A review by debz57a52
The Fifth Doll by Charlie N. Holmberg

2.5

I have read a fair amount of Holmberg's books, but this was not a favorite for me.  The premise was interesting - a townsperson who has painted Russian nesting dolls of each people in the village, and there is magic associated.  But the main character, Matrona, is far too immature to be the 26 years old that the author says she is, even despite the way her village shelters people from outside influences and Matrona's seemingly on-going list of family chores.  Her immaturity and naivety got on my nerves at some point, but then she was all of a sudden smart and clever and able to figure out what was really going on in the village so quickly, around 70% in, that her earlier personality seemed absurd.  The resolution of the story was frustratingly confusing to me, despite me reading a few pages multiple times to try to connect some of the action, and did not leave me with any kind of satisfaction.