LIES OF A TOYMAKER

A Pinocchio-tinged Fae portal fantasy.

Eighteen-year-old Italian American Paige Vitaly lives a nomadic lifestyle in a caravan with her toymaker mother, Petta. After their most recent move to Petta’s hometown of Wintroster, Virginia, Paige stumbles on a secret about her family that leads her to the Land of Toys, which has been ravaged by Deathsprites. Even as Paige confronts her destiny in fighting to protect the Fae and the Flare, their source of magical power, her story is interspersed with chapters following an ensemble cast of other characters, some friends and some foes. Most of the chapters are written in the third person, but the Fairy Prince’s chapters are inexplicably in the second person. Some of the chapters follow a doctor who has a “madness” that manifests as his hearing voices; this potentially ableist aspect of his characterization isn’t developed in a way that feels organic or necessary. The monsters in the Land of Toys are patched together from parts of slaughtered toys: Jacobson throws some characters and a handful of scenes inspired by Carlo Collodi’s classic into an epic battle that is largely unexplained. There are two queer romances between underdeveloped characters; although most of the queer characters are accepted, one has homophobic parents and an arc that sees no resolution.

Baffling worldbuilding and poorly drawn characters mar this retelling.