Love the ",idea" and concept of this book but the execution of that idea...ugh! Slow-moving plot, weak style, cardboard shallow characters. And the female characters are drawn as if they are giggling tweens fussing over weight and snarking at each other. With that depiction of women, perhaps the author entered one of the magic books in the novel and went back to 1924 instead of 2024???
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lovable characters! Interesting magic system! Time travel! Say less! I loved the was the author connected the dots through time travel and world travel. It was a beautiful illustration of found family, magic, amazing locales and friendship.

Wow! This book was amazing and I couldn’t put it down until the last page. I was so intrigued by the premise of this book and then once I started reading it I was hooked! I would definitely recommend this book to other people. Way to go on writing a fantastic book!!!

This was the most existential book I have ever read! It’s full of everything fantastical, magical, and also scientific. It provides a clear depiction of good versus evil, and also takes a deep dive into cause and effect. I loved the take on time travel and how it portrayed the ways in which we can and cannot influence past events.

Although the pacing was slow at times, and my mind occasionally struggled to keep up with the various timelines, this was overall a brilliant debut. Perfect for fans of magical realism and for all the physicists out there!

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. This story was absolutely amazing, and I didn’t want to put it down, even when I needed to digest the horrors or wipe the happy tears from my eyes.

I loved the characters, and how the plot wove through the lives of these people, surprising me at every turn. I don’t know how you could make another book to follow this one, but I would be there to read it in a heartbeat.

The Book of Doors is going on my Best Ever list, and it’s going to be very, very hard to knock it off.


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was drawn in by the premise of this book and while I enjoyed the overall story, I was less than pleased with the final story arc. The characters were delightfully flawed but still came across as one dimensional.

This was such a quick but fun and exciting read! The plot was engaging and had plenty of surprises kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved the magical and fantastical elements of the story. Thank you to NetGalley for this lovely story.

The Book of Doors is a fun YA fantasy novel about books with powers that are being hunted and sold. Cassie receives the Book of Doors from a loyal customer at the bookstore where she works. She learns the power of the book is not just to travel to other places but to other times. She soon discovers there even more out there - some people are hunting them to protect them, others are hunting them to use them for evil. I know many are comparing this to Midnight Library but I caught more Marvel vibes from this story, specifically Infinity War and Endgame, That is how I will be selling it to my teen readers! .

Imagine a world where people fought over books, books that gave you special abilities and powers over others? Such as, the ability to travel to anywhere you wanted by using your imagination and a special door; the ability to give joy and despair at will, and the ability to disappear at the right time into the shadows.

We first meet Cassie and Izzie in NYC when Cassie is finishing up her shift at Kendall bookstore. She is gifted a book, by an older patron of hers, before he unexpectedly dies. Upon looking at the book, she soon realizes it has special powers. When thinking about a particular place while holding this book, she can instantly be transported there. She and her roomate, Izzy, spend the next several days transporting themselves throughout the world. Because, who doesn't want to have a croissant for breakfast in Paris, and be back in NY for lunch? Soon they realize such power and freedom comes at a price, as someone will do anything to get their hands on this book. They meet Drummond Fox, known as the Librarian, who tells them there are many books like this, some used for good, some for evil. But is he to be trusted?

Thus begins their journey trying to escape various villains intent on obtaining their book at any cost. There are some pretty evil people here. 'The Woman', who owns the book of despair and destruction, and another gentleman who owns the book of pain. Izzy and Cassie both experience the effects of these books as they try to escape their way through time and space to restore these books to a place where no one can find them. There is some nice backstory on Cassie, as she travels back in time to visit her grandfather, which is touching. There's also some potential romance brewing between her and Drummond Fox, which I could see being parlayed into a sequel of sorts. The drama culminates in an auction event where the books are sold to the highest bidder, with disastrous results.

This book is very similar to 'The Ten Thousand Doors of January', and 'The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue', both of which were more well written and did this genre better justice. This was still a fun ride though and creative in the types of books portrayed and the effects they have on everyone. It's a statement to greed, redemption, and the misuse of power.

There are some loose ends here as the topic of how the books get created is alluded to, but not fully explored. All in all a fun way to spend an afternoon or two.

The Book of Doors has an interesting, circular time-travel plot mixed with a magical flare that would be great for television, because it is has a cool foundation of ideas and a lot going on. I think I would have enjoyed this on-screen, but I really disliked it as a book.

