The Dollhouse Asylum

by Mary Gray

• ISBN10: 1937053644
• ISBN13: 9781937053642
• Publish Date: 22 October 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 19 April 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Spencer Hill Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 297
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I have seriously no idea what to make of The Dollhouse Asylum. The description made it sound super interesting, unique, and dangerous! Well, it was interesting in the beginning because I had no clue what was going on, and I was compelled to keep reading. But by the end, nothing makes a lick of sense, and I'm more confused than when I started.

The Dollhouse Asylum started off pretty good. Cheyenne wakes up and has no clue where she is. She remembers someone putting a chloroform soaked cloth over her face on her way from the bathroom, but that's it. Then she recognizes a voice. It's Teo, her math teacher whom she's been having a relationship with. Apparently he's brought her to some subdivision that he created in order to escape from the second wave of "Living Rot" which is a disease that turns people into zombies. Cheyenne is grateful to be out of harms way, and excited to finally be with the man she loves in the open. But soon enough she realizes that there's something off about this neighborhood, and something even more off about Teo.

While I loved this premise, The Dollhouse Asylum makes zero sense and there are zero answers by the end. Teo is obsessed with literature, so he renames everyone he brought to his paradise after tragic love stories. He's also fascinated by the number seven, so only seven couples are allowed to live there. But bringing Cheyenne in makes eight, so someone has to die. Teo is clearly sick in the head, but that's all we really know about him. He's kidnapped a bunch of teens, including his brother, and has no problem killing them off. He's dating a student and is manipulating her to fit into his fantasy world, while zombies bring chaos on the outside world. That's it though. I really do not understand why he needed this little neighborhood, and why he bothered bringing random students if he was just going to kill them off so he could be with Cheyenne. I really don't, and we never learn anything about his motivation. We do learn how he got the funding, but that's not really important in the grand scheme of things.

The Dollhouse Asylum was a great idea, but it simply didn't work. I can't just accept "he's crazy" as an excuse for all of this weirdness. Obviously Teo is, but something had to prompt him to do this, and I don't believe it was his obsessive love for Cheyenne or their shared love of literature. Not even the zombie apocalypse explains why this seven by seven neighborhood was necessary, especially since there's a twist involving that which I figured out early on. It's a mess of plot holes.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

The Dollhouse Asylum is an interesting and compelling read, despite not being one of my favorite reads this year. There were just a couple of issues that I had with the book, but they were strong enough to make my skin crawl. That can either be a good or a bad thing, in this case it left me feeling dirty and unwashed. It's hard to describe my feelings on the world that Mary Gray has created in this novel, because it is darkly rich and sinister. I can tell you that it is incredibly imaginative and vividly filled with the creeps, that is probably one of the best elements that it has going for it.

While most of the characters are wonderfully developed, Cheyenne is the one that annoyed me the most with her naivete. She was so blind in her love and obsession for Teo, that she just couldn't see what a sociopath he truly was. That ended up bothering me a great deal throughout most of the novel, because it made it incredibly hard for me to truly connect with her without wanting to slap her or shake some sense into her. When she finally started realizing what was going on and tried to help the others in her own small unnoticable ways, I started to feel a bit of redemption for the character. Teo, on the other hand, was just a spiderweb of creepy any way you look at it. There were moments where he was caring and loving towards Cheyenne, but there were moments when you noticed that he would step on anything and anyone to make sure his agenda was met.

The book was filled with some intriguing dark twists and turns, that would definitely hold captivate your attention. Despite a few of the negative things that bothered me regarding the story, there were still some smaller things that held my interest and wowed me. It held definite potential to be so much better than it turned out being and I was saddened that it was a bit of a let down for me. However, for fans of the dark and sinister, mythological tales it is the perfect story to entertain you. I would recommend at least giving it a try and seeing what you think first, don't just take my word for it.

[limabean74]

The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray is one of those books that's hard to explain, it's easier to say, just read and then we can talk about it. It has so many good points and confusing parts, not bad, just confusing. It lacked a few things but in a whole it was decent. The story and the entire cast, as a whole was interesting and engaging. The main character was annoying and naive. I do think she grows a little but she is so indecisive about EVERYTHING its frustrating. The story really gets you thinking as it goes along and takes a turn to weird and creepy rather quickly. Once you realize why it's all happening it takes on a much better sense of WEIRD and CREEPY, it’s disturbing.


I'm not 100% positive I can say I loved the characters because I didn't, as a whole yes but not individual, I don't think enough detail was give to each one to make you really care about them. I wasn't feeling connected to anyone. Cheyenne was obsessive and very clingy if you talk to her apparently you are BFF's (I actually know some one like that) and Marcus was just as weird as his brother Teo and I was rather confused about the growing relationship between Cheyenne and Marcus with no back story it sort of just happens. Teo was a complete lunatic they do talk about his background a little more then everyone else which helped you get a better understanding as to you he was a but of a loony toon. He made for a great crazy person but again I feel like something with him was missing. I almost needed more of maybe his POV in the entire story.

Don't get me wrong I really did like it but I wasn't lying when I said it's hard to explain so I will leave you with this....I gave the Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gary 3.5 stars but marked it on Goodreads as 4 stars since I found it a little closer to 4 than 3. What really saved this book for me was the concept of the story. I recommend this to anyone who loves a really strong story with a few moments of shock and uncomfortable creepiness. I look forward to reading more from Mary Gary.

You can see all my reviews at love2readalways.blogspot.com