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A review by allaboutfrodo
The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale
3.0
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, 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.
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 godsI did like the message that toys are important, for children and adults. I wanted more of that.