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A review by justgeekingby
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I’m a sucker for books about magical books, so The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown easily caught my attention. In Brown’s debut novel, Cassie is working her usual shift in a bookshop when she’s left a gift by a regular customer. The book is filled with odd writings and strange illustrations and has a message to Cassie informing her that telling her that this is the Book of Doors and that any door is every door. On the way home, she can’t get the message out of her head; does that mean what she thinks it means? No, that would be ridiculous, right? A book can’t open doors… can it?
When she gets home, she tells her friend and roommate Izzy about the book, and they find out that the does open doors. The two women don’t realise that their magical book is one of many, and that particular book is one that people would kill to get their hands on. Thrown into a dark and mysterious world, only one thing is for certain; Cassie and Izzy’s lives will never be the same again.
The synopsis for The Book of Doors hints at a lot; mystery, magic, dark powers, violence, and some unnamed evil. What it doesn’t mention is there’s a whole lot of time travel thrown in as well, and it is very well done. Brown has written an intense story that captures the essence of science fiction, the whimsy of fantasy and the thrill of mysteries. With interesting and charismatic characters, this is a book that will keep you glued to the pages until the very end. As mentioned, this book gets pretty dark and there is one particular character who is very repulsive (see content warnings for details). Overall, it’s a very clever story that isn’t afraid to show that people come in all shapes and sizes, with very different motivations and personalities.
The only thing that stopped this from being a five-star for me was that I felt the explanation about the creation of the books was a little lacking. Brown put a huge amount of detail into every other aspect of the Book of Doors, with every scene linking together perfectly. Yet with the books’ origin story, it felt like he dropped the ball a bit, and decided less was more. That would have worked if that approach had been taken with other areas of the book. Instead, it just felt out of place to me.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown is stunning, especially when you realise that this is a debut. If this is Brown’s first book, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
When she gets home, she tells her friend and roommate Izzy about the book, and they find out that the does open doors. The two women don’t realise that their magical book is one of many, and that particular book is one that people would kill to get their hands on. Thrown into a dark and mysterious world, only one thing is for certain; Cassie and Izzy’s lives will never be the same again.
The synopsis for The Book of Doors hints at a lot; mystery, magic, dark powers, violence, and some unnamed evil. What it doesn’t mention is there’s a whole lot of time travel thrown in as well, and it is very well done. Brown has written an intense story that captures the essence of science fiction, the whimsy of fantasy and the thrill of mysteries. With interesting and charismatic characters, this is a book that will keep you glued to the pages until the very end. As mentioned, this book gets pretty dark and there is one particular character who is very repulsive (see content warnings for details). Overall, it’s a very clever story that isn’t afraid to show that people come in all shapes and sizes, with very different motivations and personalities.
The only thing that stopped this from being a five-star for me was that I felt the explanation about the creation of the books was a little lacking. Brown put a huge amount of detail into every other aspect of the Book of Doors, with every scene linking together perfectly. Yet with the books’ origin story, it felt like he dropped the ball a bit, and decided less was more. That would have worked if that approach had been taken with other areas of the book. Instead, it just felt out of place to me.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown is stunning, especially when you realise that this is a debut. If this is Brown’s first book, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Content Warnings