Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Miniaturist

I’ve tried to listen to this last year & found it dull. Fast forward and I wanted to give it another shot, but I chose to read instead of listening to the audiobook. I loved it! I could hardly put it down until I could finish. It has a slower pace, but the amount of character building … it was just phenomenal. I wish there was a “happily ever after” because I love those, but it would have been far-fetched & stretched at best.

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booksemmahasread's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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watermelonvodka's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I'm so frustrated. While reading this book, I enjoyed it. I liked the writing style, and I enjoyed the story for the most part. I was intrigued by the miniaturist and liked the mystery of it all.
But then we didn't even get answers. We didn't get answers as to how she knows things, if she was predicting the future or making it, we didn't get answers as to why she did what she did, and why she was so mysterious and stayed hiding. Nothing.
The story gets quite depressing, and for what? Nothing.
The miniaturist and the cabinet house didn't even have to be in the book. The story would have been exactly the same. The miniaturist stuff seems like it's important to the story while you're reading it, but it isn't. It was pointless. Pointless!!!

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wrestleacademic's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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hbskeen's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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felicityebhaslin's review against another edition

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mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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thequiltyreader's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Having finished this book I'm not sure how I feel about it. The book had a lot of hype around it, which I am always wary of as it often drives high expectations from me that books sometimes don't live up to. But I have found myself coming to the end of the book and finding it somewhat lacking. This is a shame as historical fiction isn't a first choice of mine but this started out enjoyable and I was left with a good feel for the setting without being overburdened. The characters were interesting and you got to know them well and I got vested in their journey through the book but I felt the emotional tie to them was somehow lacking? There were a number of good twists which I didn't see coming though which I did enjoy. But I felt the character of the miniturist was never really explored. There is lots of mystery around them but it felt like that thread if the story just wasn't finished off.

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