Published by Random House
Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: British Authors, Lesbian Characters, Magic Users, Mystery, Thriller, Chronic Illness, Trauma, Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Magical Realism, Modern Fantasy, Magic Books, Various Magic, Time Travel, Alternative Universe, Bookshop, Books about Books
My Rating:
Published on: 15th February 2024
Pages: 528
Disability Representation: Alzheimer's disease, Grief, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Trauma
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones / BookBeat Audio
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Because some doors should never be opened.
New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she’s doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy. Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message:
This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.
Cassie is about to discover that the Book of Doors is a special book – a magic book. A book that bestows extraordinary abilities on whoever possesses it. And she is about to learn that there are other magic books out there that can also do wondrous – or dreadful and terrifying – things.
Because where there is magic there is power and there are those who will stop at nothing to possess it.
Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .
Because this book is worth killing for.
This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!
Content Warnings:
The Book of Doors Review
I’m a sucker for books about magical books, so The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown easily caught my attention. In Brown’s debut novel, Cassie is working her usual shift in a bookshop when she’s left a gift by a regular customer. The book is filled with odd writings and strange illustrations and has a message to Cassie informing her that telling her that this is the Book of Doors and that any door is every door. On the way home, she can’t get the message out of her head; does that mean what she thinks it means? No, that would be ridiculous, right? A book can’t open doors… can it?
When she gets home, she tells her friend and roommate Izzy about the book, and they find out that the does open doors. The two women don’t realise that their magical book is one of many, and that particular book is one that people would kill to get their hands on. Thrown into a dark and mysterious world, only one thing is for certain; Cassie and Izzy’s lives will never be the same again.
The synopsis for The Book of Doors hints at a lot; mystery, magic, dark powers, violence, and some unnamed evil. What it doesn’t mention is there’s a whole lot of time travel thrown in as well, and it is very well done. Brown has written an intense story that captures the essence of science fiction, the whimsy of fantasy and the thrill of mysteries. With interesting and charismatic characters, this is a book that will keep you glued to the pages until the very end. As mentioned, this book gets pretty dark and there is one particular character who is very repulsive (see content warnings for details). Overall, it’s a very clever story that isn’t afraid to show that people come in all shapes and sizes, with very different motivations and personalities.
The only thing that stopped this from being a five-star for me was that I felt the explanation about the creation of the books was a little lacking. Brown put a huge amount of detail into every other aspect of The Book of Doors, with every scene linking together perfectly. Yet with the books’ origin story, it felt like he dropped the ball a bit, and decided less was more. That would have worked if that approach had been taken with other areas of the book. Instead, it just felt out of place to me.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown is stunning, especially when you realise that this is a debut. If this is Brown’s first book, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
About Gareth Brown
Gareth Brown has been writing novels since he was a teenager. Most of those books were not very good, and thankfully were never published. His first published novel - The Book of Doors - will be released in the UK (Bantam) and USA (William Morrow) in February 2024. Foreign language rights for The Book of Doors have also been sold to nearly twenty other territories including Germany. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary.
When not working or writing Gareth loves travel, barbecues, playing bass guitar and watching snooker. He also enjoys falling asleep in front of the television like an old man.
Gareth lives with his wife and two Skye terriers near Edinburgh in Scotland.
Over to you
Thanks for reading my book review for The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown!
If you could open a door to anywhere, where would it be?
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