More like 3.5. Really gets good halfway through.

Very well written. I got caught up in the story!

Young Nella is off to marry an older man she barely knows and start her life as the wife of a rich Amsterdam merchant. She receives a large replica of the house as a wedding gift, and as Nella furnishes it, the secrets of all the house's inhabitants unravel. Nella is very naive and you kind of want to shake her sometimes. But, she's brave and resourceful and means well, and it gets you on her side, especially when you remember she's only 18, and nearly everybody else in the house is much older and wiser than she is.

I really enjoyed this a lot. I get tired of historical novels set in the same periods and places repeatedly, and 1600s Amsterdam, when the Dutch East India Company was at the height of its power. As I look back on this novel, I realize there were some threads that didn't get tied up as neatly as I'd expected, but it was still very satisfying. Burton is an author to watch!

3.5*

The word that most comes to mind is unsatisfying. I was really looking forward to this and maybe it was just a case of right book, wrong time but I really struggled. The first two thirds were flat out boring. I paused in reading it and might have DNFed if I wasn't on a long coach journey and felt that all snuggled up and concentrated was the right atmosphere. I was right, as it happens, because the book definitely picked up in the final arc and I'm definitely glad I finished it.

I was perhaps expecting more magical realism. But the writing was so clunky and heavy, so visceral and sometimes downright odd that none of the whimsy and mystery could come across. None of the characters made sense - their motivations were all over the place, and all the dialogue read the same, regardless of age, sex or class.

But it was (eventually) very readable and accomplished.

Interesting premise, unfortunately,
this book didn't dazzle me. In my opinion, the author tried to cram too many social issues into one book (women's rights, interracial relationships, homosexuality), and never revealed the motives of the most interesting and title character, the miniaturist. I enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of life in 17th century Amsterdam.

Almost a four star, certainly for readability, pace, narrative and the evocation of place and milieu. What brought it down was the link between title and text, which depending on how harsh I feel seems either misleading or pretentious. The characterisation is good, but weakened by what seems, ultimately, like the padding of mysticism. I adore magical realism, but here it seems an unnecessary add on, a lack of faith in the strength of the story. I would have preferred it as a mundane tale!

A beautifully crafted tale that defies classification: historical drama, with a hint of the paranormal (or is it?), and a cast of characters each with layers of depth to be uncovered.
Burton has a gift for descriptive language, evocative without being florid. There is a languid quality to the story, even as secrets come tumbling out one after another, that serves to anchor the sensation of 17th Century Amsterdam. It's not a slow read, though. I found myself always eager to discover what the next page would bring.
There are adult themes, and poignant losses, for which I hesitate to post spoilers, because the story is that well-crafted, so that knowing ahead of time really could diminish the effect, if not the impact.

Wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did :) Would definitely recommend, my only complaint would be that it wasn't long enough. I liked the characters so much that I just wanted to see more of them, it was very sad to see it end.