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nedge's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
crojo_t_bks's review against another edition
5.0
This book is the perfect mix of London detective narrative, without being a detective story. This is on my top reads list for sure. Highly recommend.
kdawg2009's review against another edition
5.0
This was a quick and fun read. It took me a little while to get used to some of the jargon, but once I did, I loved it.
paperbacks_and_ponytails's review against another edition
2.0
I wish I enjoyed this book more. I absolutely love time travel books, but this one fell flat for me. Other than the obvious fact that time travel etiquette was broken numerous times in the book, I just found it to be lacking both in the plot (mixing a lot of different ideas, and mashing it into one.) And also in imagery, I found it pretty hard to imagine the places in the book as they weren't described in great detail to me...as I'm more of a visual reader.
thelastcolour's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely stunning cover - underneath the dust jacket is a map of London! It was difficult determining which genre to shelve this book, there is historical fiction as the reader is transported back to Victorian England, thus combining time travel and elements of fantasy. I really enjoyed this book and it left me feeling satisfied. Absolutely no need for a sequel. I highly recommend this. I went into this book blind so i'm keeping this review as vague as possible :)
jenno's review against another edition
2.0
First of all, thanks to Hot Key Books for sending me an ARC of this novel. Very thankful.
This is my second Sally Gardner novel I read, "Maggot Moon" being the first and I have the same feeling reading "The Door That Led to Where".
They are fine books, I can't pinpoint what it is that makes me not like Gardner novels more. They are good stories, but they just don't grab me.
I read "The Door That Led to Where" enthusiastically but at the end I got kind of bored and it's a story, I'm sad to say, will not stay with me.
Suspense wise I feel like it's lacking a bit, but I say that to most novels that don't grab me from page one like Scandinavian crime usually does. I'm a tough reader when it comes to suspense, yes.
But I had no problem reading on and I wanted to know how it ended. I quite enjoyed the writing but now that it's been a while since I've read it's slipping away in my mind.
I don't even know what this says about me but I enjoyed it while reading it, but I wouldn't feel comfortable to recommend it to anyone.
This is my second Sally Gardner novel I read, "Maggot Moon" being the first and I have the same feeling reading "The Door That Led to Where".
They are fine books, I can't pinpoint what it is that makes me not like Gardner novels more. They are good stories, but they just don't grab me.
I read "The Door That Led to Where" enthusiastically but at the end I got kind of bored and it's a story, I'm sad to say, will not stay with me.
Suspense wise I feel like it's lacking a bit, but I say that to most novels that don't grab me from page one like Scandinavian crime usually does. I'm a tough reader when it comes to suspense, yes.
But I had no problem reading on and I wanted to know how it ended. I quite enjoyed the writing but now that it's been a while since I've read it's slipping away in my mind.
I don't even know what this says about me but I enjoyed it while reading it, but I wouldn't feel comfortable to recommend it to anyone.
thatweirdlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting book but for some reason I couldn't get into it. I loved the idea of time travel and the business they started because of it.
m3l89's review against another edition
3.0
I'm undecided about this. I got a little lost with the plot along the way, but it all seemed to come together nicely in the end. A bit predictable and not very much character development; I thought the characters did change but it was very sudden.
whatbritreads's review against another edition
2.0
This book was insane from start to finish and unfortunately I don’t think I mean that in a complimentary way. It actually read like I was watching a poorly written episode of Eastenders - it was that level of bizarre. I actually have no idea how this was an award winner for YA fiction it was… questionable.
It was supposed to be full of 16 year old boys, but the way in which this was written felt like it was aimed at much younger children. It was also full of general editing and punctuation errors which weren’t a big deal, but bugged me. None of the characters seemed to talk in a normal or authentic way at all, and most of it just made me cringe. They were ridiculously bland and two dimensional. The protagonist was the most interesting out of a questionable bunch, and that’s saying something considering he was ridiculously boring.
Speaking of characters, the two side characters in here were written borderline offensively. One is half-black and the other Turkish (?) I believe and compared to White British AJ they’re written horrifically and I’m surprised nobody else picked up on it. They’re both so stereotypical - working class, talk a lot less eloquently than AJ, have issues with drug abuse and absent parents, in trouble with the law, no jobs or prospects… it just rubbed me the wrong way completely.
The confusion I had while reading this was due to how short it was, coupled with the plot that had too much going on and a ridiculously fast pace. You barely had any time to process anything before we were jumping into action again. We don’t really get much thinking or explanation of events, just a jumble of dialogue in place of worldbuilding. I got lost repeatedly and had no clue what was going on.
I didn’t like this book at all, not for me.
It was supposed to be full of 16 year old boys, but the way in which this was written felt like it was aimed at much younger children. It was also full of general editing and punctuation errors which weren’t a big deal, but bugged me. None of the characters seemed to talk in a normal or authentic way at all, and most of it just made me cringe. They were ridiculously bland and two dimensional. The protagonist was the most interesting out of a questionable bunch, and that’s saying something considering he was ridiculously boring.
Speaking of characters, the two side characters in here were written borderline offensively. One is half-black and the other Turkish (?) I believe and compared to White British AJ they’re written horrifically and I’m surprised nobody else picked up on it. They’re both so stereotypical - working class, talk a lot less eloquently than AJ, have issues with drug abuse and absent parents, in trouble with the law, no jobs or prospects… it just rubbed me the wrong way completely.
Spoiler
Then in the end the magic solution is just to leave them both in 1830’s London? Ok sounds great and perfectly logical. Eye roll.The confusion I had while reading this was due to how short it was, coupled with the plot that had too much going on and a ridiculously fast pace. You barely had any time to process anything before we were jumping into action again. We don’t really get much thinking or explanation of events, just a jumble of dialogue in place of worldbuilding. I got lost repeatedly and had no clue what was going on.
I didn’t like this book at all, not for me.