GOLEM (NOUN): AN ARTIFICIAL HUMAN BEING IN HEBREW FOLKLORE ENDOWED WITH LIFE (FROM ‘MERRIAM WEBSTER’)

TRIGGER WARNING: Rape in many forms

Sometimes a fetish can go too far…

Let me go on record saying I didn’t hate this book, but I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it as I’m not sure if I like it or what…

Dollmaker is about Stephen.  A man who fetishized the perfect woman, a ballerina, from a poster; posters are one dimensional, thus, so was Stephens perfect woman.  Smart, iconoclast, Stephen went about the alchemical arts to create his ultimate concubine…and then another…and another.  Each woman he created took something of him, from him.  Stephen isn’t a bad guy, he’s quite talented, his moral center is questionable, but he’s not a villain… he’s the anti-hero.

We then meet Brian.  Brian is Stephen’s best friend, a sociopath hunting for trophies of the worst kind.  There is nothing redeemable about this character, he is a quintessential baddie, he won’t be missed, and you’ll find yourself waiting for that moment.  Honestly, I would have done worse to him.

Stephen perfected the making of living dolls, but when you play with mystic forces, who knows what will happen.  These women he bore through craftsmanship held an intelligence beyond his imagination, they knew things, and they recognized the parts everyone played, some better than the characters themselves.  As the two years of the story passes, these women form their own family, their own matriarchy, and they will go forth…and they will create.

How can one manufacture humanity if one is not born of it, not raised in it? What if you were created by someone whose own grasp of humanity is stunted?  How does one teach something that can’t die, that life is precious? After a discussion with several individuals about Artificial Intelligence (AI), I could just write off my unease with this story as a fear of AI’s taking over and leaving us humans in the dust, but…maybe that’s what supposed to happen…

In conclusion, DOLLMAKER was weird, but I definitely didn’t hate this story. It’s intriguing, and after spending a week with it in my head, I’d recommend it, especially to those that follow the Left Hand Path.

Story: 4/5
Readability: 5/5
Gore: 3/5
Makes you question the world around you 5/5

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