{"id":5279,"date":"2017-07-12T19:30:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T23:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=5279"},"modified":"2017-07-12T19:30:26","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T23:30:26","slug":"book-review-the-fifth-doll-by-charlie-n-holmberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-the-fifth-doll-by-charlie-n-holmberg\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Fifth Doll by Charlie N. Holmberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

The Fifth Doll<\/em> by Charlie N. Holmberg
\n47North, 2017
\nISBN-13:978-1477806104
\nAvailable: Paperback, Kindle edition, Audible, MP3 CD<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Fifth Doll<\/em>\u00a0is an excellent fantasy novel for pre-teens and young adults. \u00a0Charlie N. Holmberg has written several novels about young heroines who face the trials and tribulations of life and magic.\u00a0 The current novel gives readers not only an interesting plot that keeps them guessing, but also a bit of cultural history about what life might have been like in an early 20th<\/sup> century Russian village.<\/p>\n

Matrona, the daughter of a dairy farmer, is unusual in at least two ways.\u00a0 She is an only child, and, at age 26, isn\u2019t married yet.\u00a0 Her family and the carpenter\u2019s family have arranged a marriage for her.\u00a0 She hopes she will come to love her aloof betrothed, but she is secretly attracted to the potter\u2019s son, Jaska. \u00a0Matrona’s village is unusual, too.\u00a0 No one has ever left, except Slava, the tradesman.\u00a0 Slava leaves the village periodically with his horse and cart, into the surrounding forest, and returns with goods from the outside world.\u00a0 No one else knows what that world is like.<\/p>\n

The weather is almost perfect.\u00a0 The villagers have never experienced a freezing winter and have no concept of what snow is, but Matrona has nightmares of gray skies, rows of box-like houses unlike the village\u2019s colorful farmsteads, trodden dirt roads and the sound of tramping feet.<\/p>\n

Matrona accidentally enters Slava\u2019s house and discovers a room full of nesting, or matryoshka, dolls.\u00a0 Each doll has the painted face of a villager. \u00a0Slava has a secret plan, and Matrona is an unwilling part of it. \u00a0Each doll has power over its original.\u00a0 Slava forces Matrona to open her own doll one doll at a time every three days.\u00a0 When she refuses, he threatens her family.<\/p>\n

When Matrona opens each doll, there are disturbing consequences. \u00a0Her secret thoughts are revealed to the entire village, she has excruciating headaches, and hears an inner voice chastising her for her faults.\u00a0 Her vision is alerted.\u00a0 She sees faint lines in the sky and snow for the first time!\u00a0 Matrona can\u2019t escape through the forest.\u00a0 Each path she tries leads her back to the village.<\/p>\n

If she opens the fourth doll and reveals the fifth, Slava\u2019s plan will be complete and Matrona will be his substitute.\u00a0 What is his plan?\u00a0 What is in the outside world?\u00a0 Can Matrona and Jaska save themselves and the village? Holmberg keeps the reader guessing until the very end.\u00a0Highly recommended.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fifth Doll by Charlie N. Holmberg 47North, 2017 ISBN-13:978-1477806104 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, Audible, MP3 CD   The Fifth Doll\u00a0is an excellent fantasy novel for pre-teens and young adults. \u00a0Charlie N. Holmberg has written several novels about young heroines who face the trials and tribulations of life and magic.\u00a0 The current novel gives readers<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2474,3095,1068,1970,2363,3096],"class_list":["post-5279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-review","tag-charlie-n-holmberg","tag-dark-fantasy","tag-historical-horror","tag-supernatural-horror","tag-the-fifth-doll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5279"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5306,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279\/revisions\/5306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}