Things I Liked:
+ The circularity of the plot with time travel is beautiful in an artful way, how even in the past, your actions are only recreating your present.
+ The idea that history was influenced by these magical Books is a fun nod to the magic of the world.
+ There’s a bit of an Inception-y vibe where you don’t know where one thing starts and the other ends. This is both thrilling and sometimes a tiny bit of a cop-out (in my opinion)

Things I Disliked:
- None of the characters have any true depth; they are all dull, flat and superficial. The characters are here only to service the plot, and there is no real motivation or development for any of them.
- The story is so repetitive; we keep seeing the same things, hearing the same explanations and the same conversations. Some of this is expected in time travel books, but it was odious to read.
- The ‘villains’ (and there are a lot) are unimaginative, to a point where it just has this Scooby Doo evil villain vibe. Again, what is their motivation? It seems they exist only to advance the plot. The violence and action sequences were similar in this criticism.
- Perhaps the thing I hated most: every single woman in this story is written having body image issues and is ashamed to eat. WHAT. THE. F. It’s like this is some stereotype the author laid hard into, and it was completely unnecessary because there is zero character development or backstory that would justify it.

Thanks to William Morrow, Custom House and NetGalley for the ARC and the opportunity to read and review this title.

A big thanks to NetGalley for this fun read! The Book of Doors begins in a NYC bookstore where bookseller, Cassie, is gifted a little book with special powers from Mr Webber, one of the bookstore regulars. This special book, called The Book of Doors, is how Cassie begins her adventure in this fantastical story. Cassie, along with her roommate Izzy, and a cast of unforgettable characters, set out in search of other magical books to keep them out of the hands of people who only want to abuse their power and bring misery to the world. The ending is satisfying and although there is no cliffhanger, the possibility for future books is definitely there. If you love the power of books, and light fantasy, you will love this heart warming story full of time travel, found family, good vs evil, and lots of magic.

I've seen tons of positive reviews for this one and totally see how the Book of Doors will resonate with readers, but I didn't find it particularly compelling, specifically in regards to the character work and narrative style. The magic was intriguing and the premise was excellent, however, so I do see this one appealing to travelers or fans of the ever popular "books about books" genre.

Wow! I loved this book and could not put it down - I read it in under a day! The plot was captivating and while complex, was written in a way that was easy to follow. There were many twists and turns along the way that I didn’t expect, and I love that it wasn’t predictable. All the questions I was asking as I read the book were answered by the end… it flowed well and didn’t feel forced at all. I will definitely recommend this book to other fantasy lovers! Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC.

I don't usually read "magical fantasy" books, but I really enjoyed this one. Besides magic, it had action, suspense, relationships, time travel, heroes and villains. The time lines crossed and overlapped several times, but somehow it was easy to keep track of them. I would recommend this unique book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was initially drawn to this title based on its marketing comparison for similarities to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It didn't take me long to realize that this book didn't have the similarities that I expected to that book, mostly with the writing style, which just wasn't my cup of tea. I think this book would be well loved in the right hands!

I think this was a case of me hyping the book up in my head to be what it wasn't just to then be disappointed by what it is.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Doors tells the story of Cassie, a bookstore employee who is gifted a mysterious, magical book that can transport its holder through any door in the world. The book soon attracts the attention of various powerful forces who vie to control it, leaving Cassie and her friends to figure out how to navigate this new underground world of magic while fighting to protect each other and the book.

First, the positive: I found the premise highly engaging, and the unpretentious prose made for an easily digestible story. The strong sense of place was crucial for pulling things off, and the Rick Steves-esque descriptions of various magical and real-world settings were a highlight. In general there were enough neat and illustrative turns of phrase to cancel out the clumsy or redundant prose moments ("smile of delight") and sort of break even, writing-wise.

That said, this book had its major drawbacks. First of all, it needed some major "American-picking"—the twentysomething American women had a bad case of Talks Like A Gen X British Isles Dweller -Itis. They were "sweet on" people, maps had "pins in," they wanted to be "film stars," etc etc. Izzy's habit of harping on her weight in Bridget-Jones-ian fashion ("bread goes right to my hips") felt outdated and grating. While New York City was described in loving detail, the rest of the vast and diverse US was dismissed as having terrible food because it's "all meat and bread" (baffling, not to mention rather ironic coming from a Scottish author) by a character sitting in a diner called "Matt's All-American Burgers."

