Book Review – ‘The Final Season’ (#3 Seasons Rising) by Tom Early

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Elemental magic in a universe full of elements of other stories…

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+

No. of pages: 258

Fay is no longer a boy haunted by the spirit of Winter—he is now the embodiment of the cruelest Season. If he thought access to the immense power that grants him would make his life easier, he couldn’t be more wrong.

The return of the Seasons is tearing Gaia—the magical realm that mirrors Earth—apart as factions form to either take advantage of the shift in power, fight against it, or use it to spur societal change. Terrifying enemies emerge to face Fay and the other Seasons, even as the Seasons plan their own battle strategy.

Fay, Sam, Tyler, and their friends and allies are facing a final test unlike any other. To survive the chaos unleashed on his world, Fay will have to choose what to hold on to and what can be sacrificed.

‘The Final Season‘ culminated this trilogy with an epic battle as Fay and his friends defend the University and Gaia from the Hell dimension and other foes.

I had a lot of difficulty reading ‘The Final Season,’ not because the plot was boring or the characters were badly written, or even from bad grammar and editing – no all of those were top notch, my issues came from overwriting. The story felt so slow and bogged down with extensive day-to-day descriptions and long chunks of dialogue and exposition that did not service the plot. It gave the book a tone of trivial and superfluousness that disservice the plot. Much of the excessive writing was attributed to juvenile banter and antics between Fay and his friends. I think it was meant to be endearing and show how the relationships were growing between the cast, but I felt my eyes growing heavy every time and had to skim read through most.

Also with the internal dialogue and discussions including Fay, it kept coming off a smug, like he knew everything, knew better… all this exposition gave the feeling of telling rather than showing even though that is not what was actually happening in the prose.

Again there was a lot of focus on pointless battles between the students (Pokemon style) which again, did not service the plot and I’m guessing was only included to explore magic, lore, and mythology in the Gaia universe. I feel like this could have been framed better, like training for the war rather than childish egos clashing.

This focus on battles also added to the air of weird priorities the characters had. There’s a looming world-in-the-balance war and cast mates are bunking off, joking, and having childish fights everywhere. It felt like it diminished the importance of the whole point of this concluding novel. I think I mentioned in the previous sequels that it feels like Season’s Rising is suffering an identity crisis: a light-hearted middle-grade novel, or a gritty YA fantasy? It flopped all over the place.

‘The Final Season‘ is still the best written of all three novels in the series, despite a number grammatical slips between past and present tense. There were no spelling mistakes or formatting issues. I have to applaud Tom Early for the efforts put into self-publishing this novel.

Even with this being set in a fantasy world, it’s got to follow some rules of reality for the reader to relate to the material, but even with Tyler switching Universities so easily with no reason other than to be closer to his boyfriend felt flimsy. The main cast seem to overcome obstacles so easily, and most of the time the issues aren’t even solved by themselves; the universe, or another character swoops in to save the day at their slightest whim. So I kept getting slapped in the face with how unrealistic it all is, and how little effort Fay and his friends have to put in to succeed.

Even in the concluding battle, we spent a chapter and a half back-slapping and meeting characters leading up to the confrontation, and then the battle itself took half a chapter in which Fay was observing most of the time. He shirked off all of the meetings for planning and strategy. There were very low stakes for him. I mean sure, the world might end, but it was boring… I just don’t get it. So many missed opportunities to bring tension and conflict to the characters – make this story juicy and gripping – and… nothing.

I had such high hopes for this self-published trilogy. An elemental magic wielder, a queer protagonist, different dimensions: all the elements that bring the drama and awe, and I felt like I was in the school playground. So in all good faith, I can’t recommend this series. 

The plot was spoiled in the beginning of book two, so I already knew what was going to happen, there were no surprises. A cute twist at the end, but nothing earth-shattering. When I finished it I didn’t go awww. I think I was just glad to put this series behind me. I definitely won’t be picking up any of Tom Early’s works in the future, his writing style and I don’t mix.

Overall feeling: *blank face*

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Darius the Great Deserves Better’ (#2 Darius the Great) by Adib Khorram

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Beautifully told story of a young man embracing his culture and identity.

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, LGBT+

No. of pages: 368

Darius Kellner is having a bit of a year. Since his trip to Iran, a lot has changed. He’s getting along with his dad, and his best friend Sohrab is only a Skype call away. Between his first boyfriend, Landon, varsity soccer practices, and an internship at his favorite tea shop, things are falling into place.

