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writings_of_a_reader's review against another edition
4.0
In the beginning I thought City of a Thousand Dolls had some odd qualities to it, but as I read on I began to really like it. I wasn't sure at first about the talking cats, and how they would fit into a YA novel rather than a MG novel. I had my suspicions about who and what they were though, and it turns out I was right. I think the main negative would have to be that it reads a lot like a MG novel but there is content that is too mature for a MG reader. Which I guess is why it got categorized as YA. I however, still really liked this book. There are several elements mixed into this book that could have had me repeating what I've said about several other books I've read, and that is it felt like ideas for more than one book combined into one novel. Somehow though, this one worked for me. This book seems like a first novel in a series, and I'm hoping that's the case. More character development for some of the characters and more exploration of the culture would be welcome in a sequel. Oh and I really loved Jerrit.
nomomstayandread's review against another edition
3.0
I wondered why they were treating her cat as a major love interest.. That explains a lot.
justjeanettelee's review against another edition
4.0
I have to give props to this book for creating an original world, with original lore, that didn't make me think too much of other novels while reading it.
Aspects of this book had me remembering "Allies and Assassins", but that very well could've been simply because both books were murder-mysteries in a fantasy world. On this note, I have to say, I suspected the murderer/s about half way through. Although it was written three years after this book, there were elements of "The Glittering Court" in this as well, but in truth, it would really be the other way around - I just read TGC first.
I enjoyed the premise that a city was founded for the abandoned, unwanted girls of a two-child policy world. I was also pleased by the education these girls got, something that probably would never happen in a real-life situation.
The protagonist, Nisha, was both likeable and entertaining, well-written and most definitely not the typical "perfect heroine of a fantasy who can do anything and everything because she is so naturally talented and #blessed". Nisha relies on her intelligence and instincts, rather than something simply given to her because she's the heroine.
I love that there's talking cats. I love the idea of the Sune.
I'm also glad that Nisha wasn't accepted by the House of Shadows at the end, making it for me, seemingly spiral into the likes of "Throne of Glass" - kickass female assassins all around isn't what the world of novels needs write now. I swear it's becoming a mould for novels, much like how vampires became the "It" thing after "Twilight" and wizards after "Harry Potter". Assassins will be the knew vampires. I'm just glad this book didn't do that (though I'm kinda hoping that maybe Nisha will become a guard like Josei suggested, maybe even Prince Sudev's or anther Prince's bodyguard?).
Will be continuing on with the next instalment.
Aspects of this book had me remembering "Allies and Assassins", but that very well could've been simply because both books were murder-mysteries in a fantasy world. On this note, I have to say, I suspected the murderer/s about half way through. Although it was written three years after this book, there were elements of "The Glittering Court" in this as well, but in truth, it would really be the other way around - I just read TGC first.
I enjoyed the premise that a city was founded for the abandoned, unwanted girls of a two-child policy world. I was also pleased by the education these girls got, something that probably would never happen in a real-life situation.
The protagonist, Nisha, was both likeable and entertaining, well-written and most definitely not the typical "perfect heroine of a fantasy who can do anything and everything because she is so naturally talented and #blessed". Nisha relies on her intelligence and instincts, rather than something simply given to her because she's the heroine.
I love that there's talking cats. I love the idea of the Sune.
I'm also glad that Nisha wasn't accepted by the House of Shadows at the end, making it for me, seemingly spiral into the likes of "Throne of Glass" - kickass female assassins all around isn't what the world of novels needs write now. I swear it's becoming a mould for novels, much like how vampires became the "It" thing after "Twilight" and wizards after "Harry Potter". Assassins will be the knew vampires. I'm just glad this book didn't do that (though I'm kinda hoping that maybe Nisha will become a guard like Josei suggested, maybe even Prince Sudev's or anther Prince's bodyguard?).
Will be continuing on with the next instalment.
bibliophilepolyglot's review against another edition
Pacing - too many characters - hard to follow
astraia_sun's review against another edition
4.0
I know some other people had problems with this book, but I genuinely enjoyed it. The world-building was very interesting and I want to know more about it, especially outside of the City (and not just at the Kaldi camp).
