Doors of Sleep
Doors of Sleep by Tim Pratt Published by Angry Robot on January 12, 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 238
Format: eARC
Goodreads
What would you do if you woke up and found yourself in a parallel universe under an alien sky? This is the question Zax Delatree must answer every time he closes his eyes.
Every time Zax Delatree falls asleep, he travels to a new reality. He has no control over his destination and never knows what he will see when he opens his eyes. Sometimes he wakes up in technological utopias, and other times in the bombed-out ruins of collapsed civilizations. All he has to live by are his wits and the small aides he has picked up along the way - technological advantages from techno-utopias, sedatives to escape dangerous worlds, and stimulants to extend his stay in pleasant ones.
Thankfully, Zax isn't always alone. He can take people with him, if they're unconscious in his arms when he falls asleep. But someone unwelcome is on his tail, and they are after something that Zax cannot spare - the blood running through his veins, the power to travel through worlds...
Okay so that premise right?? It’s portal fantasy (well, portal science fiction) aka one of my favorite things! Overall I really enjoyed this book, but was ultimately thrown off a little bit by the ending. I do recommend it – it’s a wonderful adventure and I’m definitely looking forward to more by this author. So let’s get into the details a bit more!
Things I Liked!
The World(s)
I’ve already said that I love portal fantasy, so that was definitely one of my favorite aspects of this book. I loved being able to get a glimpse at so many different worlds, and to see both the similarities and differences between them. It would be amazing so see fan art of these different worlds (or dare I say, a movie adaptation??).
The Characters
Zax is our main character, and he’s great, but MINNA YOU GUYS. I would say she is also a main character, and woooooo boy she is WAY cooler than Zax. Sorry Zax hahaha. Minna is some sort of humanoid being, but her body works in very similar ways to plants. If she doesn’t have enough food, she can photosynthesize!! She can adjust her body to become less susceptible to poisons! She can grow plant like stuff that others can wear that filters the air! And those are just the physical aspects about her, not even her personality. Minna comes from a very isolated world, and watching her interact with new places and humans and bringing in her own world view was so interesting. She is pragmatic and inquisitive and just so, GOOD. I love her.
The Format
The book is written as Zax’s journal. I find journal type formats to be a bit hit or miss, but I really liked this style. I think it worked for this novel because the journal aspect wasn’t too intrusive – by that I mean it was mostly written as Zax telling a story, with a few moments of his own reflections. So it felt more like “standard/regular” prose with a couple journal entries thrown in, if that makes sense.
The journal format also allowed for us to hear from different characters’ perspectives, as there were a handful of times that others wrote in Zax’s journal. I thought this was very well done, and it worked extremely well with the particular plot events happening at that time.
Things That Could Have Been Better!
I think overall the plot and main “issue” that the protagonists were trying to solve was a bit weak. The story made sense, but I think I needed a bit more gut punchy-ness (if that makes sense). Like, just MORE from the antagonist, more consequences, etc. In the middle and end of the book, it felt like the world-jumping aspect totally eclipsed the actual plot, to the point where the book was just focused on “Zax jumps here, and then here, and then here…” and the conflict got lost. So yes, as I said before, I did love getting to see different worlds, but it felt like we jumped TOO much.
The ending was the thing that felt most unsatisfying to me. The main conflict was wrapped up, but since the conflict already felt weak, the ending was also weak. There were also things that happened that left other questions VERY open for subsequent books. It was kind of frustrating in my opinion, as they were pretty big questions and I don’t know if the author intended for this to be a series or not. I think future books would be awesome! It just threw me a lot since I wasn’t expecting it. I know I’m being vague but I don’t want to spoil anything!
Again, I overall really enjoyed this book but a few things made it fall a little shy of 5 stars. If you are looking for a very fun portal science fiction / fantasy, then I have good news – Doors of Sleep is out TODAY!! So happy book birthday! I hope that some of you go and check this out 🙂
Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC for review. This does not affect my review in any way!
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