For all its beautiful illustrations, charming hardback size and general appearance, this book left me feeling uncomfortable. It just strikes me as being a little bit too dark, a little bit too bleak, for the intended age group of 10-12. Also, the Toymaker of the prologue seems to have only a tenuous relationship to the plot, meaning that he does not even appear again until the final chapters. Overall, it kept me reading but is not the sort of book I would recommend to most middle-grade readers.

The plot centers of Mathias, a young boy that lives with his grandfather in a travelling circus. When his grandfather dies, he finds a scrap of paper, which he takes and hides. This paper seems to be well desired, as he is soon purchased by a foul doctor and his even more despicable dwarf. Matthias runs away, befriending a young servant girl, and eventually finding aid in the most unlikely of places. Katta, the servent girl, is an interesting character - she's a little spitfire who suffered a brain injury when she was young that causes her to have seizures. Her intereaction with the boy that caused the injury, when she discovers him later on, left me cold with its brutality. Towards Mathias she is compassionate and caring - towards her "enemy", a blood-thirsty little beast.

There is also the plot - coincidence becomes a plot device used all too commonly. The PoV jumps from character to character, sometimes within the same paragraph which can be a little disorientating. The atmosphere is deliciously creepy, but it is spiced with a little too much violence which made my skin crawl - Mathias is terribly injured and brutalised all through the book (including torture) and left with crippling injuries. This may seem to make the book more realistic - but it also makes it ultra-bleak. The only person that helps him for unselfish, compassionate reasons is Katta. And her seizures are quite terrifying, even on paper. The other characters are only in it for themselves. Until the end when the motives of Koenig suddenly switchs from being in it for the imagined profit to wanting to help Katta. This somewhat jarred with me, because there had been no apparent reason for this switch. The ending itself was abrupt and bleak. Although, at least you did learn why the dwarf just would not die.

In all, a bit too violent, a bit too dark and the plot a little too erratic and clumsy. ( )

I started reading The Toymaker to my 10 year old & we decided it was just too dark - and not in a fun way. I liked this book, but I'm in my 40's. The characters are interesting and the premise is good enough to drag you along to see what happens. ( )

A thoroughly unpleasant and heartless – which, without being all spoilery-like, is entirely appropriate – dark fantasy; shades of 'Tales of Hoffman', but grimmer than that, which takes some doing. Ostensibly a children’s book. Possibly children have stronger stomachs than I do. ( )

de Quidt, Jeremy. (2010). The Toymaker. Illus. by Gary Blythe. New York: Random House/David Fickling. 359 pp. ISBN 978-0-385-75180-3 (Hard Cover); $16.99.

Last year, when reviewing The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, I stated that it is a book that will have teachers running away from it screaming and teens screaming for more. The Toymaker is another such book. Horror rarely finds allies among adults and it is a very popular genre among young readers. This is a book that I hope libraries will add to their collections because it is horror that features lyrical, almost poetic writing of the most bleak and grim nature:

“With fierce coal-black eyes the woman stepped towards her, the blade of the knife held flat between her thumb and finger. Koenig put his hand out and touched the woman’s arm. She stopped at once. Still holding onto her, he lifted his other hand to Katta and slowly, so there could be no misunderstanding what he meant, he said, ‘Don’t ever do that to her again, or she will kill you and there will be nothing I can do to stop her. She will wait until I am gone and then, if you are still here, she will kill you. Do you understand?’” (pp. 128-129).

Mathias’ grandfather is a gifted conjuror traveling with a second-rate circus run by greedy dumb people. The grandfather has a secret, a secret so huge that telling it risks the life of Mathias despite being a secret worth vast sums of money. Mathias’ grandfather is performing one day when he sees someone in the audience that scares him so badly that he falls and eventually dies. Mathias watches his grandfather place a small piece of paper in his mouth in an attempt to swallow it, but dies with the paper in his mouth. Dr. Leiter is looking for this very piece of paper that may be the secret promised to Mathias. Mathias rescues the piece of paper and, of course, Dr. Leiter discovers that he has it (thanks to a very evil doll, Marguerite). With the help of a servant girl, Mathias escapes and the chase begins! Horror at each turn of this fast-paced dark and twisted tale.

I love the dark touches and motivatons of the characters in this book-very believable and enthralling. Great gothic tone. Thoroughly enjoyed The Toymaker. Wonderful pacing, characters and prose.

Full review at:

http://bookgrotto.blogspot.com/2010/09/toymaker-by-jeremy-de-quidt.html ( )