I really did enjoy this, the concept was so unique that as soon as I saw the synopsis I had to request it. It was absolutely a wild ride, some of the time skipping had me re-reading sections to make sure I didn’t miss anything important but honestly I love books like that, I love being so ensnared that I hunt for clues. I did feel some of the smaller plots never got developed (unclear if this will be continued into a series but I would love if it was) and it left me feeling like it was a little unfinished. I loved the development of the characters, especially Cassie, her walk with grief truly touched me. I wish some of the romantic elements were a little more developed as well because the set up for them drew me in as a typically romance reader. I can see where some of the choices the author made as far as where our FMC spent time made sense on her own personal journey but some of that took me out of the fantasy element of the story, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just wasn’t expecting this to be quite as heavy as it was.

I’m actually shocked that this is Gareth Brown’s debut novel! This book was so well written! Everything was easy to visualize with all of Brown’s attention to detail and the characters were well thought out. I liked that there was no filler and the story seemed to take off right from the beginning. I’ll definitely be on the look out for anything else coming from Brown in the future!!

4.5/5

Beautiful, complex characters. Wonderfully written. It is compared to the Midnight Library and Night Circus and it does have the complex character development those books give but I feel there is a more pressing plot in this book. I love the multi pov perspective of the book. And driving force of the books. The magical realism is very well done and incorporated to make this secret society of books. I just wish there was more to the books. I enjoyed the read and learning about how everything comes together for these characters. If you love an emotional vibe book but want more mystery as well this is a wonderful book.

I wanted to thank NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of book. This is my honest opinion of it.

An interesting book centered around the thought that "power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." It's a lot to read... a deep read at times... a never ending read at others... but through all that it keeps your attention. Having various powers how would we truly act/react? Enjoyed this exploration of man quite a bit.

This book is full of twists and turns, connections and interwoven lives. It is intriguing and harrowing and intense. It's a wild ride in a world of powerful, magical books and the story of the people who use them, seek them and study them. All the while they find true power and strength in their relationships. There is a lot of intense violence and cruelty, this is not for sensitive readers.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

I was very excited before starting this book, the description and connection people had made to Addie Larue had me sold on the book!!

Once starting, I realized the book was just not for me. This is a great book, for other people. My reading style seems to be set on mood and that effects the way I take in a book. I did not like the characters and didn't feel a pull towards anyone in particular. I was also found bored at times with the writing and the magnitude of descriptions.

Overall a well written book and surely a great read for someone, just not for me personally.

This is an original, fresh take on a tried and true story centered around themes of power and the people who chose such for good or evil. I was fascinated by the multitude of books and their gifts, allowing me to think broadly, understanding both sides of the coin. It was fun to play around with the idea, what book I would choose and what I would do with it. The cast of characters fell second fizzle to the power of the books. Overall, an entertaining story that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

What a beautiful journey this book was! This is everything I love in a fantasy novel. Marketed as a book for fans of The Midnight Library, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, and The Midnight Circus, I was finding myself reminiscing of summer night staying up late into the wee hours of the morning reading the Inkspell series. For any book lover, what could be more beloved than a book about magical books?

This is the reality for Cassie Andrews. Just an average young woman working a bookshop in New York City. Until one day she is inexplicably gifted a book which she quickly discovers can open any door because, as it is inscribed inside the book "any door is every door." And with that, a world of possibilities open up for Cassie, Until she discovers that this gift is highly sought after and as the owner of this book, she and anyone she cares for is in grave danger. How many other magical books exist? Who can she trust? And how can she keep this book out of the hands of those who could destroy everything good and beautiful while keeping herself alive and safe? Cassie, a mysterious Librarian, and her roommate must find a solution as they are hunted for this powerful book.

The Book of Doors is stunningly written, adventurous, thrilling, suspenseful, and dark. But there is light and hope which shines through at all the right moments. The reader sees the beauty and magical wonder of what the Special Books can provide to people, but also how they can be so horribly dangerous to the world when they end up in the wrong hands.

This is a book which will stay with me a for a long time. I am looking forward to reading more by Gareth Brown. Many thanks to William Morrow (publisher), Gareth Brown, and NetGalley for this incredible opportunity to read and review this galley. My only regret is that I cannot read it again for the first time.

I only read the first few pages of this book, but I felt as thought it wouldn’t be a good fit for me. The dialogue and scene setting reminded me of a Colleen Hoover book, in a bad way. Maybe someone else would enjoy this book, a lot of people certainly enjoy Colleen Hoover, but this just wasn’t for me.

I think, for a certain type of reader, this book would be catnip, but I am clearly not that reader.

The main characters are traditional "50 Shades of Grey" heroines: clumsy, clueless and a serious lack of brainpower but aren't they (supposed to be) cute? Moreover, there is a pretty serious thread of ableism and body shaming running through the story-lots of characters moaning about how their food will make them fat. It's also slooooooooowwww with tons of description. Again, for a certain reader, this will make this book amazing, but I found myself skimming faster and faster as I went along. The story was intriguing enough that I wanted to know what happened, but the characters made that really hard. If you like magical realism or chick lit books, you may have a different experience.

(Also, and it's a small thing, I found myself super annoyed by the fact that the magical books have been in history forever. Which is fine, but codexes (a book) only came into use in 100-200 CE. Would the ancient Chinese have had them? Um, no. They would have had scrolls. Seriously, do your research.)