Then, of course, everything changes. Darius’s grandmothers are in town for a long visit, and Darius can’t tell whether they even like him. The internship is not going according to plan, Sohrab isn’t answering Darius’s calls, and Dad is far away on business. And Darius is sure he really likes Landon . . . but he’s also been hanging out with Chip Cusumano, former bully and current soccer teammate–and well, maybe he’s not so sure about anything after all.

Darius was just starting to feel okay, like he finally knew what it meant to be Darius Kellner. But maybe okay isn’t good enough. Maybe Darius deserves better.

This was beautiful. There is a subtle undercurrent to the narrative that speaks to culture and gentility. Again, this duology succeeded in making me want to eat Persian food and explore the different blends of tea. The story is practically aromatic.

I don’t think we get a lot of character development from Darius, other than him learning to speak his mind more. This is more of a quiet book. I loved the depiction of family and the relationships that vary between each generation. It made reading the book feel like you were a part of Darius’ home. Especially the depiction of masculinity in this book. It’s not all machismo, but rather showing loyalty and emotional vulnerability to those you love and care for.

We follow themes of family, friendship, and belonging as Darius navigates his relationships. He also starts to discover himself, his wants and needs, and finding a voice to speak that truth. It shows a strong development of character. It also plays with perception within the bounds of racism and discrimination, how what cis heterosexual white people don’t understand with comments said in jest actually cut deep to those who belong to a minority – because they face that type of systemic discrimination everyday of their lives, and it’s not a joke to them. It’s their existence. But I also there is no effort to ‘fix’ these issues. Because in reality it can’t be fixed. You can’t click your fingers and change generations of taught behaviour in a moment. What it does is start a conversation.

I didn’t predict where this story was going at all. I think the cover art threw me. I was expecting a love triangle and Darius needing to choose or face consequences at the Prom. But the narrative runs deeper – it’s about communicating your worth and expectations, and leaving it up to others to meet those expectations. Not staying quiet and accepting what is, even if it feels wrong or makes you uncomfortable. The Darius we met in ‘Darius the Great Is Not Okay’ would have kept quiet, polite, and taken the hits. He’s not the same man now.

‘Darius the Great Deserves Better’ really pulled at my heartstrings. I think because of the Persian culture being so strong in Darius’ upbringing (but not saturated) he had lead a sheltered life, and feels a bit immature in the ways of the world, and in relationships – his diagnosed depression has also affected this. So there was a purity and innocence in the narrative. It was so lovely, but I found myself wanting Darius to embrace more challenges instead of shying away from them. But each to their own pace.

I think I was also craving a bit more plot. The story in essence is fairly simple. But that is the beauty of it.

I’ll definitely be revisiting this duology in the future and would happily recommend this to any who love contemporaries.

Overall feeling: sublime gorgeousness

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Purgatory Blood’ (#12 Harbinger P.I.) by Adam Wright

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It’s like a road trip through Purgatory.

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery

No. of pages: 212

Smile, and the world smiles with you. Cause an apocalypse, and the Hounds drag you to Purgatory.

After the events of Final Magic, Alec finds himself in a place where life is cheap and death is a constant companion.

Time to win new friends and avoid new enemies.

‘Purgatory Blood’ entered the chat when everyone was looking somewhere else. There was no fanfare on its release, the cover art differs from previous novels, and it was even released under a different Author profile (of the same name) on Amazon – but it wasn’t a fake or anything. So I was a little cautious going into this tale, where protagonist Alec Harbinger is having to find his way out of Purgatory.

Although we get a great start to the novel, it took a while for the story to move forward. And things are just a little too convenient for Alec. Though the road is difficult, he seems to overcome any obstacle in his way easily. He never fails. It makes a bit of a flat read to be honest. Alec’s needs and the plot and have little motivation or arc of their own. For example even the queen (character) immediately takes Alec into her confidence upon meeting him. This feels like lazy and immature writing. Where’s the tension? Where’s the getting to know you and build trust?

Again many of the secondary characters blindly follow Alec on a whim. These are all new characters in Purgatory and he quickly creates a new ‘scooby gang’ that does anything he asks without question. Faber, the Queens Guard feels almost like an Alfred to Alec’s Batman

King Krowley… is this a nod to the tv show ‘Supernatural?’

