Halloween Feature: Review of Doll Bones by Holly Black

As the sixth part in the Halloween feature, I have the wonderful Kate Beeden sharing her review of Doll Bones.

Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Zach is too old to play with toys. Or at least, that's what his father thinks.

But even though he stops hanging out with Poppy and Alice, stops playing with his action figures, it's no good. There's one toy that still wants to play with him. A doll that's made from the bones of a dead girl.

The only way to end the game is to lay the doll to rest forever. It's time for a journey to Spring Grove cemetery. It's time to grow up.

A chilling ghost story by the bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black.

Review

I have somehow managed to sidestep The Spiderwick Chronicles, and although I've heard lots of good things about Holly Black I had never read any of her previous books.  Doll Bones sounded fabulous, a unique tale of a children's imaginative game taking a dark twist to become scary and real.

Zachary, Alice and Poppy play with dolls.  They create life stories for them, and one doll in particular is enigmatic and all powerful.  They call her The Queen, and she is locked away in a cabinet.  One day the children become bold and decide to take The Queen out, and the children discover her history...

I absolutely loved the idea behind this book and thought it would be creepy without being downright scary. However, I was a bit disappointed as it wasn't as creepy as I'd hoped!  I'm not sure if that is because I'm an adult and not in the target readership, but if you are looking for something to make you jump and feel spooked I'm not sure this is it.  I did like the children though and can imagine that as a child I would have loved their sense of adventure.

The highlight for me was the illustrations, which were absolutely fantastic, I wish there had been more as they really did help me to visualise the characters, especially The Queen.

6.5/10


Thank you so much Kate for taking part in my Halloween feature. That is disapointing it wasn't as scary as you would have hoped, but maybe it's a great book for a younger readership! I do love the cover!