We all know books hold a certain kind of magic. In The Book of Doors, this magic turns out to be a bit more tangible. It’s wondrous and dangerous and holds so much potential, just like books!

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the book for me. I love the concept, but the writing kinda fell flat. I had a hard time caring about the characters and the story felt scattered.

There were some things I did like- the feeling of possibility and potential for example was really lovely. I can see how some people will really love this book, and I’d encourage them to read it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This book is all over the place both intentionally and unintentionally.

The books garner reactions that range from "Oh how fun!" to "Oh... Oh no".

The constant motifs of the books and the obvious theme of friendship never converge in a satisfying way.

The antagonists are very bland in motivation. There is nothing new to be said in the racist slurs and misogyny of Hugo Barbary or the senseless violence of the woman. Antagonists like them are a dime a dozen.

And that's my main problem with the Book of Doors. It opens up to absolutely nothing new.

You know that feeling when you walk into a room and forget why you ever walked in? That's about what this book feels like. I started reading only to wonder why this premise ever sounded interesting in the first place. That thought never did come back to me.

Thank you, NetGalley for the arc! I was excited to receive the book and read it but I was a bit disappointed. The book was very underwhelming to read and the plot just fell flat. The book itself was very repetitive which made it even more boring. the characters were not developed properly so it wasn’t appealing to read about them.

How would you use a magical book that allows any door to be every door? Meaning, that you could open your bedroom door and walk into an Italian villa, a rainy Paris street or even your own past. Cassie wants to use it to travel and visit her Grandfather who she still grieves. Others want to use it to bring despair and pain to the world. Thus begins an epic tale of magic, time travel and human nature.

I raced through this book, unwilling to put it down because I needed to know what happened. I’m always slightly confused by time travel situations and that was no different here. There were a few plot points that felt contrived more than logical, but overall, this is a compelling, complex story of good versus evil.

This was a really interesting book. I think I may have misread a blurb saying it was similar to Addie LaRue and I definitely don’t think it was. At times I was really curious about this book. The beginning was a bit difficult to get into, only because the writing seemed to be lacking. Towards the end there were also parts that felt rushed. However, some of the scenes and plot twists were so far from what I imagined that I couldn’t stop reading. There were a few lines that felt unnecessary from Hugo and some cheesy lines from Drummond and Cassie but overall I think I’d probably still recommend it.

Ooo transport or portal magic is one of my favorite tropes so I was very excited to read this one where Cassie is working as a bookseller and meets this old chatty man that leaves her a book before he dies. In the book is a bunch of unusual drawings of different doors. As Cassie discovers some of the magic the book has in store she is also thrust into this world full of unsavory characters trying to collect different magical books.

Unfortunately this one just didn’t work for me. I didn’t like how the characters were described especially the women and how the focus was on weight or what they could eat. Also the villains say racist things and I just found it unnecessary and icky. And I’m not sure if it was a pacing issue but I found most of it dull. I really loved the magic books would have loved to spend more time with the books and less with the fighting to protect them.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an eARC.

Should you read this book?
Yes, if… you like or want to try the fantasy genre and you want to feel inspired and magical while you read it.
No, if… you can’t push through a slow start or know you’ll struggle with a jumbled up timeline
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

At first, I was super pumped about this book from its description, and the beginning but when I started reading, it felt slow and uneventful. I almost threw in the towel and checked out some Goodreads reviews, and turns out, others felt the same slow burn in the beginning. Pushing through the slog (around 30%), things picked up and got interesting at about the halfway point.

The ending was a rollercoaster, super thrilling, but there were moments when I had to double back because the timeline got a bit jumbled. Despite the slow start, I'm giving it a 3.5-star rating. Take off points for the initial slow start, but if you can power through, the payoff in the end is worth it!

This book was SUCH a gem and gorgeous surprise!! It started out very cozy portal fantasy feeling, and I was very happily surprised when it took a semi-scifi turn with one of my favorite book plot categories ever!! Oh and it also took a sudden turn out of the cozy genre, be warned that this one has some fairly graphic violence. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I cried several times, I gasped, I cursed, I yelled (sorry cat friends 😂). ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. Plus I’m fairly certain one scene was a very deliberate Stephen King reference, and for that, Gareth Brown, you are my BFF. This is one I could most definitely find myself re-reading. And it was a DEBUT!!!

If I could describe this book using other books, it would be The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Every Heart a Doorway meets 11/22/63.

Synopsis:
A woman works in a bookstore. An elderly man who visits frequently dies in the store, and after the EMTs take him away, she notices he has left her a book. But it’s not just any book, she soon finds this is The Book of Doors which can open any door, anywhere, in any time period. She thinks that this is a blessing, until she soon finds that owning the book puts her in danger.
Pros/cons: When I look on Goodreads this book is SO polarizing- either getting 5 stars or 1. I cannot even begin to understand the low ratings. Though long winded at times, this was the most unique, creative and interesting book! The time travel element had so many twists and turns and every story circled around and back again. Every question got answered. I thought it was FANTASTIC.
It would make a great book club pick, and I hope you pick it up when it’s released next week so that we can discuss it! Thank you NetGalley and William Morris for this advanced copy!