This is the sequel to The Miniaturist, which I loved.
This book starts with Thea celebrating her eighteenth birthday and attending Amsterdam’s most exThis is the sequel to The Miniaturist, which I loved.
This book starts with Thea celebrating her eighteenth birthday and attending Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball at which potential husbands are met. There is one candidate that aunt Nella likes a lot, but not so much Thea as she has her heart set on Walter, painter at playhouse. And as it turns out, someone else knows her secret and now demands money or Nella’s life will be ruined.
As the story is mainly about family dynamics/secrets, there is very little to the plot. The family dynamics are well-presented. Young Thea represents a character that despite family’s expectations she tries to forge her own path, but she struggles with it. Her character is to learn from her experience and come stronger at the end, and I believe that is the main point of the story. It could be also family struggles against society’s expectations. Nevertheless, I don’t see a strong point of this story.
The characters are well-developed and kept me engaged for about the first third of the story. In the second third, the story is not making much progression and the characters start losing their appeal. It picks up in the third part of the story, with some events happening.
This story is character-driven, which I love, and based on family dynamics/secrets, which doesn't necessarily appeal to me. Thus, I was hoping for strong sense of place in regards to Amsterdam to give the story more vibrancy. But it’s not there.
The miniaturist appears a few times in this story, but it’s just a mention of her and some miniatures. It is a bit confusing what that is about. In the first book, it is the miniature copy of the house they live in and then followed by miniature things that fill the house. In this following book, I’m not sure what this is about. It feels forced in the story, as it had to be somehow woven since it’s the sequel book.
Source: ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review...more
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