The Book of Doors

A Novel

By: Gareth Brown

Narrated by: Miranda Raison

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2024 Gareth Brown (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Magical and beautifully written

This is a magical book about magic books. It’s all the more remarkable because it is by a debut author. It is now one of my favorites of all time. (Tip: don’t look ahead at the chapter titles. While not exactly spoilers, they do give an inkling of what will happen next.)

The adventures of the quiet Cassie begin when she is chatting with her favorite customer at the bookstore where she works. A few minutes later, she returns to check on Mr. Weber and is shocked to find that he has passed away. Sitting on the table in front of him is a peculiar looking book. Mr. Weber has written a note addressed to Cassie that he is leaving her the book. It’s called The Book of Doors.

Cassie quickly discovers the magic of the book. But her roommate Izzy feels somewhat concerned about Cassie‘s indiscriminate use of the book. Although Cassie doesn’t share Izzy’s concerns, she soon learns that Izzy is right and there are some bad people searching for the book.

Several other point of view characters are introduced, most notably Drummond Fox, founder of the Fox library for special books. He convinces Cassie that her life is in danger and shows her his library and its contents.

The adventures of Cassie, Izzy, and Drummond Fox unfold in a riveting way throughout the novel. Somewhere around middle part, I experienced a “jaw drop” moment, asked myself, “what the heck just happened,” (I had to listen to an entire chapter again to fully appreciate the moment.)

The second half of the book is equally riveting, with a second jaw drop moment. The ending is satisfying and complete, but I’m hoping for a sequel.

Cassie is a sweet, somewhat naïve girl when the book starts. By the time it ends, she has matured substantially and understands her responsibilities.

I will also add, that the authors use of creative metaphors and similes to describe ordinary things really need the prose in this novel special.

The only minor distraction is the narrator. Cassie is American and the book is set in New York. But the narrator is British. She uses her own accent for third person narrative, but switches to an American accent when voicing Cassie. This took some getting used to. Also, the novel uses British terminology to refer to things. (I later learned that the author is Scottish. Still, I feel that an editor should have Americanized the terminology for the sake of consistency.)

Even with my final criticism, this book is definitely deserving of resounding 5 stars.

We have many chances

Often books talk about once in a lifetime experiences. This book challenges that and offers alternatives for getting it right. I hope you take a chance on this book and and open a door on new opportunities in your life.

What a fun escape!

Loved the depth of the characters, the narrator’s ability to differentiate between the various characters’ accents and the sheer enjoyment of listening to it!

Book of Doors

This is not the typical genre I listen to. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to a continuation of the story.

First 5 star read of 2024

I love books about books and I love magic. This had everything I’ve ever wanted in a book. And I love how all questions were answered and I didn’t guess any of them correctly.

characters

the book was a great read. the characters was very good and the story line flowed

Loved this book!

I found this to be a deeply satisfying story - books, fantasy, well written, unique plot , great narration.

So good!

So good! Fabulous story that’s a tear jerker by the end. I would like to read more from this author.

Excellent debut

_The Book of Doors_ by Gareth Brown is an impressive debut novel that crosses several genres including modern fantasy and mystery/thriller. While starting off a little slow, the narrative picks up fairly quickly and encourages the reader to pay attention to details which might not seem important in the moment but matter later. The intricacy of the storyline grows as the mystery of the book deepens, and both are handled with a deft hand.

While occasionally making frustrating decisions, the main characters are likable, interesting, and believable: they remained relatively normal people thrust into truly strange circumstances and never suddenly became super soldiers or spies.

I only have a couple of quibbles that are not enough to cost a star. The "evil" characters are fairly simple / flat even though there are story based reasons why. The ending isn't quite as smoothly executed as most of the book but is still far better than most. Finally, there are a few points where the American characters use British terms rather than American ones.

The audio version is excellently narrated with the main text in a British accent while the characters mostly use American accents. The narrator does stumble a little with the few Southern sounding lines but not enough to detract significantly.

Time travel dilemma

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown in exchange for an honest review. When I first started this book it felt a lot like Locke and Key by Joe Hill. As I kept reading though, it developed more into its own story. I really enjoyed it and the characters. This was a sci-fi/philosophy/fantasy novel that kept my interest until the last page. I finished this book sad that it was over and wishing for more.