Though I will say, at times Nisha seemed younger than sixteen, more like a middle-grade heroine. Unfortunately I can't point to any specific examples, but the writing made it feel more like a younger target age for the book. Other times it felt more YA. It was uneven.
I figured out who the killer was maybe about midway through, though I don't know if that means it was easily solvable or I'm just suspicious of everyone in a murder mystery.
All in all, I liked it a lot and want to read the next one.
Though I will say, at times Nisha seemed younger than sixteen, more like a middle-grade heroine. Unfortunately I can't point to any specific examples, but the writing made it feel more like a younger target age for the book. Other times it felt more YA. It was uneven.
I figured out who the killer was maybe about midway through, though I don't know if that means it was easily solvable or I'm just suspicious of everyone in a murder mystery.
Spoiler
I also figured out that the cat tribe were Sune pretty early on. I had a feeling Jerrit was in love with Nisha as well. I didn't bargain on him being Tac, but it made more sense with how close they got so quickly.All in all, I liked it a lot and want to read the next one.
shhchar's review against another edition
3.0
City of a Thousand Dolls was a fantastical tale of one girl trying to just get through life. Nisha has no ulterior motives; she's simply thrown into the plot against her will. The world building in this book was extremely interesting, I only hope for further elaboration.
I didn't realize until I was about halfway through that this book has received many negative reviews. While I can see where some reviewers are coming from, I think it is mostly undeserved. While CoaTD was not perfect, it was entertaining, exciting, and very unique.
The flaws of it were that the 'mystery' was extremely guessable. I'm not great at figuring things out, but I had the perpetrators and motives identified by the time the plot was wrapped up. The romance was very weak, but I simply didn't care because I was not invested in it at all.
The book wraps up very beautifully, but the fact that some things seemed to be deliberately not mentioned makes me wonder if there will be a sequel. I'm aware there's a prequel that is out now, which I will read soon. I recommend this book if you're looking for an easy fantasy read.
I didn't realize until I was about halfway through that this book has received many negative reviews. While I can see where some reviewers are coming from, I think it is mostly undeserved. While CoaTD was not perfect, it was entertaining, exciting, and very unique.
The flaws of it were that the 'mystery' was extremely guessable. I'm not great at figuring things out, but I had the perpetrators and motives identified by the time the plot was wrapped up. The romance was very weak, but I simply didn't care because I was not invested in it at all.
The book wraps up very beautifully, but the fact that some things seemed to be deliberately not mentioned makes me wonder if there will be a sequel.
Spoiler
Namely: the fate of Nisha's parents.thebookhaze's review against another edition
2.0
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either. There were too many holes and things that didn't make sense and annoyed me. It was a great idea with a great premise, but a lot of the story and characters weren't developed as well as they could've been.
I won't be reading the rest of the series.
I won't be reading the rest of the series.
sailorkchick's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating new world and a murder mystery that kept me turning page after page. I hope to read more about the Bhinian Empire. A great read for history, fantasy and YA lovers.
christajls's review against another edition
4.0
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
The City of a Thousand Dolls is truly an inventive tale. In a world where male children are favoured over females, a city has sprung up in response. The City of a Thousand Dolls trains young, orphaned or abandoned girls with skills that will allow them to be productive members of society later on. A preferable fate (I think) to being left to the elements. Each girl is assigned to a different house and each house trains them for a specific job. Beauty (wives), Combat (warriors and guards), Flowers (nobility), Jade (healers and scholars), Music (musicians, dancers, performers), Pleasure (basically mistresses). I liked that there was a whole range of employment for the girls. Not just the sit there and look pleasing kind.
You can tell there’s so much to this world, and Miriam Forster is kind of brilliant with all she’s dreamed up. If I was ever going to take world building tips from someone – I would go to her first! Houses, castes, political detail, religion. It’s all here. But this was both a positive and a negative. Positive because I love when a world has been so fully thought out and is so lush with descriptions and imagery. But I also thought that it could have been explained more. That more detail and explanation could have been presented because at times it could be a little confusing. and I have so many questions! And since this isn’t a series (there’s one companion book planned) I feel like we as readers are missing out on the full picture.
