The Dollhouse Asylum

by Mary Gray

[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.