Letter essay #7

Doll Bones

Sophia Jortner

 

Recently, I finished reading Doll Bones, a 244 paged novel by Holly Black, an author that is very well known and has wrote numerous books that include The iron trial, white cat, red glove, the spiderwick chronicles and more. Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children. She was born and raised in New Jersey and loved reading and writing since she was very little. At first, I saw this book and was very intrigued. I never usually pick out these type of books because I usually don’t like this kind of type of scary or mystery books. But, I read the back and it seemed interesting but still I didn’t really know what to think of it. I expected to only find myself reading the first few pages and already loving the book. I really thought it was funny and interesting how these three friends who have always wanted to go on a quest really go on one and have so many adventures.

 

In the novel, Zach is a young by who goes to school with Poppy and Alice who always like to play a game that includes pirates, thieves, mermaids and warriors. But, in their game their “Great Queen” curses those who displease her. One day Zach’s dad who Zach isn’t fond of does something that stops Zach from playing the game. After that Zach tells them he can’t play but for some reason never tells the truth why. Then, after Zach leaving Poppy claims that she has now been seeing dreams of the queen.

 

The climax of the plot, was a very big plot. Although there were little bits of plots here and there that was very suspenseful. It was interesting to see Zach and the characters relationships grow and evolve after the situations that they face. I also thought that one of the interesting parts was to see how they faced certain problems and how they each individually face it.  I thought that was one of the best part because I like when you can compare the characters from the beginning of the book and at the end and see how much they have grown.

 

I liked the way that the author made each character whether it was one of the people Zach encountered, Poppy or Alice or the Queen very bold in the story and important even though some of the characters had small rolls.

 

Finally, I was interested in this passage “The large marble headstone bore the word KERCHNER on it, and over that, a carving of a willow tree. They stared at it, incredulous smiles giving way to genuine grins and laughter. It made me feel, for a moment, like maybe no stories about things getting better or things getting worse.” (pg. 239-241)

 

What I like about this passage is that it was so original and it tied up the story well, and for me this story, and this passage was almost like a really good conclusion. It had a introduction and then a problem but in the end it was all fixed but at the same time still left some suspense for the reader. I thought that this book was a really good and fun read! I am so happy that I read this book and definitely would rate this book a 8.5/10!!!