City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster (review)

Established as a safe haven for the orphaned girls of the Bhinian Empire, the City of a Thousand Dolls transforms casteless, unwanted infants into highly skilled young women to serve as wives or apprentices to the highest bidder. Abandoned at age six, Nisha has spent the last ten years as the assistant to the City’s matron, enjoying the security offered by the City’s walls. That calm is abruptly shattered when Nishi’s fellow novices start turning up dead and it’s up to Nishi, with her access to the City’s multiple training houses, to find the killer. The mystery here is a fine one, complete with red herrings galore and plenty of wrong turns, and the concept of the City is well executed, highlighting the ways in which the expectations of gender and caste keep the girls safe while prepping them for a life of servitude and exploitation. Ultimately, though, any indictment of the role that gender plays in defining society is undercut by the revelation of the killer as a jealous bride-to-be, and the solid mystery is unfortunately complicated by several subplots involving forbidden romances, cat-human hybrids, and a convoluted backstory regarding Nishi’s heritage. As Nishi must choose between remaining within the cloistered safety of the City or taking her chances with the outside world, her dilemma will be familiar to teens looking toward adulthood; readers who relish the opportunity to see adolescent angst placed within a fantastical, dystopian setting may find plenty to consider here.