City of a Thousand Dolls

Author: Miriam Forster
Series: Bhinian Empire, #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 5, 2013

An exotic treat set in an entirely original, fantastical world brimming with deadly mystery, forbidden romance, and heart-stopping adventure.

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron's assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city's handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls' deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

To think I actually thought about turning away this novel because it had factions. Just another reason to curse the growing number of dystopian novels of late, and to thank the heavens for the book's beautiful cover, charming author, disability and South Asian representation convincing me otherwise. And don't worry, City of a Thousand Dolls comes nowhere near to the awfully-done Stormdancer.

"You have been invaluable to me as an assistant and as a source of information." [Matron] hesitated. "And I'm afraid that your value to me has put you in great danger."

Nisha is the Matron's bitch. She tidies her room, does her errands, and reports to her whenever something peculiar catches her eye, allowing Nisha to move freely between Houses. Shockingly, her recent report doesn't contain the usual out-of-stock hairpin notice or the occasional girl unhappy with her House, but a body found at the very center of the City of a Thousand Dolls. As the Redeeming, the most important event of the city, approaches and the Matron's hands become full with the new Council Head who seeks to take her city for himself, Nisha, with the help of a sarcastic clan of talking cats, is sent to investigate.

"There are more secrets in the City than you can possibly know. Which ones do you really care about?"

While City of a Thousand Dolls may sometimes lack the maturity or complexity of similarly-themed novels, I enjoyed reading it for what it was. Nisha, though a touch bland, had turned out to be a strong-willed protagonist that I've come to adore. She makes mistakes and she learns from them, a simple thing I can't say for most young adult protagonists. She tries so hard to do the right thing, no matter what tries to bring her down. I empathized strongly with her sense of loneliness and feelings of being trapped within the estate, finding parallels with my current situation to hers. I won't get into that, for obvious reasons, but I think you get the picture.

She was just Nisha. And she needed to be free.

Much of the first half of the book is comprised of world-building, and the synopsis was right. For once, the "entirely original, fantastical world brimming with deadly mystery" was not a lie. Miriam Forster's love for her work shone between the lines, a first for me, and I share in that love. The author had clearly done her research and expressed it in a respectful way. People of Color and disabled characters are in abundance, as well as powerful women and women of power. There's no shame in what the House of Pleasure does. I loved how she handled Nisha's romance with the men in her life and how it isn't the only kind of love that's touched upon. And if an author can make you ship a human with a cat, you know they have some serious skill. Although I wish there was something... more, City of a Thousand Dolls was amazing by itself and not a novel any reader should pass up. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go draw some terrible fanart.