What if there was a book can open any door in the world, present and past?
what if you could travel to any place, any time, from any time with just the swish of a door opening?
and what if evil people are after such a book?

This was the premise of the Book of Door. It was amazing and immediately drew me in. The first 150 pages were very good and immersive

And then everything went downhill.

TBOD is about Cassie who was gifted a magical book by her elderly friend Mr. Webber before he died.
Cassie, with her friend Izzy, discovers the enchantment of the book and the joy of traveling without expenses
but everything has a price. Soon, Cassie is haunted by two different evil people who want her book and the original Librarian who wants to protect her.
Twists and turns and twists and turns and decisions made that affected the past and the present

What Went Wrong

I do not know how to say this without Spoilers, so here is your warning
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1- For one, this book needs serious editing. I am not one to judge a book by the mistakes in it, but this was ridiculous. The book is published by Harper Collins, so one would assume they have good editors who would know how to use a Grammar/Punctuation corrector tool at least.
"When they had first met Izzy had been working at Kellner Books while auditioning ...." ????
Cassie goes back in time and meets her beloved deceased grandfather telling him about her regrets and he responds with "You DON'T have the right to be happy whattttt???

There is a run-on sentence that runs for 4 lines and has five "and"s in it!!!

and many more

2- The aim of the book is to tell you that "time travel" does not change the consequence of the present because what ever you do in the past even when you change it, is the thing that should happen. So by that, the present remains the present.
But here is the thing, every decision made the supposedly "good guys" in the present has lead to "bad guys" being fucked up in the past leading to them being evil and so affecting the present. So, the good guys are actually the bad guys????????
There is a character called "the woman" who is so evil that she kills coldheartedly. I won't spoil the twist, but just that by the end I felt sorry for her.

and dears, I do not care how good you are, if you are faced with a serial killer, you do not send him/her to the past to do his serial killing sometime else and learn from his mistakes so he could come back and hunt you, you blow the fucking shit out of his brains.
That was the stupidest decision (yes, several times) ever.

3- The writing style felt so emotionless. I know that many authors especially male authors are influenced by Stephen King's "adverbs are the road to hell" motto, but come on! This works in horror maybe, not in books where emotions are dominant. Cassie meets her grandfather, I feel nothing. She reunites with her friend, I feel nothing. Lund sees his beloved resurrected, I feel nothing. By the end, I just wanted to get over the book.

4- There was a sexist line that really ticked me off and it was by our main lead not the heroine, so naturally, it was a reflection of the author.
Cassie is in her late twenties-early thirties, she goes to the past and comes back 10 years older. Izzy says "so now you are older than me" and Cassie says "Old and sagging and gray. I am your future."...EXCUSE ME!!! did someone tell you that 40 is the new 70?????

and the "The only people interested in Times Square are tourists and terrorists" line!!!! WHATTTTTT????? You're showing there buddy!!!

Also, the West really has a hard time accepting that other cultures like Egypt and China had great accomplishments because these civilizations were "SHOCKING" actually smarter. NO! Magic somehow had a hand in building the Pyramids and all those inventions


5- A lot of things did not make sense. How can you stay 10 years in the past without identity and without working and without harnessing a skill that would help you when you get back????? what? she's been cooped up in the apartment reading books all this time??? I mean I am a book worm but come on!!!!
You get the background of many of the characters and others nothing.
Characters you think they are gone only to reappear again magically to have a huge part in the story... i mean why not? this is a book about magic after all.

In short, I think this is a combination of poor editing and the author's fumbling at the end on how to get everything together. Otherwise, this would have been an amazing story
But since this is a white male author, I am sure we will see a TV series soon.