A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
Cassie Andrews works at a bookstore in New York City when one night, one of her regulars, Mr. Webber, abruptly dies in the store. After the police depart, Cassie finds that Mr. Webber had left a strange book behind called The Book of Doors; sharing the discovery with her roommate and best friend Izzy, Cassie finds out that the book magically allows a person to travel across the globe, during which they meet Drummond Fox, a man who goes by The Librarian, who introduces them to the magical world of enchanted books while trying to hide from a vicious man named Hugo Barbary and a mysterious figure known only as The Woman. Thrust into the middle of a contest that has few rules and fewer scruples, Cassie and Izzy, with the help of Drummond, have to find a way of navigating the perils of this enchanting world while ensuring the books don’t end up in the wrong hands.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown was a fantasy story that is easily accessible to anyone who loves books and has always wanted to have an adventure, even if they find that what they get isn’t quite what they expected. Brown’s rendering of his characters were fantastic, with characters like Cassie showcasing the way that grief and longing can mingle in someone who also has a lot of capability and skill lying beneath, Izzy adding depth to a typical party animal, Drummond affording a glimpse of how over-protectiveness can be a form of trauma response, and others. In fact, one of the biggest strengths of Brown’s novel are its characters, which have a depth to them that can carry the reader through the story, even when the plot sometimes slows or becomes a bit tangled.
Brown’s novel was immensely entertaining, despite occasional moments where things could have been a little stronger, but it offers a meditation on what it means to exist when time and space can be bent according to one’s will. Similar to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The Book of Doors asks questions about identity and the meaning of life and friendship when it suddenly derails all your plans with a well-placed curve ball. While there aren’t really any Faustian bargains in The Book of Doors like there were in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, there are questions about what kinds of deals we’re willing to make with ourselves, and how they influence our ability to show up for those we hold most dear.
For casual readers, The Book of Doors would likely entertain anyone who has an interest in low-fantasy novels, books that revolve around reading culture and the power of literature, or readers who are interested in character-focused fiction. As noted above, Brown’s novel does a wonderful job of creating three-dimensional characters and puts them in situations that are largely believable, which is a major strength for Brown’s novel. Readers who liked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso, or The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow would also enjoy The Book of Doors.
For writers, Brown’s novel provides another instructive template on writing characters that are believable, especially when dealing with elements of magical realism and the fantasy genre as a whole. While The Book of Doors is technically fantasy, it grounds itself so firmly within the context of the real world that it can be challenging to simultaneously have characters that behave realistically to the strange new world they find themselves in and create a world that’s fantastic enough to justify its existence in the story. Brown’s book would be a great tool for learning ways to navigate that tension in any writers pursuing similar lines of storytelling.
If you’re interested in reading the book and want to support local bookstores as well as my work, consider using this affiliate link: The Book of Doors.
What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on Fridays on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Olivie Blake’s Gifted and Talented!
The Writerly Review 