Made Things - BookWyrm

Soh Kam Yung reviewed Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Magical puppets bought to life in a city full of magic, but only for the privilaged.

4 stars

An interesting fantasy story involving a puppet maker with some magical ability over her puppets, set in a city that is strongly divided into the upper class (who control magic in the city) and the rest (who have to get by with the bits of magic that can be found) that is ruled by gangs. The puppet maker has a secret relationship with magical puppets that were bought to life by magic in the past: she makes new puppets for them (which are then made alive by magic), and they help her survive in the city by thievery.

But then, a gang lord calls her in, for his gang have found a hidden lair that contains an unusual object, and they use her to learn more about it. But what she discovers could change the entire power structure of the city and her relationship with the magical puppets.

Zivan reviewed Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Review of 'Made Things' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Made Things is aimed at a younger audience and intended to teach the evils of hording power.

It's a fun story about a street urchin that teams up with magical figurines. But it really hits you on the head with the rich and powerful are evil message.

Pentapod reviewed Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Review of 'Made Things' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is the first fantasy book I've read by Tchaikovsky, and maybe it's because I started with his "Children of Time" series that I found this one a little underwhelming, but it felt just downright TOO SHORT. It's the story of Coppelia, an apprentice puppet maker in a magical city who gets drawn into a daring heist; and also the story of tiny automata created through a combination of artifice and magic. These little puppet-sized people are trying to establish themselves in the city and make contact with Coppelia, who is fascinated and forms a partnership with them.

There are a lot of great elements in this book - the tiny automata, the magical city, the class stratification - but somehow they just didn't seem to deliver satisfactorily. Maybe I'm judging overly harshly because I know Tchaikovsky can and has done so much better, but the ending seemed to wrap …

This is the first fantasy book I've read by Tchaikovsky, and maybe it's because I started with his "Children of Time" series that I found this one a little underwhelming, but it felt just downright TOO SHORT. It's the story of Coppelia, an apprentice puppet maker in a magical city who gets drawn into a daring heist; and also the story of tiny automata created through a combination of artifice and magic. These little puppet-sized people are trying to establish themselves in the city and make contact with Coppelia, who is fascinated and forms a partnership with them.

There are a lot of great elements in this book - the tiny automata, the magical city, the class stratification - but somehow they just didn't seem to deliver satisfactorily. Maybe I'm judging overly harshly because I know Tchaikovsky can and has done so much better, but the ending seemed to wrap up very abruptly and not entirely believably, and there are a lot of loose ends left unanswered that I would have loved to see included (like Coppelia's parents, and what happened to Auntie's collection). I will likely pick up the sequel to see if more is revealed there.