The Doll Factory

Spoiler-Free Review:

This is entirely my own fault. I imagine this books is great of you enjoy horror and gothic fiction, as what little I read showed a beautiful writing style and vivid imagery. Unfortunately, I didn't realise this was horror-based, I thought it was going to be closer to a thriller mixed with gothic fiction, so unfortunately this book is not for me. However, it could easily be for you .

Trigger warnings for the book: Animal cruelty

Spoiler

Spoiler Review:

I think this book may need an age rating or some kind of trigger warnings perhaps as I was fully expecting to read a book about obsession and stalking with some gothic twists and features, however I realised in the first chapter I wasn't going to get that when taxidermy was the focus point. I knew where the plot was going to go from there, but I did flick ahead in the book and skim read to double check.

Unfortunately, what was going to happen with taxidermy is too much for me too stomach personally.

It did however raise some important questions to me as to whether or not we should be included trigger warnings and age ratings on book cover. I know many of you would argue the genres of middle, YA, NA and adult already do this - but I don't think it does them well enough. Each of those genres are diverse and there are subsections of each that can make it hard to navigate.

You can read my discussion about trigger warnings and age ratings on my blog: https://moonlitbooks.home.blog/2020/04/17/botm20march/