A shy young woman and her deeply unpleasant — and literally porcelain — sister fight for their inheritance, taking on an impossible array of enemies, including a chain-smoking demon crow, an unkillable assassin, and a secret clan of French sorceresses.
In his newest adventure from the world of Harrison the Monster Detective, Daryl Gregory (Spoonbenders) takes us on a dizzying yet poignant romp through the horrors of sisterhood. Ruth Winslow is trying to save up enough money to finish college while looking after her sister, Isabel — who happens to be a haunted doll. When an accident severely damages Isabel’s porcelain body, the sisters have to find the only woman who can fix her, the fearsome witch known as La Fabricante: the Dollmaker.
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe! Before we get into today’s book review, I just want to quickly mention that I cut off the final paragraph of the offical synopsis above because, in my humble opinion, it gives waaaaay too much of the plot away. Should you pick up this book, I would avoid reading the official synopsis for it beyond what I put above, lest you have several plot beats spoiled!
Anyway, this is a very quick and fun read, and I had a good time with it. Our story begins with Ruth, who has taken a man back to her motel room for some hanky panky, only to have their time interrupted and him terrorised by what seems to be a haunted doll that springs to life and scares the bejeesus out of the poor guy. This doll is not haunted, per se, but the actual sister of Ruth, who is for some reason a porcelain doll.
Following an argument and Ruth feeling very frustrated as she tries to get some space from her tiny sister, Isabel, there is a fury-fuelled accident that incites the plot because Isabel is horribly damaged, and not just anyone can fix her. And thus begins our tale.
I loved not only the concept but how it was presented, because we’re dropped into what feels like a relatively normal spat between the sisters and from the beginning, just have to accept that Isabel is a doll. The narrative does take us on a journey of discovering why that is, thankfully, but honestly with the way this sibling relationship was introduced, I think I might have still been happy if the story had taken a different direction and not gone down that rabbit hole. Though, the rabbit hole is very twisted and entertaining, it must be said.
The horror of this story was enjoyable to me because of the layers. We have an increasingly tense scenario with the women because the more they learn and the more Ruth tried to help her sister, the darker their own past appears to me – a past that neither of them were aware of and must deal with. There’s also the main external threat because the way they learn these things is through some pretty dangerous, powerful, and often spiteful people with bad intentions. Finally, there’s also just the horror of being trapped into existence in the form of being a doll. Isabel has some of her own power, but she is tiny, delicate and…well…a doll. Excluded from all aspects of mainstream living, at the mercy of the whim of her sister (who isn’t cruel but must keep Isabel hidden, for obvious reasons), and unable to experience anything that life offers. She was a direct cross between Interview with the Vampire’s Claudia and Nadja’s doll counterpart from What We Do In The Shadows.
There’s horror, mystery, thrills, and humour (which was my favourite when it revolved around pettiness between the sisters because that’s so relatable and honest).
Overall, this wasn’t a perfect read for me, but it was certainly entertaining enough for me to recommend it to readers who enjoy supernatural horror and the exploration of sibling and family relationships. How fun!
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you. The Porcelain Sisters it out in the UK on 27th Oct.
Bleeeat!
Leave a Reply