This has got to be the most well-written novel so far in terms of writing style, but the worst in terms of structure, plot, and character development. It’s like Adam J. Wright threw all the rules of writing a novel out the window. This feels more like a stream of consciousness. A bunch of really cool actions scenes stuck together. It took 80 pages to get to the inciting incident (or get an assigned case) in a novel of 207 pages in length.

All of this lead to no sense in timing. Not letting the story build, or the characters grow, develop, and interact with each other. 

I will say ‘Purgatory Blood’ is great for pacing and action, it has some fun world building. We depart from the usual Preternatural PI form of story (though Adam J Wright tries to awkwardly jam it into the narrative) and instead this is more like a full-fledged fantasy novel. We don’t spend enough time there to learn the rules of the realm, or the mythology, and only begin to touch on the magic system before the novel is over. It’s like this book is ¾ action scenes and ¼ story… and the story all takes place in the last chapter or two.

Unfortunately I discovered semantic errors, formatting mistakes and a few missing words, so I think Wright needs a more robust editing/proof reading process.

‘Purgatory Blood’ is a very quick read. I completed the book in a few hours. I still enjoy Wright’s imagination and the culture references he pulls from. I still see potential, but were getting on to book 12 in the franchise and I’m seeing little growth in his skills as an author. Everything feels rushed and unfinished. Wright has cited that a ‘Season 2’ is coming for the franchise, but that was 2 years ago now… and I’ve seen books get listed and then erased from the pre-order lists on Amazon. It’s not instilling me with a lot of confidence.

With the twist ending to ‘Purgatory Blood’ that sets up a Season 2, I’m on the fence if I want to continue on with this franchise, because there needs to be more development done on the stories, better editing, more stringent proof reading, but I’m in so deep, and invested so much time and money, do I really want to quit? Is his writing really going to get any better? Do I have to continually dismiss the flaws and just appreciate the imagination? It’s hard for a writer and English Literature teacher to ignore so many glaringly obvious pitfalls… I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It may depend on my mood on a given day. There was such a break in Wright’s release schedule for a while there and I was hoping he was taking the time to really polish his manuscripts, but I’m just not seeing it yet.

The Harbinger P.I. series is more of a guilty pleasure for me, but I wouldn’t really recommend this.

I don’t know what is going on with this Adam J. Wright professionally. He has 2 Amazon author pages, 2 Goodreads author pages… the books come and go from his release schedule and then he promotes a book he just released under a different pen name in the same genre than what he normally writes in. It all feels a bit scattered‎, like he hasn’t got a handle on the back end of the publishing, marketing, and promoting thing. I kinda want to ask… Adam, are you okay? (Genuinely, not with sarcasm.)

Overall feeling: Disappointment

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#bookquotes

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I loved the sentiment in this quote and all the cute moments in ‘Betting on You’ it has turned me into an instant fan of Lynn Painter’s writing.

Is there an author that you became an instant fan of just from reading one book? Like the way you think and the way the author writes just clicks? Let me know who…

Book Review – ‘Alone’ (#3 The Generations Trilogy) by Scott Sigler

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Teens take on tribal aliens and harness technology

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Mystery

No. of pages: 560

“We thought this place was our destiny—not our doom.”

Pawns in a millennia-old struggle, the young people known only as the Birthday Children were genetically engineered to survive on the planet Omeyocan—but they were never meant to live there. They were made to be “overwritten,” their minds wiped and replaced by the consciousness of the monsters who created them.

Em changed all of that.

She unified her people and led a revolt against their creators. Em and her friends escaped an ancient ghost ship and fled to Omeyocan. They thought they would find an uninhabited paradise. Instead, they found the ruins of a massive city long since swallowed by the jungle. And they weren’t alone. The Birthday Children fought for survival against the elements, jungle wildlife, the “Grownups” who created them . . . and, as evil corrupted their numbers, even against themselves.

With these opponents finally defeated, Em and her people realized that more threats were coming, traveling from across the universe to lay claim to their planet. The Birthday Children have prepared as best they can against this alien armada. Now, as the first ships reach orbit around Omeyocan, the final battle for the planet begins.

What an epic conclusion to The Generations trilogy! Em and the rest of the Birthday Children have to fight for their home – or find another solution – against the enormous numbers of local inhabitants of the planet Omeyocan they are colonising. They have nowhere else to go, so it’s fight or die. But what can a bunch of twelve year olds knocking around in an abandoned and crumbling Aztec settlement do against an alien armada?

