Here’s the thing. I’m not really a hater. When I don’t like a book, I’ll generally rate it low, write a one sentence review in Goodreads, and move on.Here’s the thing. I’m not really a hater. When I don’t like a book, I’ll generally rate it low, write a one sentence review in Goodreads, and move on.
But with The Book of Doors…I have a lot to say.
First, the things I liked about this book:
1. The cover is stunning. It would be a book I would be proud to show off, if I had liked it. 2. The premise sounds incredible: Magical books? Time travel? A main character who works in a bookstore? A big mysterious library? Great!
Cassie, our FMC, works at a bookstore and is given a book by an old man that has the magical power to turn doors into portals to take you anywhere in the world. The book takes her on a journey that leads to Cassie realising there are more books out in the world with magical powers, and “collectors” who want these books that lead her into danger.
Reading the plot summary, I was incredibly excited to start this as I was expecting a cozy fantasy filled with enchantment, wonder and action, but I’ve been left feeling very disappointed.
The pacing of the story was all over the place, with the first half of the story being really slow but at the same time shoving a lot of information at us and expecting us to remember it for the end of the book. It was a lot of telling and hardly any showing, and I kept waiting for something captivating to happen and it just…didn’t. There were POVs that to me were not needed, I felt myself wanting to skim read over a lot of the plot to try and see if it would get any better.
The characters felt incredibly one dimensional. I didn’t resonate with any of them at all and I did not care about the outcome of a single one. The hints of a romance that were sprinkled throughout the novel was in my opinion pointless and not needed, it felt forced and they had no chemistry whatsoever. The dialogue in general felt unnatural in a lot of parts and was clunky. It really was a struggle to read.
One of the villains to me is the most ridiculous and useless character in the book, perhaps ever. His approach to anger and his actions are almost comical, dare I say cringe. He’s also sexist and racist for absolutely no reason as his bigoted views were not integral to the plot in any way shape or form, other than the fact that the main character is a woman. For example:
“Sometimes I wish I lived back in the seventies, when the natural order was still in place. Life was so much simpler then. I could just give you a slap and send you away to make my dinner and nobody would even blink.”
The women are also written incredibly poorly. Think 2010-teen-dystopian-novel kind of poorly. The amount of times women are referred to as bitches is CRAZY. And say it with me, male authors need to learn how to write young women without the need to body shame them for content!!:
“To her own eyes she was too tall and thin. She thought her hips were too narrow and her chest too flat, and her eyes were big and wide, like a startled deer’s. She never wore make-up because she never really learned how to do it.”
“Look at me,” Izzy complained miserably, “I am disgusting, it’s midnight and I am doing this to my body.” “There’s nothing wrong with your body and you know it.” “There might be if I keep eating like this. Have you seen my aunts? They’re all huge. That is my genes, Cass.”
All in all, I am surprised I didn’t DNF this, but I was determined to finish it so I could write this review.. I know we’re only in January but I feel like it is the number one contender to be my biggest disappointment of the year.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Why did everyone love this book it was so hard to get through. Literally. Why are there so many dicks everywhere. Literally every page. and like one fWhy did everyone love this book it was so hard to get through. Literally. Why are there so many dicks everywhere. Literally every page. and like one female character who’s mentioned like three times. It’s just all dicks. This book almost made me homophobic ...more
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