2.5 stars, but I rounded down. 
 It was a page-turner, I'll give The Miniaturist that. The pages flew by, fast. But upon finishing the book, I found myself asking, what was the point of the book? What message, or lesson, was the author trying to tell us? Because I can't find any reason. 
 And we are left with soooooo many unanswered questions. For me, there was no resolution at all. The characters fell flat, their relationships unauthentic. I kept going because I really, really, really wanted to know who The Miniaturist was (and by that I mean, who was she, really? What's her history?), what was her motive, how did she know their secrets, or anyone's secrets really (because it was noted that she made other miniatures, and they were pretty sinister too). For me, that was the biggest mystery of the whole book - AND WE WEREN'T GIVEN ANY ANSWERS. 
 Sigh.