Protagonist Em got the ending I had pictured for her (bar one element that I could have done without… but I won’t mention it. Because; spoilers!) We see her character grow throughout the series, continually battling instincts and reactions with rationality and intelligence. I really enjoyed her arc.

I can’t say too much else on the other characters without spoiling some of the plot but it was great to see some redemption arcs, some heart wrenching goodbyes, and beautiful couples grow and blossom. I was still trying to reconcile the fact we have teens on an alien planet, trying to work out technology and how the prepared colony settlement operates, and fight off an alien tribe of creatures wanting their land back. I mean they are teens for goodness sake. And aren’t they the aggressors, invading someone’s home and trying to fight them off… it’s a little ludicrous if you think about it, but boy this was an engaging and entertaining read. I think it would give the reader pause to think about the issues of colonisation, identity, and genocide.

Just like the previous two books, ‘Alone’ does not take any prisoners and is not afraid of carnage. At some points I think we verged on horror as the descriptions of war and casualty filled a great deal of this novel.

Scott Sigler’s writing style is okay, I was easily transported to an alien world and space battles. I will say this final book of the trilogy tended to have more word repetition that the others, and a lot more info-dumping. Not particularly bad, but it felt like it was rushed more than the two prequels.

I liked the ending and the plot twists, it’s certainly unique. I don’t know if I was particularly sold on all of it. It is all things amazing, out there, great plot twisty, but a little manufactured.

The conclusion was also a bit grandiose: long heartfelt speeches and posturing, I don’t know it felt a little trite. Well deserved, appropriate, but trite. Maybe if the tone was a little softer and there wasn’t so many long diatribes it would have kept the tone of the novel better.

It did feel a little long, lots of unnecessary tangents – and the conclusion dragged a little – but in having said that it did bring all the characters a sound ending. With so much of the book wrapped up, I’m surprised we didn’t get a glimpse or resolution from more things on and around planet Omeyocan (in an afterward.)

I guess, with the tone and direction the prequels took, ‘Alone’ was easily predictable for me, though I was not expecting the twists and turns (and losses) it took to get there.

I’d recommend this series as a whole – again as I have said before, more for the YA demographic than older readers. I think some of the tone and concepts don’t quite work for a mature or more experienced reader. The story is wild, the characters not so emotionally complex, and there is a lot of action and political machinations based on more primal – dare I say it – teen angst and domination.

Overall feeling: Explosions and carnage

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#bookporn #coverlove

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I was delighted to find the Imperial Radch universe still lives on in standalones set in the same galactic political system as Ancillary Justice. I wonder if we’ll see familiar characters pop up or get a mention?

Do you have a favourite series that the author continues to release other titles set in the same universe? It there a series that you wish you could read more books set in?

Book Review – ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ by Morgan Matson

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A gentle push for an introvert to rediscover herself…

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance,

No. of pages: 449

It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a stranger? Um…

Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane’s list. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go skinny-dipping? Wait…what?

‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ was such an understated, slow-burn, cute tale of a girl, losing her best friend and finding herself (through a list of dares.)

The ending of this was beautiful and satisfying and I think the thing that will stick with me the longest. ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ is atmospheric. It’s not a fast paced book, but that’s the point our protagonist Emily grows throughout the course of the novel through her experiences and relationships, so there is a lot of meandering with the plot – because this is a character based story and the details are not important – the experiences are. In having said that, I did end up putting the book down a few times because I was not gripped by the narrative. The pacing is slow. But I think the writing style also had something to do with that – and the fact we have a first person narrative from Emily’s perspective: an anxious introverted teen where everything is a little dramatic. I’m not really the target market for this, so while I could relate because I went through that phase in my life, it’s not something that was particularly engaging. I need a lot more action or angst for that. But that is the charm of ‘Since You’ve Been Gone.’ It reflects the small town of Stanwhich and the slow pace of life there – and the fact that for Emily to come out of her shell, it’s going to have to be incrementally if it’s going to work at all.

Emily is that insecure teenager we’ve all been, and it’s not until she’s forced to face the world alone – her BFF Sloane has abruptly left with her family with no warning or explanation – and left a list of dares for Emily to complete. It’s their thing. Without the safety blanket of the more outgoing Sloane, Emily has to initiate conversations, take the first step in all of her interactions with her peers. This slowly builds her confidence and erodes away the social anxiety Emily used as a protective layer around her. I loved the character growth throughout the story, and the little realisations Emily has along the way.

