I enjoyed the idea of this book and what this book stood for more than my actual reading experience. I wrote in my notes that I was waiting for this to end three times.

Reading the other reviews for this book makes me feel like I have no taste but it is what it is and I wrote this review anyway.

Disclaimer #1: I didn't think this was a bad book I was just not invested in the plot or the characters.

— overall thoughts: 2.5 —
⇢ content warnings//

Spoiler

Animal abuse, Attempted murder, Blood, Bones, Childbirth, Death, Guns, Forced hospitalisation/Asylum, Murder, Pregnancy, Profanity, Racism, Stalking, Starvation (mentioned), Torture (mentioned)

If you liked/loved Addie LaRue but want more plot, I would recommend this book. Or vice versa: if you want something that is more character focused than this book go read Addie. These two books give me the same writing style and vibes.

Disclaimer #2: I loved Addie LaRue though.

"It is at the moments when the doors open when things flow between the worlds, that stories happen."

It's a whimsical and dreamy book while still being thought provoking. Which was the reason I loved the first part of this book.. but then it lost me. The idea of how these doors were literally portals to new dimensions was so intriguing to me but it took so long to get to that point where all the action was happening.

I was forcing my way through almost everything beyond the 40% mark and I would have DNFed this if I wasn’t buddy reading it. I just didn’t care about the characters. My interest kept lifting away from the pages.

I was really confused with what was supposed to be reality and what was not when I was convinced that it would be the reason that I would love this book at the beginning.

“I’ve heard it all so many times I could probably deliver the rest of the speech myself. How the hard work and dedication of persons like themselves wealthy, powerful, white, had improved the condition of the human race.”

The commentary on racism and how people weigh/judge a person’s value based on their skin color including white supremacy!! We absolutely love to see it. I liked how this was tackled in the story but it didn't hit me the same because it somewhere in the midst of everything that was going on, I got lost.

Even though I appreciated the addition of characters of color, they felt so bland to me and I wasn’t sold enough to be emotionally attached to them. Given that, I wasn’t affected by the plot twists and the weird happenings as much as I should’ve been. Thus, the romance felt unnecessary with no build-up, perhaps it was just not my style. January’s complicated relationship with her father and Loche was interesting but with that said, I could not seem to fully be devoted to them either.

“If you are wondering why other worlds seem so brimful of magic compared to your own dreary Earth, consider how magical this world seems from another perspective. To a world of sea people, your ability to breathe air is stunning; to a world of spear throwers, your machines are demons harnessed to work tirelessly in your service; to a world of glaciers and clouds, summer itself is a miracle.”

I would have rated this book 4 stars for the themes and that quote alone if I even somewhat enjoyed my reading experience. It talks about belonging, family, stranger worlds.... the more I talk about this book the more convinced I am that I should have loved this.

The writing style is humorous and light despite heavy hitting themes, which was my favourite aspect with how it felt like we were reading some kind of pseudo-academic report on whimsical topics. This kind of writing style would have been perfect for me if perhaps I cared.

“Stories are the red threads that we may follow out of the labyrinth. It is my hope that this story is your thread and at the end of it, you find a door.”

I want to talk more about the plot but, without spoiling anything, all I can say is that it was weird and I understand why people love this so much. It was just too much for me and the weirdness was absurd to me at times that it didn't feel relatable. Perhaps the point was that certain things should not be believable since it revolves around a literally out-of-this-world theme... I just was not the biggest fan of that.

However, the plot is fast-paced, unique, a lot does happen... it's a whole journey.

I realized that people were comparing this to the Wayward Children and I didn’t like the first book of that series as much as other people did so perhaps I should've been more wary going into this.

Reading a book while reading a book sounds cool in retrospect, but it was just so confusing to me.

↣ As long as you are in the mood for a whimsical, dreamy, adventurous, and thought-provoking story with weird things going on, if you don’t get bored, I feel like you will like this. ↢

January LaVoy I'm so sorry I didn't like the book but you're still one of my favourite narrators.

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PRE READ:

what ultimately sold me to picking this up was that the audiobook is narrated by January LaVoy (narrator of The Diviners series)