At the centre of City of a Thousand Dolls is Nisha. Not assigned to any of the houses she is the assistant to the Matron. By all accounts she’s an ordinary girl. But I live how proactive she is. How involved she is in determining her own fate. I hate when characters simply stand by and wait for someone else to supply them with the answers to their problems. Nisha is a fighter, she knows the risks and she takes them anyway because what else can she do? Plus she’s just a fabulous person with a big heart. I think it would be impossible not to like her.
And then there’s the mystery! Miriam Forster doesn’t mess around. Someone is murdered in the first chapter of the book! And the story keeps going from there. Death, blackmail, political intrigue and a forbidden romance. It’ll get your heart pounding. I found the pages flew by and I was anxious to find out how everything would all work out. A few of the twists were a little predictable but it was still a lot of fun!
Recommendation: Not quite the fantasy I usually fall in love with. I wouldn’t compare this to stories like Graceling or Prophecy. But it is a fabulously descriptive, unique world, with a fantastic heroine and a captivating story. Highly recommended.
The City of a Thousand Dolls is truly an inventive tale. In a world where male children are favoured over females, a city has sprung up in response. The City of a Thousand Dolls trains young, orphaned or abandoned girls with skills that will allow them to be productive members of society later on. A preferable fate (I think) to being left to the elements. Each girl is assigned to a different house and each house trains them for a specific job. Beauty (wives), Combat (warriors and guards), Flowers (nobility), Jade (healers and scholars), Music (musicians, dancers, performers), Pleasure (basically mistresses). I liked that there was a whole range of employment for the girls. Not just the sit there and look pleasing kind.
You can tell there’s so much to this world, and Miriam Forster is kind of brilliant with all she’s dreamed up. If I was ever going to take world building tips from someone – I would go to her first! Houses, castes, political detail, religion. It’s all here. But this was both a positive and a negative. Positive because I love when a world has been so fully thought out and is so lush with descriptions and imagery. But I also thought that it could have been explained more. That more detail and explanation could have been presented because at times it could be a little confusing. and I have so many questions! And since this isn’t a series (there’s one companion book planned) I feel like we as readers are missing out on the full picture.
At the centre of City of a Thousand Dolls is Nisha. Not assigned to any of the houses she is the assistant to the Matron. By all accounts she’s an ordinary girl. But I live how proactive she is. How involved she is in determining her own fate. I hate when characters simply stand by and wait for someone else to supply them with the answers to their problems. Nisha is a fighter, she knows the risks and she takes them anyway because what else can she do? Plus she’s just a fabulous person with a big heart. I think it would be impossible not to like her.
And then there’s the mystery! Miriam Forster doesn’t mess around. Someone is murdered in the first chapter of the book! And the story keeps going from there. Death, blackmail, political intrigue and a forbidden romance. It’ll get your heart pounding. I found the pages flew by and I was anxious to find out how everything would all work out. A few of the twists were a little predictable but it was still a lot of fun!
Recommendation: Not quite the fantasy I usually fall in love with. I wouldn’t compare this to stories like Graceling or Prophecy. But it is a fabulously descriptive, unique world, with a fantastic heroine and a captivating story. Highly recommended.
brandypainter's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
I adore fantasies. I also adore murder mysteries. Combine the two and I am one happy girl, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster.
In the Bhinian Empire there is a law stating that every family may only have two children. Boys being preferred over girls, it is the girls who are abandoned. The City of a Thousand Dolls was started to save the future generations. Families can send their daughters to the city where they will be trained to find a place in life as a wife, mistress, musician, healer, or scholar. Nisha is a resident of the city with no set place, the assistant of the Matron, her eyes and ears in the city. She has been trained in combat and music and is free to come and go in the houses as she pleases. Wherever she goes she is accompanied by one or more of the city's cats, whose voices she can hear. When girls in the houses start to end up dead and Nisha realizes her own future is not as secure as she thought, she begins working to find the killer. Hopefully in time to save herself.