This reads a bit Disney, in that Emily is a goody-two-shoes, and she would never colour outside the lines, so the small steps she makes to break out of the mould aren’t that extreme. And her newly formed friend group are pretty much the same. It’s all beautifully innocent, and I think that adds to the charm of this coming of age tale.

There is a romance in ‘Since You’ve Been Gone,’ but is not the focus of the story, as Emily is more focused on completing her list, and trying to find out what happened to Sloane. The romance is more of a subplot. And something about that pleases me. I like characters who don’t let a romance take over every aspect of their lives.

There were a few plot points that were left hanging in favour of the sunset ending that I would have loved to see resolved. But there is a promise that Emily now has the tools to be able to tackle them, so there is that.

I really enjoyed ‘Since You’ve Been Gone,’ but I will say it’s my least favourite of Morgan Matson’s novels to date. The concept is fantastic, but it felt a little long, and the storyline a somewhat simple. But I think this is a brilliant contemporary romance for the YA market. Nothing overly controversial, and plenty for the market to relate to.

I predicted the entire novel early on with one exception, which was a lovely twist that I think readers will enjoy.

Overall feeling: cozy

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘The Loneliest Girl in the Universe’ by Lauren James

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Isolated girl in space gets a rude awakening from a catfish.

Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction, Romance, Thriller

No. of pages: 290

Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?

Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.

Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?

Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .

‘The Loneliest Girl in the Universe’ is an interesting story about a teen girl, who after the death* of her parents (and the ships crew) is the unlikely new captain of a spaceship heading for a designated planet to colonise. She is the only crew member and has to learn skills to manage the ship and survive the journey. She takes educational classes, follows a routine, writes, and tries to imagine life with other people around. Oh, and regular check-in’s with her Councillor back on Earth keeps her sane. Then there’s news of a new ship, and support, heading her way with more powerful engines… and war had broken out on Earth. So now with limited contact, and alliances changing, what does it mean for her mission, her life? And what affiliations does the new ship follow? For someone who is effectively a hermit in space, Romy’s life is a mess.

This had tones of stories about letter-writing or emailing from dating sites. Not to mention catfishing. Something about the start of this had little red flags jumping up at me. I think it was because of the innocence of Romy. She’s been sheltered, unable to socialise, and not really clued up on the entirety of the socio-political climate back on Earth. It’s like she had ‘ready victim’ stamped on her forehead. I found this emotion I was having set up an intriguing tension underlying the story and had me hooked from the start. Combine this with a teen coming into her sexual identity/awakening and starved for attention, romanticising life from watching a dramatic television shows… and well, it might be a recipe for disaster. Did I mention she’s also responsible for a colony spaceship?

Romy has an interesting character arc, she not only has to reconcile with past trauma, but adapt her critical thinking skills she’s used to survive on the mission for a new situation. I think this is done incredibly well. As outlandish of a premise for the tale of ‘The Loneliest Girl in the Universe’ is, there is a fantastic character driven story. Ultimately one of hope and perseverance.

We get small amounts of physics lessons as Romy deals with mathematics and relativity, but it doesn’t isolate the reader. At around the three quarter mark the story takes a turn. A magnificent plot twist that will keep you glued to the page right until the end. The pacing for ‘The Loneliest Girl in the Universe’ is expertly crafted by Lauren James, and her writing style is breezy to read. She’s nailed the YA demographic on the head with a punchy vibe, but in a laid back delivery. You get enough description for the world building to clarify into the walkways and rooms of the ship, and the cold emptiness of space outside.

I went into ‘The Loneliest Girl in the Universe’ not knowing much, it had been recommended to me years ago. I got the vibes of a cute YA ‘You’ve Got Mail’ kind of thing, so I had no idea where the story was going to go. Delighted by the twists and turns this story took. I did not predict the ending at all. James reveals little bits of information at just the right time to turn the trajectory of the plot on its head.

A strong recommendation from me. A YA science fiction standalone that is well paced and good enough to give you a thrill.

Overall feeling: Surprises!

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘The Doorway God’ (#2 Seasons Rising) by Tom Early

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A magical university in another realm where students battle for some reason…

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+

No. of pages: 245

The Seasons are coming to Janus University, and Fay’s and Sam’s lives will never be the same.

