The Book of Doors - Gareth Brown

“Happiness is not something you sit and wait for. You have to choose it and pursue it in spite of everything else.” 

A novel of epic proportions. If you love magical realism and a hell of a lot of action, this book is for you! 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Started: February 28th, 2024

Finished: March 15th, 2024

Synopsis: Cassie Andrews is a lover of books. So much so that she works at a bookstore where she befriends an old man who gifts her a very particular book right before he passes away. This book was The Book of Doors, a book that can take you anywhere as long as you think of it. Cassie, along with her best friend Izzy, travel through different doors to different places in their lifetimes, having fun with their new item. However, there are other unique books out there and someone wants them all to themselves. 

My Review (MAJOR spoilers): This book was a complete surprise. And a good one at that. This book has mystery, action, travel, scandal, and everything else you want in a fast-paced story. Starting off with the premise, it is a home run for me. I love the premise of a book that can take you anywhere. Once it is hinted that there are other books that can perform other tasks, I was instantly invested. 

The characters themselves grew on me the more I read. In the beginning, I though Cassie and Izzy were both kind of annoying in small ways, but as the story went on, I was rooting for them and their plight. Especially after Cassie was thrown back in time. And I think that is something that I really like about this book. The author does not make it easy on the characters. He lets them live in their difficulty. There is no deux ex machina that is going to save them from their troubles, they have to find something to overcome their issues themselves and that is exactly what they do. Cassie, when thrown into the past, literally waits until the year is the same as her own. Nothing is ever easy in this story and I truly appreciated that.

Going back to the characters, I enjoyed many of them immensely. Cassie, Izzy, Drummond, the book seller, Mr. Webber, Barbary and even the woman were fantastic. They had so much allure to them that I wanted to know everything about them. Though, if you want any information regarding the woman, you are sorely out of luck, you will find no spoilers for her here. I highly recommend just reading the book and you will be able to see things clearly and be astonished as I was. 

 One of the major themes surrounding this book is that of time travel. Sometimes, time travel can be quite annoying when it ebbs and flows into each other and the reader has NO idea where things happen. But this was simplistic and easy to follow. And it made...sense? I don't know how to describe it. Usually, when following the laws of physics and time, a time loop never makes sense. But within this story and this small scope, it does make sense. And I appreciate that the author didn't try to make it any larger than it needed to be. 

One thing that I really enjoyed about the book is that it didn't force upon a love story. There were definitely kindling of something happening, but in the grand scheme of things, love takes a back seat to what is happening in the story. Cassie and Drummond's relationship never gets in the way of Cassie's quest to find Izzy or the Book of Doors. I appreciate that saving the world was a bigger threat than a small romantic fling in order to keep the reader interested. 

Final Thoughts: I was very surprised by this book. By the cover alone, you do not expect an epic. But in the end, you get one. This book was a masterpiece and I highly suggest everyone to read it. You will be blown away by the result.