The Fifth Doll

By: Charlie N. Holmberg

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

The bestselling author of The Paper Magician Series transports listeners to a darkly whimsical new world where strange magic threatens a quiet village that only a desperate woman can save.

Matrona lives in an isolated village, where her life is centered on pleasing her parents. She's diligent in her chores and has agreed to marry a man of their choosing. But a visit to Slava, the local tradesman, threatens to upend her entire life.

Entering his empty house, Matrona discovers a strange collection of painted nesting dolls - one for every villager. Fascinated, she can't resist the urge to open the doll with her father's face. But when her father begins acting strangely, she realizes Slava's dolls are much more than they seem.

When he learns what she's done, Slava seizes the opportunity to give Matrona stewardship over the dolls - whether she wants it or not. Forced to open one of her own dolls every three days, she falls deeper into the grim power of Slava's creations. But nothing can prepare her for the profound secret hiding inside the fifth doll.

©2017 Charlie N. Holmberg. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

intriguing

listened to it all the way through .the book was very intriguing and captivating to the end

A Good Russian Fairy Tale

The Fifth Doll is the first book I’ve read by Holmberg and I enjoyed it. The style of this book is more Russian fairy tale than fantasy. It kind of reminds me of Naomi Novik’s book Uprooted, not that the stories are the same, just the style and setting seem similar. The book is also a quick read that keeps you going wondering what it’s all about. I finished this in an afternoon as I couldn’t put it down until I knew what was going on.

Matrona is an interesting main character. She’s not magical in her own sense and is more figuring out what is going on with us. There was a bit of young adult romance, but it wasn’t overdone and added to the plot of the story. Even though the story was short I enjoyed seeing where her character started and how she ended up by the end.

Slava is also an interesting character. His motives are easy to sympathize with and I’m still not sure if he is a bad guy or a good guy. That’s another aspect I enjoyed about this book, what was good or bad really can be left up for debate with some of the characters even questioning it. By the end I’m not sure if everyone is better off or worse off than the start and I guess that’s up to the reader to decide.

The book was good, but I think it could have been a little longer. I would have liked to see the ending expounded upon more and see where everything ends up. This might have taken away from allowing the reader to decide if the characters were left in a good place or not though.

Overall, I enjoyed this fairy tale and will probably check out other books by Holmberg.

Angela Dawe was a good narrator who gave you a feel for the scenes in the book. I know it was done to give you a feel for the setting of the book, but I did have a little trouble understanding some parts with the Russian accents. I slowed down the playback speed and was able to understand better, so it wasn’t too big of a deal though.

Unique fantasy

Matrona has lived in a picture perfect village with her family and everyone she has ever known. The weather is mild and all their needs are met. No one questions this or worries about it. The only person who ever leaves the village is a tradesman named Slava. One day Matrona enters Slavas house while he is out and stumbles upon a room full of Russian nesting dolls. All the dolls are painted to look like the people who live in the village. Matrona touches one and things are never the same again.
This was a unique fantasy novel. I loved the Russian folklore and tradition in the story. You really get the feel of the small, tight-knit community. I also liked the relationship between Matrona and Jaska a lot. Jaska really balanced out Matrona. It worked well.
What I thought could have been done better was the ending. The explanation wasn’t as smoothly executed as it could have been. Also, I felt like Matrona, Jaska and the other villager could have thought things through a little more in the end before they really too it to the extreme. I get that they were having all types of feelings about what was happening but they didn’t use any logic.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was really creative and moved a nice pace. The narrator was well suited for the audiobook. She did a great job with the accents and distinguishing between the different characters.
3.5 stars.

Amazing

Couldn't stop listening to this book. It had me on edge the whole time. Such a good story!

Very different

Interesting concept. I enjoyed the twists and turns and the surprise ending. Disturbing but enjoyable.

Enjoyable story and excellent narration

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's a very interesting concept of magic, and I love how the author included where the belief of this specific magic came from, culturally. The narrator was very good, too.

Enchanting and mysterious

I really enjoyed the mystery of the dolls. It is full of twists and turns.

Original Plot

Loved this book. Very original premise. Kept me interested from start to finish. Highly recommend.

Well done fantasy

From the matrioska doll on the cover, I thought this was going to be a Russian spy novel. But it's a fantasy. Still, the narrator's accent, and the bits about peasant life in Russia were interesting. I'd like to read more from this author.

I regret buying this

Deeply boring. While it has intriguing bones, instead of building a conflict that adds to the story, it's just another story where everything goes wrong and is made much worse by two people not talking for no reason. Instead the whole thing felt pointless. I spent more time than I'd like wishing that the characters would think for half a second and they only do when it's too late. at some point it stops being tragic and is just stupid.