Magic, mystery, and terror, there is everything in this book that a person wants in a novel. With the introduction of Matrona, nothing special comes to the novel. The girl is just a simple village girl who obeys her parents in all her works. Throughout her life, the girl has not tried to go against the orders of her parents. She lives according to the rules and regulations of the village and when the time came for her marriage she simply obeyed her parents who found a nice match for her.
Just a few days before her marriage she got the chance to visit Slava’s shop. At first, Matrona is surprised to see the dolls which Slava has created for every villager. In curiosity, she tried to find the doll with her father’s face and when she found it she quickly opened it as well. This act revealed the secrets of the dolls in front of the girl and she also got the answer to her father’s crazy behavior in the house.
Slava knew exactly how to keep the girl quiet, the man-made her the steward and she was forced to open the dolls of her shape after every three days. With the opening of every doll, the life of the girl changes drastically and she is horrified to find that the time to open the fifth doll has come.
Charlie N. Holmberg has used some old concepts present in the myths here. The use of the myths is not direct because the author has just borrowed the concept just like he did in Spellbreaker and The Glass Magician. Angela Dawe has given heavy sound to Slava to show the mysterious and authoritative behavior of the doll maker.