I have mixed feelings about this one. This had everything I want in a fantasy and so much to like about it, but there were many things in the execution that really fell flat for me. I didn’t hate it yet, but I didn’t love it. The concept, magic system, and worldbuilding were very intriguing. Some of the plot reveals were unexpected and exciting. As much as I liked the main character, she somehow ended up being unrelatable and forgettable. The pacing was also a struggle, the length of page-time spent between jarring transitions just didn’t balance right for me. I somehow just never felt completely immersed, totally invested, nor deeply connected with the story. It was good and I’d still recommend for anyone who loves magical realism stories.

Transport to wherever and whenever you can imagine with The Book of Doors

Brown takes you through the many doors of Cassie's life. First introducing you to her when she was happily making her way through life, working at a book store that she loved, staying in a basic routine of staying up late reading and keeping to herself. That is until the night her favorite customer Mr. Webber passes away in the shop, leaving her two books. One a classic and one that will open many doors for her and change her life forever.

An amazing adventure that defenitly doesn't shy away from violence and action

And Brown really has a way with descriptives I tell ya the way it felt like the words felt like they were flying right off the page, making me feel like I was watching this amazing plot unfold instead of reading it was absolutely PHENOMINAL.

Packed with an amazing cast of characters with rich, charismatic, addictive personalities. You can't help but to fill up with hope that everything will wade in their favor.

And that ENDING. Brown really deserves a round of applause because WOW I defenitly wasn't expecting such a powerful ending. This is one that will defenitly resonated with me for a while.

Thank you to @garethjbrown13 @williammorrowbooks and @netgalley for the free invitation to allow me early access to explore the world with just an opening of the door or should I say turn of a page. I had an absolutely amazing time.

I wanted to love it, as any avid reader would love a story about magic books. Unfortunately, I wasn’t invested in either Cassie or Izzy. The pacing made the book difficult to get through. I found myself putting it down and forgetting for days, then trying again, putting it down, and picking it back up, until I finally finished it. I did enjoy the descriptions of the places and the imagery it invoked. The book wasn’t for me, but many others absolutely loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Gareth Brown for the eARC.

Imagine if books could control emotions and locations? Every reader knows that. But what if the emotions and locations were literal?

Cassie works at a bookstore in New York. After an elderly patron passes away, he leaves her a small book with cryptic writings, The book promises that any door is every door, and Cassie soon discovers that it is true. But The Book of Doors isn't the only book with special powers and collectors all over the world are after them, with a variety of intentions. Cassie is conscripted into a mission to protect her book, a secret library, and her friends, from those who want to control the set.

The Book of Doors is a contemporary mystery/thriller/fantasy mashup, with an intriguing premise and plenty of action. The idea that special books exist that allow the bearer to control some sort of power drew me in to the story and I loved how Cassie had to find out more about her book and the existence of others. Overall, I thought the story was great, though I still finished the book with some other questions about the story! I definitely could have read another 100 pages of it to find out everything I wanted to know.

I absolutely loved this book so much. It's in my top faves of the year! It was heart wrenching, thrilling & atmospheric. I loved the essence of magic. It grabbed my from the very beginning and I couldn't put it down. The author has a way of putting you right in the story like you are experiencing all the different doors they are opening and the world they are entering. Definitely will read more from this author!

Thank you for this arc!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Book of Doors.
This was a mind bending book for sure and I needed to commit my full attention while reading it to keep all the shifting pieces ordered in my mind. Definitely kept me guessing and I loved how it was wrapped up in the end.

Spoiler ahead:





I really wish there was more explanation about the why and how of Cassie being the creator of the books. This is what took this from a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review**

I wanted to like this one, but I really couldn’t get into it.

The concept of this one is great! Books that can grant powers/do magnificent things? Navigating the good vs evil uses of such powers? Sign me up!

