The romance is juvenile and void of complexity, there is no other way to describe it. The quality of writing is more of MG level, which makes the whole attempt to write romance into this story with passionate kissing and such quite a failure. Not to go into any great detail, the reasons why City of a Thousand Dolls didn't work for me are the ones that I keep writing about over and over again.
The main plot of the book is Nisha's investigation of sudden deaths of several City's girls. The main character of the novel, Nisha, is an assistant to the City's Matron and, as often in such novels, a special kind of girl, or so we are told. When the girls reach adulthood, they are practically sold to the highest bidder. The City has several schools (Houses) that teach the abandoned girls music, medicine, and seduction (basically, your common high class prostitution) and assassination skills. This city is necessary because of the Bhinian Empire's rigidly enforced two-child limit, which, as it usually does, means that its citizens are more invested in keeping sons and getting rid of girl children. All in all these pieces create if not a unique and new imaginary world, but it least different from the "normal" Western ones.Īt the center of this story is the City of a Thousand Dolls, a shelter and a place of study for unwanted girls. There are touches of Japanese culture here, with fans and tea ceremonies, dark skin, castes and names of India, demographic politics of China. Its roots are hard to pin-point (unlike, let's say in the case of obviously Japanese-inspired Stormdancer). The world-building here is interesting enough, at the very least exotic. On the other hand, if you are not picky or experienced with fantasy, or don't mind your YA very young, sure, go for it. It is simply lacking in sophistication and maturity.Ĭity of a Thousand Dolls is another Asian-inspired fantasy which I would advise fans of good, clever, inventive fantasy not to bother with and read Alison Goodman's Eon: Dragoneye Reborn duology instead. Too bad it's just not that great of a novel. You can tell that the author meant this novel to be about diverse characters and diverse cultures. It is sad mostly because City of a Thousand Dolls is written so earnestly and with such good intentions.
My first read of 2013 and, well, my advice is - skip it.
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