The Book of Doors: A Novel
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 4,369 ratings
Price: 21.25
Last update: 11-15-2024
About this item
A debut novel full of magic, adventure, and romance, The Book of Doors opens up a thrilling world of contemporary fantasy for fans of The Midnight Library, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Night Circus, and any modern story that mixes the wonder of the unknown with just a tinge of darkness.
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.
But this is no ordinary book…
It is the Book of Doors.
Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.
Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.
Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there.
But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.
Top reviews from the United States
If you like mystery, adventure, thrill, suspense, and intrigue, I highly recommend this read.
The Book of Doors serves as one book to rule them all, and it falls into the hands of our main character, Cassie, a homebody thrust into peril that elicits her courage, loyalty, and practical wisdom.
The plot is complex but easy to follow. It takes a few unpredicatable swerves. Magic leads Cassie and her friends into trouble and helps them get out of it, without “jumping the shark.”
The writing is clean and simple. But efforts to dress up the prose are unsophisticated. It’s good, light reading.
The protagonist (Cassie) is gifted an odd looking book (the Book of Doors). Does she know the book was magical? Not initially; but odd, wondrous things certainly made it appear that perhaps it is magical. Does Cassie’s life remain peaceful and mundane? Of course not.
The story is slow getting started. And during that time, I’m thinking: this story should explain how all these magical books came to be. (To the author’s credit, he does explain that -- after a fashion, anyway.)
The second half of the book was much better. More action. More heart. More urgency. More twistiness in the storyline.
Bottom Line: A twisty, entertaining storyline. Suspend your skeptical nature and then just enjoy the ride. A heartwarming, fantastical read.
Note: There is one point in the story where I was shocked with what the author allowed to happen within the story. It was just against the basic “flow” and “feel” of the story. As a reader, I just had to power through it. If you hit this same part with similar emotions as I had, just power through it. Ultimately, you won’t regret it.
It got a little chaotic towards the end but that's to be expected with time travel, and the ending was satisfying. There was some gore that was unnecessary; I think the author could have made his point without it. But the gore itself wasn't really scary; it was so over-the-top that it didn't seem realistic. That's a minor critique and actually I'm glad because I don't like reading graphic depictions of gore.
The story and the writing style are both reminiscent of The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. So if you enjoyed those, you should enjoy this! Fans of The Night Circus by Erin Morgensen should probably like this too.