The pacing was choppy throughout and a bit disorienting with the storyline following different character’s decisions. There were many times that certain information was repeated/unnecessary details were added in. Some scenes even felt unnecessarily dramatic/drawn out. The books were also a bit of a plot convenience in my opinion.

The characters felt very one-dimensional to me. None of them felt like they had much depth and I really couldn’t connect with any of them because of it. It caused some emotional scenes to fall flat for me.

I don’t think I was the target audience for this one, but I know others will enjoy!

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown is a contemporary thriller featuring low fantasy, time travel, and a classic good versus evil storyline that hooked me in from the beginning. It’s an ambitious debut novel that features some interesting concepts. For example, books are a vital aspect of the story and magic system, which I loved (give me more books inside of books). However, there are some minor details that bogged the story down for me.

The pacing is influenced by the character’s decisions, and to be frank… some of these decisions are just annoying. Thrillers often struggle from this, and these characters are definitely flawed, so in these instances, I often shrugged the pain points away. Fortunately, these pacing issues didn’t slow down my reading.

In addition, some of the language and character “flaws” feel a bit awkward. One of the villains often has derogatory opinions against people of color and women, and while they are certainly cringeworthy, I had to remind myself that he is a villain. With the good versus evil dynamics so clearly characterized, this language becomes a bit easier to swallow when you realize this character is supposed to be a horrible person. However, I would have appreciated some more depth instead of it being “bad man is racist and sexist because he is bad man.”

Some of the character descriptions felt unnecessary, and it made them feel one-dimensional at times. Cassie, while understandably enchanted by the power granted to her by the Book of Doors, feels weighed down by her own selfishness, to the point where I wanted to shake her. One of Izzy’s main “flaws” is her obsession with her own body. Body shaming is not a good character flaw, and these physical descriptions felt a lot like a dude wrote a book about a woman and, of course, had to focus on her weight or breast size.

I wanted so badly for The Book of Doors to become a favorite, and while it is ultimately a fun read (I finished it in two days), there are some aspects that left a slightly sour taste in my mouth. However, if you're looking for a fresh magic system in a low fantasy setting, The Book of Doors might be what you're looking for.

What a fun and unique concept! I did not expect to love The Book of Doors as much as I did, the concept was historical fiction (to me) meets fantasy in a really beautiful way. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

I have liked absolutely none of the comp titles. I've heard so much about The Midnight Library and it sounds really not good for me, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue I've tried on a fancy copy (borrowed from my sister) and on audio and got bored. The Night Circus lost me at about halfway through. I think I just saw the title and the cover and went "ooh portal fantasy lets go"

Gareth Brown’s The Book of Doors follows main character Cassie as her life is forever changed when a bookstore customer passes along a special book to her upon his death. The book allows her to open any door and travel anywhere she wants. At first, Cassie is entranced by this wondrous new ability. However, she soon discovers that her book is not the only special book. There are more magical books out there and even more people who want to get their hands on them, some good and some very, very bad. Cassie teams up with her best friend and other book collectors to save themselves and their books, and to stop the worst, most disturbing collector of all.

This book had a fantastic premise and an intriguing, intricate plot. The idea of special books with magical qualities that control aspects of the world like pain, joy, health, matter, etc. or give the user special abilities, was catnip for me. I love books about books and adding a fantastical element piqued my interest even more. Unfortunately, while I did enjoy the main plot of the book, the character development left something to be desired. I never felt connected to any of the characters and thus, was never fully emotionally invested in their story. Though the plot was well-thought out and original, the pacing felt off, with some parts of the book moving much more quickly than others. Because of those things, I was never compelled to pick the book up and that led to a slow reading process. Add to that some problematic off-hand dialogue about characters’ bodies or their relationship to food as well as racial slurs (albeit in the service of illustrating the monstrosity of some characters), and this book fell a bit flat for me.

The Book of Doors had an intriguing concept that kept me reading (slowly) but ultimately the execution left me feeling less satisfied and invested than I had hoped.

The Book of Doors released on February, 13th, 2024. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced review copy.