Nisha is one of those characters that is special due to birth, but doesn't know it yet. She is still very young and there is so much she doesn't know. This book is a lot about her figuring that out, who she is and where she fits into the world. She has been kept in ignorance and that becomes a danger to her and everyone. This is not Nisha's fault and I really feel she did the best she possibly could with the knowledge she had. She also acknowledges her own weaknesses and shortcomings. There are so many other characters in this book that I had to flip to the character list in the front to keep everyone straight. Nisha and Jerrit (her cat best friend) are the most memorable though and I came to love both of them greatly.
The plot is an engaging one. It s one of those books that is difficult to put down. The murders, clues, and constant action kept me engaged. I did figure out the mystery early on, but not being able to guess the culprit is not a mark of a good mystery to me. Believing the investigator can't and seeing the clues and action unfold in a plausible manner matters more to me. I think this book does this well, especially as Nisha had no idea what she was doing.
The world building here is fairly typical. There is magic, kingdom politics that aren't all what they seem, different tribes of people who see history in different ways. I liked the way it all worked together here and Forster made it a real live place for me. The themes of gender equality (or lack thereof), freedom of choice (or the illusion of it), and politics in general were deftly woven into the plot.
This is a YA novel that skews younger and can be enjoyed by mature MG age readers as well. There are mentions of girls being trained as mistresses, but what a mistress does is not really defined. I would have no problem letting Bit read this if she wanted to, but it probably shouldn't get into the hands of a MG reader who knows nothing about such things.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and am excited to see there will be a companion novel sometime n 2014.
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
I adore fantasies. I also adore murder mysteries. Combine the two and I am one happy girl, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster.
In the Bhinian Empire there is a law stating that every family may only have two children. Boys being preferred over girls, it is the girls who are abandoned. The City of a Thousand Dolls was started to save the future generations. Families can send their daughters to the city where they will be trained to find a place in life as a wife, mistress, musician, healer, or scholar. Nisha is a resident of the city with no set place, the assistant of the Matron, her eyes and ears in the city. She has been trained in combat and music and is free to come and go in the houses as she pleases. Wherever she goes she is accompanied by one or more of the city's cats, whose voices she can hear. When girls in the houses start to end up dead and Nisha realizes her own future is not as secure as she thought, she begins working to find the killer. Hopefully in time to save herself.
Nisha is one of those characters that is special due to birth, but doesn't know it yet. She is still very young and there is so much she doesn't know. This book is a lot about her figuring that out, who she is and where she fits into the world. She has been kept in ignorance and that becomes a danger to her and everyone. This is not Nisha's fault and I really feel she did the best she possibly could with the knowledge she had. She also acknowledges her own weaknesses and shortcomings. There are so many other characters in this book that I had to flip to the character list in the front to keep everyone straight. Nisha and Jerrit (her cat best friend) are the most memorable though and I came to love both of them greatly.
The plot is an engaging one. It s one of those books that is difficult to put down. The murders, clues, and constant action kept me engaged. I did figure out the mystery early on, but not being able to guess the culprit is not a mark of a good mystery to me. Believing the investigator can't and seeing the clues and action unfold in a plausible manner matters more to me. I think this book does this well, especially as Nisha had no idea what she was doing.
The world building here is fairly typical. There is magic, kingdom politics that aren't all what they seem, different tribes of people who see history in different ways. I liked the way it all worked together here and Forster made it a real live place for me. The themes of gender equality (or lack thereof), freedom of choice (or the illusion of it), and politics in general were deftly woven into the plot.
This is a YA novel that skews younger and can be enjoyed by mature MG age readers as well. There are mentions of girls being trained as mistresses, but what a mistress does is not really defined. I would have no problem letting Bit read this if she wanted to, but it probably shouldn't get into the hands of a MG reader who knows nothing about such things.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and am excited to see there will be a companion novel sometime n 2014.