The Book of Doors - Gareth Brown - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Gareth Brown

GENRE: Contemporary Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: February 13, 2024

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary fantasy-thriller combining low fantasy and time travel with the evergreen good vs. evil trope. Mindboggling plotting! Enjoyed this debut novel from start to end, despite a few minor niggles.

Plot Preview:

New York City. Cassie, who works at a bookstore, is surprised when her favourite customer leaves her a book on his passing. The book seems to be full of strange writing and drawings, and has an inscription at the start revealing its name: the ‘Book of Doors’.

Soon, Cassie realises the significance of the title. Using the book, she can go through any door and enter any other place. Along with her best friend Izzy, Cassie begins exploring places using the magical book. Little does she know that this is not the only magical book in the world, and through their fun adventures, they have stirred the interest of some violent people who will do anything to get their hands on this powerful book. The only person who is equipped to help them is the mysterious Drummond Fox, but he seems to be escaping his own past.

The story comes to us through the third person perspectives of various characters.

The official blurb recommends this to readers of ‘The Midnight Library’, ‘The Invisible Life of Addie Larue’, and ‘The Night Circus’. Of these, I have read only the first one, and this book is nothing like it except for the presence of doors. So I’m going to advocate this to readers who enjoyed Peng Shepherd’s ‘The Cartographers’ and Alix E. Harrow’s ‘The Ten Thousand Doors of January’, both of which I loved for their creativity.

Bookish Yays:

🚪 First things first. A debut novel, with a clear focus, and an ambitious storyline, and no overload of needless themes, and a plot that fits together almost like a jigsaw puzzle, a piece at a time. Well done!

🚪 This is a classic good vs evil fantasy. With most characters slotting neatly into either section, this is almost like watching a superhero movie where ordinary characters save the world.

🚪 On that note, the main characters are not heroes but realistic, flawed humans. Cassie is concerned only about her own wishes for a long while. Izzy is obsessed with staying thin. Drummond is a coward who chooses flight over fight. It’s amazing to see them grow in maturity and spirit over the course of the novel.

🚪 The secondary characters, though in somewhat limited roles, are also interesting. Book hunter Azaki, and Lottie aka The Bookseller are amazing grey characters. Azaki’s “bodyguard” Lund is the strong-silent type; I wish he had had a greater active role. The characters that sent a chill through my bones were the antagonists. The book has two of the most heinous villains I have read. (Admittedly, I don’t read a lot of villainous thrillers, so take this line with a pinch of salt.) The main antagonist – ‘The Woman’ – is 100% evil and creepy as heck!

🚪 There are multiple characters at the start, but introduced in a way that is easy to remember who's who. The identity of the characters doesn’t get confusing.

🚪 As a bibliophile, I loved not just that books played such an important role in the plot but also the reveal about how the books came into being. There was something almost spiritual in that scene. And who doesn’t want magical books!?

🚪 You will NEVER see me listing gore and/or brutality in the Yays column, and yes, this book has a quite a lot of brutality. (Remember? Heinous villains!) I actually have a poor tolerance for gory scenes. But the writing in this book is such that I was more fascinated+horrified than grossed out by the carnage.

🚪 The writing is descriptive without going over the top. I could visualise every scene vividly. (which wasn’t a good thing during the bloodshed scenes; oh well!)

🚪 The pacing is somewhat uneven, but I didn’t mind it, as the story doesn’t regress or falter even during the slow moments. The tempo goes in sync with the characters’ actions and emotions at that time. It was almost as if the pace altered in accordance with the state of the character’s freedom. And hey, I still completed this 400+ pager within two days, so no complaints.

🚪 My favourite part of this book is the intricacy of the plotting and how it all comes together. Unlike the more grounded genres such as crime thrillers or historical fiction, genres such as fantasy and time travel cannot be overanalysed for logical accuracy as they are essentially imaginative. Keeping this in mind, the book astounded me with how neatly *almost* all its threads came together at the end. Moreover, the book offers plenty of twists and surprises along the way, while avoiding unwarranted infodumps and needless backstories for the characters. Most importantly, the book takes a couple of plotting calls that are hardly common in time travel stories – such a brave writing choice!

🚪 There is a hint of a romantic development, but thankfully, the story never deviates from its main track and the romance is kept exactly where it belonged – on the backburner.

🚪 I am not a fan of chapter titles in adult novels, but they are used wonderfully in this book.

🚪 Don't you just love authors who thank their pets in their final acknowledgement? I do!

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🔐 Some of the language is a bit awkward. One of the villains, Dr. Hugo Barbary, is exactly as his last name suggests – barbaric not just in his savagery but also in his uncivilised opinions, especially about women and those of non-white ethnic origins. While his lines are cringeworthy to read, they highlight what kind of a prejudiced jerk he is. If we remember that the language reflects the character, it is easier to ignore.

🔐 The plotting gets a bit too convenient at times. Some character decisions are annoying. There are also some question marks in a couple of the scenes. Actually, all this is a hallmark of most contemporary thrillers anyway, which is why I avoid thrillers. I guess I should be grateful this novel doesn’t go as much over the top and gets most things right.

All in all, I had plenty of fun reading this wonderful and entertaining debut novel. While the conveniences could have been toned down, the complicated storyline and the vivid writing ensured my utter satisfaction.

Definitely recommended to readers who enjoy low fantasy/magical realism and innovative storylines and imperfect characters. Just throw your overanalytical caps aside and enjoy the journey!

The author recently revealed on Instagram that he has finally started penning his next book, the title of which also begins with ‘The Book of [xxxxxxxxxxx]’. Sign me up for it!

My thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Book of Doors”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.