Sunday, February 23, 2014

[Book Review] Doll Bones by Holly Black

Doll BonesDoll Bones
by  
Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them.

Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing . . . and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences.

Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll – who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity . . .



“I thought you needed to be tougher. But I've been thinking that protecting somebody by hurting them before someone else gets the chance isn't the kind of protecting that anybody wants.”

A middle grade horror novel, Doll Bones tells a story about adventures and friendship that gets mixed with creepy events and different emotions. This was very age appropriate and even though it was horror story, there wasn't much scary things about it except the old china doll. 

Friendship that was presented between Zach, Poppy, and Alice was incredible. It's that kind of friendship that you have with people who you've known since you were 5 and probably will be going to each other's kids birthdays. Their emotions and feelings were very well portrayed. With Zach being 12, it was interesting to see his confusion about girls and anger about his dad leaving their family and then coming back. 

I did think that adventure aspect of it could have been more intensified and not so much left to the imagination. The bus ride, the park, and even the boat - give me something more creepier! But overall it was a good story line, except I wasn't much a fan of writing and didn't connect with the story as much as I wanted to.