Thank you Goodreads First Reads for an uncorrected proof of Beyond the Door!

Beyond the Door is a mythological and magical adventure. Well, it is just the beginning of an epic adventure, really. The book ends with a "to be continued," as expected, and it left me wanting to know what happens next. Young Timothy, his sister Sarah, and his kind-of friend Jessica, and the people they get to befriend along the way have quests small and large to keep the Dark from winning the battle(s) against the Light. The Light wants to give creatures freedom, while the Dark wants to control everything. And the decisions along the way are tough ones, and not everything is the way it seems. Most importantly, not everyone is who they claim to be.

Overall, the adventures are exciting, and the characters are well developed. There are comical moments, and sad ones, as well as exciting ones.

I find it difficult to describe the one problem I have with the narrative style. I want to say that it is dry, or it doesn't flow as well as it could, perhaps? There are sentences like "[Name] addressed [Name]," which stick out like a sore thumb in a narrative that is otherwise more natural. In other places, things are explained too much, leaving too little for actual action to take place, which I think is done better with dialog (I am comparing to Patrick Ness, for example.)

Besides the issue with the flow of narrative voice or words, some aspect of the story are very refreshing, like Timothy's continued skepticism of the magical things happening and his need to try to explain things according to the science he knows.

I have said this before and I will say it again: the bullied child is always a golden-hearted victim, which bothers me. It keeps me from believing the character. Nobody is that good hearted. Bullied or not, children are children; they can be evil, selfish, stupid, smart, smelly, snotty, athletic, whimpy, disgusting... In fact, being bullied would probably bring out the worst in someone, not the best. The saving grace here is that the bully is not completely evil, and Timothy is not entirely perfect (though he is, almost.)

All in all, this is a great start to an adventure of epic proportions. I will read the next book int he series. ( )