A review by unboxedjack
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.

I got through 20% of this book and I would say that throughout 80% of the time I read that small amount, I was rolling my eyes. With a promise of being something akin to The Midnight Library and The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, two books I greatly enjoyed, I expected something unique, thoughtful, and, at the very least, readable. I'll give Brown credit for creating something unique here. I love a good story about books imbued with magic and the aftermath of this being discovered. Yet Brown's talents end there. Between his "man writing women" way of characterizing any female identified character (i.e., the protagonist and her friend yammering on about food, bodies, and weight as though that's all women care about), two-dimensional personalities of any character, and blandness of prose, this book was simply not enough to capture my attention. Brown struck me as an adolescent attempting to write like an adult. And perhaps that would work better as a middle grade book rather than something marketed towards adults, but it still wouldn't overshadow the fact that Brown simply seems to be unable at creating a readable or captivating story. 

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC copy.