across as pretty uninterested in any romantic entanglements.

Dola is a young girl who lives in Web and wants to be a dollmaker. We see through her actions that she has a very kind, sweet heart. Most of the villagers of Web are hostile towards outsiders (a prejudice that is never really addressed), but Dola is apart in that she’s welcoming to all.

 

WRITING

The novel is told through various third person perspectives – though primarily Shean and later Ikiisa. There is a small section narrated by one of Shean’s dolls which was pretty cool. This is a book with anthropomorphism – though many underestimate the dolls, they are actually quite intelligent and seem to display a lot of human emotions and attachments.

The dolls are given life with a ‘Mark’ called the breath mark which is painted on them. We later learn that there are countless other marks all serving different purposes. Roque is studying them.

One of the central mysteries of the story is what the Shod are/where they come from. Unless you’re skimming the book, I think it’s pretty easy to figure it out long before the characters themselves do. That doesn’t make the Shod any less terrifying, however. One of the first things we learn about them is they will rip things apart and then add them to their own bodies to build themselves up to become stronger – including human materials. They’re vicious and their cries are like that of terrified children (the creepiest part of the novel if you ask me). The Shod are genuinely chilling.

We get the sense as readers that we are really only breaking the surface of this world and that there is much more to be discovered. What initially drew me to this book was its unique concept. After learning there are so many more Marks I think there’s a lot of possibilities for other stories set in the same world. Roque as a protagonist in one of these stories would make a lot of sense. I do wonder if there will be companion books as this is a standalone but the cover says ‘A novel from the Fallen Peaks’. I’m not sure what that means exactly, though, as this is the author’s debut novel.

One last thing I want to mention is that in the book there are some pages of illustrations depicting things within the story. This was such a cool touch and I wish more books, especially fantasy ones, did this. Also, the front cover depicts Shean while the back cover depicts Ikiisa, which is also a really awesome added touch.

Trigger warnings for violence and gruesome depictions of death, plus body horror. Also, there is a scene of children torturing a doll that is more animal-like than human in appearance. This scene unsettled me deeply as it was too close to a scene of animal abuse.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I really, really wish Shean had been a better protagonist. If she’d displayed more growth early on I could have forgiven her bad behavior. No protagonist should be stagnant, and Shean certainly had a lot of growing up to do. If she’d been even slightly more tolerable this novel would probably have been rated close to a 5. The concept and the execution with the world building are definitely the strongest parts of the novel.

 

FINAL RATING: 3⭐️