Through last year’s deadly Trials, Fay and Sam gained admittance to the magical university, and the coming of autumn signals the start of the school year. But both of them have goals beyond their studies. For Fay, it’s finding a way to contain the ancient and evil spirit of Winter, which has no regard for human life. Fay has vowed to never let Winter kill again—but working with the school’s headmaster, Didas, is a risk. Didas cannot see past the potential power he can draw from Fay, and since Fay’s boyfriend and familiar, Tyler, is away at Tufts University, Fay might have to face his possession—and his dreams of four mysterious figures—on his own terms.

While trying to help Fay, Sam seeks information about her mother’s past in the magical world of Gaia, but will she like what she uncovers? To survive, Fay and Sam must make alliances, but it’s harder than ever to tell friend from enemy.

This felt like a mashup between Harry Potter and Pokemon. I started this series thinking that it was more along the lines of an origin story like X-Men, but quickly discovered it was a fantasy novel filled with magical battles and a university in another dimension, and that our protagonist Feayr’s (Fay) powers were actually the spirit of the Season of Winter possessing him.

Fay is reactionary, judgemental, and a bit self-important, but tends to live inside his head… I’m hoping his character develops into someone more rounded. Fay still feels like a softboy, a bit of a passive character. We do see him starting to act for himself a little towards the end, but a lot of the time it’s his friends taking the active role in the issues he faces, or the presence of Winter overtaking and doing the dirty work.

Sam is just about the most endearing gun-ho combative best friend I’ve ever come across. Interesting to read, but don’t know if I like her all that much. She still feels two dimensional. She’s painted like a violence hungry lesbian, which sets my teeth on edge, like it’s almost bad stereotyping. Maybe if her fist reactions to anything weren’t violence it would give her more dimension?

We do get into the familiar bond with Fay’s boyfriend – which I was feeling was a tad misogynistic: like it was Fay labelling Tyler as ‘mine.’ And the fact that Tyler serves little purpose in the grand scheme of things. But even then it felt tenuous. Maybe because the set up wasn’t quite executed and there isn’t enough angst and relationship build up between the pair. In the first book it felt insta-love/like, and in this sequel they are acting like an old married couple without any of that getting to know you stuff and budding romance tensions. It felt manufactured just for a plot point that we uncover at the end of ‘The Doorway God.’

Many of the other characters seem abrasive in one way or another. Very much a Harry Potter rip-off. 

You know that kid at primary school in class whose hand that always shot up eagerly whenever the teacher asked a question… ‘The Doorway God’ had the tone of that: desperate to please and eye-rolling impatience all crammed into one.

It took me way longer to complete this novel than I was expecting. I kept putting the novel down because my attention wavered. I think because the plot meanders so much. The constant magical battles, the secondary characters, and info-dumping about one dimension or another, filled the pages that weren’t actually relevant to the main plot bogged down the pacing so frequently. There were so many plot strands introduced, I still don’t know if they were left hanging intentionally, or just forgotten about. You don’t want to overwhelm your reader with so many inconsequential plot points. In a word, this plot felt messy. The story didn’t start to move forward, grab pace and tension until the last 80 pages.

The writing style does feel a bit juvenile, (this comes from not only the writing style, but also the behaviour and humour displayed by the characters) which is okay since I’m believing this is meant to be YA – but considering our protagonists are in university, I’m not certain this qualifies as such. So there is a discordant note in tone for this story. The elements and mythology of ‘The Doorway God’ have great potential, I just think that the novel was not structured and story beats failed to hit in the right place. I’m not a huge lover of fantasy at the moment, but I really did enjoy the concepts of magical beings and paranormal powers, though they weren’t realised effectively. We needed a strong mythology to be in place for them to really shine. It feels like Tom Early is still getting their writing legs under them, and not quite honed their craft. ‘The Doorway God’ would benefit from a strong developmental edit to let the story shine.

The plot (upon completing the book) does not read like a middle book in a trilogy, which I have to praise. I really feel like the structure of this book has done ‘The Doorway God’ a huge disservice. I’m hoping the final book ‘The Final Season’ does not suffer similar issues, as I am invested in the story now and wish to complete the franchise.

I don’t know if I particularly enjoyed this book on the whole, but can definitely see it’s potential. At a push I’d say to skip this series, as there are better written stories out there, but then you’d miss out on the blending of culture and magic that this series offers. Too many magical battles for my taste, sucking away the pacing of the plot I think the author put in for some whiz-bang special effects, so if you are attracted to shiny distractions, maybe you’ll like this.

Overall feeling: I want to like it… but-

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