The Maker’s Box: Novella Review

Good morning, readers!

Hope you’re ready for another review! I love getting review requests because I feel like it introduces me to writers I might not have found otherwise. And I hope my reviewing them also helps introduce you, dear reader, to writers you might never have heard of. So no surprise, the author sent me an ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I have kept my review spoiler-free since it hasn’t been released yet (get your pre-orders of The Maker’s Box today!)

The Author

David Barclay is an American author (who is married to another novelist!) whose works include The Aeschylus, the Devil’s Mistress, and The Maker’s Box. He, like me, is also the caretaker of two black cats. Besides writing, Barclay has worked in the game industry as a designer and a writer for over fifteen years!

David believed he was going to use his English degree for good and become a teacher. Instead, he used it for evil and became a game developer.

- Barclay’s website

Besides his website, you can find him on Twitter and Facebook as well.

The Novella

Emily has been obsessed with the occult since her mother died, collecting every pagan curio and oddity she can find. Then on the night of her sixteenth birthday, her father gives her a piece of real magic: a beating human heart inside a wooden box. If the gift weren't strange enough, his instructions are even stranger: “You'll need to feed it to keep it alive.” The box needs her blood, and in exchange, shows her rousing and wondrous things. Desires she never knew existed. But as Emily’s father lapses into addiction, as she grows weak with blood loss, she realizes all too late the box has desires of its own.

The Maker’s Box is a contemporary dark fairy tale of magic, obsession, and madness.

- Amazon synopsis of The Maker’s Box

Coming out on March 3rd, The Maker’s Box is a punchy novella about a young girl grappling with a recovering alcoholic father, her budding sexuality, and a mysterious box that tempts her with everything she’s ever wanted. Sensing something is sinister about the heart, Emily dives deep into its history to try and figure out where the heart came from — who it came from — and what it might be capable of.

The Review

How can I not be intrigued with a novella when its synopsis includes a quote about “a beating human heart inside a wooden box”?

The novella starts off deep in the action with Emily receiving the heart in the first chapter. From there, the reader is gripped tight as Emily races against time (and blood loss) to find out who the owner of the heart was and what its intentions are. You could say that it really sets your heart racing. (heh)

One of Barclay’s strengths is definitely his dialogue. Every character’s dialogue is unique and realistic. I especially loved Lock’s voice.

I really enjoyed the suspense and tension woven throughout as Emily investigates the heart and its twisted past. The pacing just kept me wanting to read more and more. Then it ends in a brilliant, savage face-off, followed by a bittersweet resolution similar in feeling to a coming-of-age tale. I definitely ended up feeling really satisfied with the novella overall when I reached the end.

One thing that concerned me at first, was in the beginning Barclay has Emily describe herself by looking at herself in the mirror, naked. There’s a strange sentence about Emily’s nipples that made me worry if the rest of the novella would trap poor Emily under a sexual lens, but luckily that was not the case. That was the only instance that made me cock an eyebrow, thankfully.

Additionally, there were times when I felt that some scenes felt a little rushed and I felt a little removed from the action. Luckily it wasn’t very often. And although I liked the ending, I did feel like a few of the threads Barclay introduced were left unfinished (like the brief love arc introduced between Emily and her female friend, which is not brought up again).

Overall though, I am really glad Barclay reached out to me with this novella. The Maker’s Box is such a fun read with relatable characters and a great premise. If you’re looking for a heart-pounding (heh) read, I would definitely recommend The Maker’s Box.

7/10

x PLM