A review by ryreadsreviews
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Title: The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown 

• Publication Date- 02/13/24
• Publisher-  William Morrow 
• Overall Rating- 3.5 out of 5 stars 

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

The Book of Doors sets out to be a combination of a literary fiction and a thriller. I would say it somewhat achieves it’s goal. I found my experience to be that the book felt like it was spilt into halves based off genre. The first half felt like a heartfelt literary fiction that shaped up to be one of my favorite books of the year. The latter half was a thriller that was convoluted and had too many elements to it. Unfortunately because of the latter half of the book I ended up not enjoying it as much as I expected. Let me say more. 

This book contains one of the most interesting worlds and premises I’ve ever read. This is a world where books carrying magical powers such as time travel, pain, despair, luck, etc. At the start of the book we get to know a few of these books and what they can do. As the book goes on there are more and more books to the point that I wondered what the point of them was anymore. 

We get to know a lot of characters who were all truly wonderful all the way to the end. The Book of Doors carries a found family element with it that was endearing and heartfelt up until the last page. In the latter half of the book this wasn’t as prominent at the start but could still be felt. 

Throughout the story we spend time with people who are “hunt,” these magical books for use and/or collection. There is some beautiful imagery in the first half that will stick with me forever. Picture you favorite ambience room and put that in a book. 

There is time travel in this story and it all made sense for the first 40 percent. Then it felt like the author himself got confused or took things too far to the point that it no longer made sense. There is one really heartbreaking element to the main characters life that felt relatable and authentic. However, on the very last page the author basically took all the heartfelt away. You will only understand that if you read the book. With that being said some of you will disagree with me about that element, you may soak it up and love it. 

That brings me to my final point. The story wraps up too neatly. I would have liked to see a more open ending that didn’t feel like everything tied up in a nice neat bow. Now, to you that may be something that you want or prefer in your books. 

All in all I did really enjoy this book. The first 50 percent I will never forget reading and some of the scenes and moments will be in my mind forever. I am not upset I read this and will read from the author again.