Reviews

The Door Into Fire by Diane Duane

catmeghum's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

katieanne4's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

i loved the wizards books when i was a kid (i think i quit after the first 3, maybe that was all that was out at the time?) so when i heard she had an out of print queer poly adult fantasy i sought it out. after reading the other reviews it sounds like i liked it way more than other people. fair criticisms: a bit slow paced at times, the way the queernorm, polynorm world was sort of automatically assumed to also be a hypersexual world was, maybe, of its time. but hypersexual in a very gentle, non-raunchy way. 

i really liked the characters, the world. i did feel like the giant castle with infinity doors ended up underwhelming/underutilized! but maybe more in the next two books. 

i did not realize that this is a semi-abandoned quartet. it does sound like she might be actively working on book 4. i will definitely move on to books 2 & 3. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

junplum's review against another edition

3.0

A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter

zoestertoaster's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

dagsywagsy43's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

even_steven's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

DNF’d at about 65%. Nothing much happens, and when it does, it’s not very captivating. It’s a love story rather than a fantasy adventure, which is fine, but not the reason I picked up the book. It’s nice to see some decent representation of same sex relationships given when the book was written, but beyond that, the narrative simply uses sex as a capstone for every romantic scene. On to other things!

saraupsidedown's review against another edition

3.0

Picked this up in a used book store with an eclectic collection in part because it seemed gloriously ridiculous but also because I was curious to read older sci-fi by women about men. It was passable, the sexual fluidity a more unique element, but excessive world building made it tough to get invested in the characters.

qalminator's review against another edition

3.0

Certain cultural details made me think this must have been first published post "free love" and pre AIDS. I was right: 1979. Sex seems to be viewed as just a natural extension to any close relationship, but only a special few partners will become "loved"s. No explicit details, thankfully.

As for the story, it takes the form of one of those quests where the thing the protagonist is looking for turns out to have been inside them all along (but they couldn't have figured this out without undertaking the quest, so...). Decently executed version of this trope.

I would have liked it better if the plot had felt more integrated. There is a definite through-line, but most of the side adventures just feel like unconnected episodes that happen to come up along the way. There's no sense of them building up to the main climax, at least until they get to the Strange Building in Area Forbidden to Outsiders (which makes me wonder: the Waste is supposed to be guarded by Dragons and a group of humans. Did none of them notice a group of 10 or so people traipsing back and forth?)

It will be interesting to read the sequel (eventually; taking a break from the series first), which was published post-AIDS. The theme of death is prevalent as well, as the Goddess's Error, and that seems like the natural place for such concerns to come out.

graumuenzen's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

breakery's review against another edition

4.0

beautifully written, surprisingly touching, and entirely hopeful. it's all for love!!!!!!
the pacing was a bit off at times and the politics a bit difficult to follow. i do also wish the women got more development, but i'm looking forward to seeing segnbora more in the sequel!