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A review by margeryb
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
4.0
This middlegrade book has been sitting unread on my bookshelf for a few years and I have finally gotten around to reading it. Whatever instinct lead me to purchase this title has been proven right: 100 Cupboards gave me some genuine creeps, some genuine gasps, and contained some genuine imagination.
100 Cupboards is a portal fantasy of sorts, or more like 100 portal fantasy, although it takes a while before anyone travels through the portals in a subversion of the usual tropes. That subversion of usual tropes, the build of mystery, the way Wilson writes even the mundane world of Kansas as quirky and ominous makes this novel a very favorable read. Henry and Henrietta worked very well as lead and sidekick, instigating and digging their heels in accordance to their different personalities that helped keep the plot moving along.
Some readers might find the slow build-up and the structuring of this being very much the first book of a series with a lot of setups being there to be paid off in later volumes offputting. I didn't. My issues were mostly in the climax, which were a bit 'that escalated quickly' offset with a 'that seemed like an easy solution.' These weren't enough to put me off the read which had a very strong creepy vibe in line with something like Coraline.
100 Cupboards is a portal fantasy of sorts, or more like 100 portal fantasy, although it takes a while before anyone travels through the portals in a subversion of the usual tropes. That subversion of usual tropes, the build of mystery, the way Wilson writes even the mundane world of Kansas as quirky and ominous makes this novel a very favorable read. Henry and Henrietta worked very well as lead and sidekick, instigating and digging their heels in accordance to their different personalities that helped keep the plot moving along.
Some readers might find the slow build-up and the structuring of this being very much the first book of a series with a lot of setups being there to be paid off in later volumes offputting. I didn't. My issues were mostly in the climax, which were a bit 'that escalated quickly' offset with a 'that seemed like an easy solution.' These weren't enough to put me off the read which had a very strong creepy vibe in line with something like Coraline.