The characters were a mixed bag—sometimes likable, other times making criminally dumb decisions for the sake of the plot. (The plot moved at a satisfying pace, but if you think too hard about it there are some major holes of the "everything is explained by time travel" variety.) While Cassie, her roommate Izzy, and her grandfather were engaging, a lot of other side characters could have used more dimension and development, particularly the extremely under-baked villains, one of whom comes out of nowhere and the other of whom gets a very unsatisfying backstory. I got the sense that the author wanted to write with diversity, but of the characters of color, one is maligned as a coward and gets....the first half of an arc, while another has potential but serves as more of a convenient deus ex machina than anything. Various others are quickly and gruesomely dispatched in order to serve as lessons and warnings to the main characters.

Drummond was my least favorite character. I understand that he was meant to have an "overcoming cowardice" arc, but it came at the expense of his likability when all he did was stand around uselessly wringing his hands during the various action sequences. Then there were long, tedious scenes spent trying to retroactively justify his actions and explain that he was totally in the right, actually. These were ultimately unconvincing and just served to draw more attention to how unlikable he was (and how the narrative gave him multiple free passes while smearing another character who did the same thing as a vile coward!)

I also found the implied romance between Cassie and Drummond rushed and unearned, especially when contrasted with Cassie's much stronger and better-executed relationships with Izzy, Mr. Webber, and her grandfather. I couldn't understand why Cassie was pining for a man she had known all of three days, who had actively made things worse for her at every turn. Instead of using their conflict over the Book of Doors as an opportunity to build chemistry, the story opted for a tepid middle ground where their supposed mutual attraction was more told than shown. It was ultimately fortunate that the romance wasn't the focal point.

This book is billed as being "for fans of The Night Circus," but I find it the opposite of that book in many ways. Night Circus is heavy on stylistic prose and light on plot, while Book of Doors prioritizes plot and doesn't try to pull off fancy flourishes. I would recommend The Book of Doors to fans of Matt Haig instead.

Despite the flaws I listed, The Book of Doors manages to ruminate on its themes—opening oneself up to new experiences, overcoming grief, and finding joy in literature, travel, and new people and experiences—very well. Even if it wasn't for me, it's an engagingly fast-paced primary world adventure story that I'm sure will find its audience.

The Book Of Doors - Gareth Brown

A new genre for me, 'contemporary fantasy'. This book came very highly recommended, I didn't read the blurb and was imagining something like a feel good Magic Faraway Tree for adults. Oh no! It's more like Hellraiser, with a villain to rival Pinhead.

A magic book which allows the holder to walk through a door and step straight into any place they can visualise. Cassie, a worker in a New York bookshop cafe happens across the book and has no idea of the adventures and dangers she's about to experience.

There are other Special Books with other magical powers, a cast of collectors, book hunters and those desperate to possess the books and the powers they grant.

I liked the set up of this hidden strange new world, I liked it a lot. Things get a little hectic later on, with multiple characters holding various books and the resulting superpowers. Some of the action scenes felt like the CGI battle scenes in a Marvel movie, or watching my son play Overwatch. Quite entertaining, even if I don't really know what's happening, or who's dead until the dust settles.

I preferred the scene setting and plot development to the action finales, but it kept me entertained and I thoroughly enjoyed it overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow

A great final read for 2023. This is an intriguing and intricately woven story, but it never gets confusing and doesn't try too hard. Good characters, good pace and an excellent overall read.

Thank you #WilliamMorrow and #NetGalley for providing this #ARC Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is February 13, 2024.

• fiction • fantasy • mystery • adventurous • dark • mysterious • books-about-books/libraries • fantasy • magic • magical-realism • romance • time-travel • 3.5 Stars

Cassie Andrews is a bookseller in New York City who is given a mysterious book by a favorite customer. The book is called “The Book of Doors” and it is full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. At the very front of the book, there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that any door is every door. Cassie soon discovers that the book is magical and bestows extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it. She and her best friend Izzy investigate all that the book can do, traveling to anywhere they want. But soon realize that the book can do both wondrous and dreadful things.

#Bookstagram #TheBookOfDoors #GarethBrown

Wow, this was a great read. It is one I know I will want to return to and read again. One of my favorite reads of the year, with a Midnight Library vibe for sure. It makes total sense to me that books would be the source of magic in the world, and so I loved seeing that taken to its logical conclusion, in a very artful way. I adored the characters and, to borrow a phrase from Doctor Who, the timey-wimey wibbly wobbly… stuff. This is a book I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy.
This is also a book that I would love a sequel to! Without spoiling anything, I want to find out more about the books, who made them, and if there are more out there. So I hope we get a sequel!