Absolutely loved this book! The pacing of this book was good, and I did not want to put the book down. The premise was beautiful, and I remained engaged the entire time. And I love the time travel elements in the story. Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for an advance copy of this book for review.

I enjoyed this book. I often do not read books in this category bit I felt it was truly unique and well paced. I'm not generally a fan of time travel themed books, but this one felt different and had me wanting more! The authors use of imagery and descriptions were beautiful and overall how it was laid out plot wise was amazing. This book may not be for everyone but for me I didn't want it to end!

Here is the problem. I can tell the author is a GOOD PERSON. The author clearly is clever and empathetic and a great observer of the world (and likely an aggressive introvert since that’s what he manages to imbue in his characters. A kind, introverted, idealistic person, who dreams of things working out perfectly, who understand that people exit along a wide spectrum but that underneath it all are good people and bad people. But reality is not like this. It’s very common amongst people who prefer not to live in our messy reality - who are very introverted or prefer living in media (books, TV, shows…stories of all kinds) to think in this black and white, or that’s good story is a complete story…even if they are able to think in great complexity. Reality is actually much more messy. People are capable of great “good” and great “evil” depending on the day, the context, their environment, whether they are late for something or not. Rarely are stories wrapped up in a bow, every mystery solved, every I dotted and t crossed. Usually we go through life with many unanswered questions, small and large mysteries, and the intrinsic randomness of nature effecting us in ways large and small. That’s why both 1) this story feels so fake and unreal, and 2) why I’m so unhappy to say it if the author would ever read it, because I wouldn’t want to cause them any pain for trying to so hard to craft and write a beautiful tale.

This book is not great. I am sorry to have to say it, because I can see that the author was dreaming here. His dream library in Scotland. His dream ability to travel to his dream places (all Europe). Who he wishes he could be / what a hero should be in Mr Drummond Fox (which is unfortunate because Drummond does some shit that is absolutely bonkers) and Cassie who seems to worship him and do a lot of veeeeeeery stupid things FOR NO REASON. Or rather, AGAINST ALL REASON. Or maybe because she’s hot for the same introverted, anti-modernity, antisocial instagram version of library and book world that all of us dedicated readers are, and she just overrides all her common sense to make it a reality. By the end of the book I low key wanted to punch Cassie in the face. I wanted to punch Drummond long before then.

The plot holes in this are astounding. Here is a very short list that I edited down from (I am not kidding) a two page rant I had in my phone:
1. Do the police not notice a mass murder in Washington Square park? No?
2. What is the reason for Drummond keeping Cassie and Izzy almost pathologically in the dark for half the book? It doesn’t seem to help!
3. Drummond is…keeping the books for study…but they can’t be studied by science…?
4. Ok so in the hotel, why not use the book of control on the woman in the first place??
5. Book of shadows allows Drummond to leave footprints in snow for a pursuer to track…but also passes through walls and allows him to touch others without them feeling it? Which is it???????
6. Please tell me how it works that the book of doors is needed…to create the book of doors?
7. You’re telling me your grandfather yearns to travel, and YOU DONT TAKE HIM ANYWHERE BEFORE HE DIES?? EVEN WITH A MAGIC TELEPORTATION BOOK THAT IS ALSO A TIME MACHINE?? You only visit like 3 times??? WHAT THE-AAAAAARRRRGH
8. I know this isn’t a plot hole but Cassie’s personality (and general lack of a brain) makes me want to vomit.
9. If Cassie crated the books, why are there languages she doesn’t know in them? (I am Not going to go into more detail on the rest of this part because when I read this section I almost threw my book into a river in frustration.)

