"There are a hundred different clocks in the Emporium. Some keep time with the comings and goings of London seasons. Others tick out of sync, counting down the hours of that faraway coastline the Godman brothers once called home. Still more keep erratic and uncontrollable times: one counts each third second backwards, the better to extend the time between chores; another elongates the evening, all the better to keep bedtime at bay. These are the times that children keep, and which adults are forbidden from remembering. Only a child could understand how one day might last an eternity, while another pass in the flicker of an eye."

Starting off 2022 with a bang, I loved everything about this story! It was magical, imaginative, well-written, but with serious undertones beneath the glorious, otherworldly faery-tale-ish-ness. I was enchanted the entire time and never wanted the story to end. My inner child is smiling big and hoping for a part II

Someone recommended this book to me because I had read and loved The Night Circus. While the two definitely shared elements of Magic and childhood in common, something darker darker runs through The Toymakers. Both offer magic as an escape from the horrors of reality; in The Night Circus, the characters escape into the fantastical dreamscape of a circus that opens and midnight and runs through the night. In The Toymakers, characters escape into their memories of childhood aided by the magical toys made by a Santa Claus-like toymaker and his two sons.

The main difference between the two stories is that in one the reader escapes along with the characters into the surreal world of magic at midnight, while in the other the reader observes the characters escaping for just a little while into a childhood that is constantly threatened by intrusions of the real world horrors of war, abuse, and neglect. Where The Night Circus felt safe, dreamy, and full of magic, The Toymakers felt vulnerable, anxious, yet full of wonder.

I did enjoy getting lost in the story and watching the characters grow, yet by the end most still seem underdeveloped, and I would have preferred a little less darkness and a little more light in the storyline. Even the wildest tales of fantasy still need logic.

Everyone loves a bit of magic and sparkle and combined with memories of childhood visits to toy shops at Christmas, the Toymakers evokes a vivid immersive experience. It made me long for my own patchwork clockwork dog. Beautifully described, this book oozes the whole gamut of love, joy, sorrow, loss and triumph over adversity. Well written and very enjoyable.

It felt like it took me forever to finish this book. I was promised magic; what I got was a love triangle and an anti-war story and a muddled mess at the end. Some parts were four stars; some parts were two stars. As a whole, The Toymakers didn't quite work for me.

Published in 2018, this book reads like it was written a hundred years before. It has a very quaint, old-fashioned feel to it. It would have been better if it had been tightened up and shortened by about 100 pages.

What magic there is, we’ve mostly seen before – items that are bigger on the inside; items that are spelled so they can be used across long distances to communicate; games that will play you, without a second person. And so on.

The story is mostly one of sibling rivalry. I didn’t think the love triangle was necessary; a younger sibling can be resentful of an older, more talented one without loving the same woman. Emil (the younger) is made out to be the bad guy throughout, but as a younger sibling myself he had ALL my sympathy. Kaspar is a jerk.

The bits about the Toy Emporium at the height of its magic were best. The bits about the Great War were sad and depressing. The last hundred + pages, in which

Spoiler

the toys gain sentience and consider the two brothers gods

, were a mess, and the chapter covering 16 years followed by the chapters set in 1953 completely lost me.

I did like the message that toys are important, for children and adults. I wanted more of that.

This was magical. 😍 I loved it from the first chapter... the first line even. So it's my first five star book of the year. I would dearly love this to be made into a movie. Lots of CGI required! It was coincidentally a lovely book to read at christmas.

I had tears in my eyes a lot. But it was so worth it!!!

For my full review and thoughts on the story, characters and ending completely spoiler free please visit my blog here

It is not often that a book pulls me in, in the way that The Toymakers did.

This book begins as a wonderous fairy-tale and love story and slowly becomes deeper, darker as it explores war, trauma, jealousy and a fight for control.

A beautifully magical story that will take your breath away and then break your heart.
The Emporium is a place where magic is created in every toy, and where children and adults alike find the sheer joy of playing with these toys.
Creating these wondrous items is the work of Papa Jack and his two sons, Emil and Kaspar. Competition is rife between the sons to create bigger and more imaginative toys, and when Cathy arrives the competition gets even more personal.
I hope that this will be one of the best selling books of the year, it really is something special.