The Dollmakers A Novel from the Fallen Peaks

In the country called One, dollmakers are among society's most vital artisans: a guard's doll is often the only thing standing between the living and the Shod, cobbled monstrosities that tear apart anything to add to their horde. Shean of Pearl has trained her whole life to make dolls that will destroy the Shod who killed everyone she loved. Then, at licensing, she's told her dolls are too beautiful and delicate to fight.

Wounded and furious, Shean is sent by her mentor to the remote village of Web to learn from Ikiisa, a reclusive and respected guard dollmaker—but she has her own plan to force the Licensor Guild to reconsider. Lynn Buchanan's The Dollmakers is a gothic-flavored fantasy built on a strikingly original magic system, the first stand-alone novel in the interconnected Fallen Peaks sequence.