The best parts:
1. The descriptions in the book are beautiful and lyrical. You will never be without a lovely sense of place.
2. The best part of the book is the woman’s savagery. That felt real and worth the fear people had of her. I always appreciate a good villain, and she is one!
3. I appreciated the time frame for Mr Webber and Cassie’s relationship. I appreciate that there were years in there (even though it made no sense. She could have gone back and just told herself what was going to happen and saved 10 years of anxiety and stress-induced cardiac issues. Eyeroll)
4. This is a time travel book and the most remarkable thing about it is that the errors are largely NOT THE TIMELINE. The timeline makes sense. The characters actions do not.
5. Izzy and Lund are kind of the only people in this horrifying cast of characters that I think both are cool and deserve to be happy. Everyone else sucks.

This is obviously well thought through, it just feels like the author needed it to be perfect, and everything to be perfectly intertwined with his main characters, and for everything to be explained and tied up neatly with a bow. Instead of being admirable, it just makes it seem unrealistic and false. Fake. This might be a great book for more immature readers…I might have loved it in my early teens, when I myself had a worldview that was much more similar to the author’s and to the main characters. But I just don’t think it’s worth it. There are many other exceptional books out there. This just isn’t one of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld Publisheds for an advance copy in exchange for an (obviously) unbiased review. I just wish I had more positive things to say.

Cassie works in a bookstore in NYC, her roommate (Izzy) works in the fine jewelry department of a local department store. Their lives change drastically when an elderly man passes away in the bookstore and leaves Cassie a book that "opens doors" to anywhere in the world. The girls find themselves wrapped up in a world where "magic" books have power and both good and evil people want the books.

I generally don't like books that involve time travel, and there are moments in this book that frustrated me and made me want to stop reading. BUT I could not put it down. The action is swift, and there are twists and turns that kept me guessing. This is sometimes a pretty brutal book, so it's not for the squeamish, but it's worth the effort. Cassie is a great hero, and her companions are intriguing, smart, and engaging. This would make a great movie.

There were some moments of the book that were a bit slow, but in general this was a good book, I found myself yelling at the book sometimes, and I found myself in utter disbelief when certain events happened and I had to set the book down to digest what just happened.

This was a great book, and I appreciate all the different POVs to understanding what was happening to why things happened.

This was a 4.5 star for me, I took a half star off only because it took me some time to get into the book but once I was in I was hooked. However I'll round it to 5

What an absolute astounding book. This book drew me in and made me believe in magic. Oh how I wish I lived in a world where the book of doors existed. The Wibbly wobbly timey whimey-Ness of it kept me going page after page.

Cassie is given a book of doors, that can open the door to anywhere, now that she has it. She’s in broiled in chaos as people hunt her and hunt the book. She’s doing everything to keep her self and the people she loves safe while also marvel in the magic of a library of books With amazing powers.

This book was fairly slow to start, but OMG it is so worth pushing through!
Cassie is gifted the Book of Doors which turns out to be one of many special books that possess different magical abilities. While exploring the powers of the Book of Doors, Cassie meets the librarian of the Fox Library, home to many special books, and is warned that people will be hunting out her new book. Cassie and Drummond (the librarian) work together to protect the Book of Doors and the Fox Library from book hunters. Specifically a particularly nasty villain known as “the woman”.
Content warnings: gore

4.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this book from the start. What a fun, magical story with adventure, mystery, and intrigue! Quite a few twists that caught me off guard, in a happy way.

The only downside was the ending for me - felt like it dragged on, yet packed in way too much.

Still overall loved this one and would highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for the early reviewer copy in exchange for my honest review.

Late one night in New York City, Cassie Andrews comes into possession of a mysterious book. She soon discovers that she is the new owner of the Book of Doors, which give her the power to travel through space - and eventually time. She and her roommate Izzy are quickly swept up into a secret world of power brokers, sadists, and an ever-increasing library of magical books. With the help of a few new friends, the two must find a way to survive those that would take the Book of Doors from them - at any cost.

An incredibly interesting premise, which falls flat in the storytelling. The female characters are sexist caricatures of the male gaze, and other characters don't fare much better. For a book about magical books, this one is rather lacking in literary magic. Skip this and read The Starless Sea instead.