DOORS: THREE DOORS, THREE DIFFERENT ADVENTURES. WHICH DOOR WILL YOU CHOOSE?

I felt it would be best to write a review that encompasses all three books, given that each of the three books start at the same point, with about 20-25% being repeated in all three books. They are quick reads, but being told the same thing in all three books until a certain point became repetitive and a bit annoying.

The books had a great world building but I can't shake the feeling that some of the impact of the stories might have gotten lost in translation (literally). All three stories are mainly character driven rather than plot driven.

I loved the concept "what if I had chosen this path instead?".

To avoid the repetitiveness, I think all three stories would have worked better in one book with a common start and then you could read each different 'path' from where the stories diverged.

Nonetheless, they're interesting and enjoyable.

This is a common review for all three Doors boos, Field of Blood, Twilight and Colony. Each of the tree books start with at the same point, with about a quarter being told the same in all three books. I read the first two fairly close together and this annoyed me as I knew this bit of the story.
The books themselves had fabulous world building but being a translation, seemed to have lost some of the story impact. Across all three of the books it seems that the stories are very much character driven rather than plot driven.
Overall I loved the concept of almost, what if I went this way instead? It might have been better if the three books were combined as an anthology with a common prologue.

I loved the premise of these books, kind of like a choose your own adventure book, but in 3 different books. I wasn’t sure where to start as the information all said you can read them in any order, so I started with Field of Blood.

I was intrigued at the beginning, and I liked the characters, but it did fall flat a bit for me. I don’t know whether it was because I read this one first and I didn’t get as much out of it or whether this book was just not for me. It is also possible that something was lost in translation?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Another exciting adventure through a different door! Reading this adventure after Doors: Twilight provided a lot of context of the characters that we otherwise would not have gotten. This book provided more information on the mysterious Organisation, though there was a lot left to be desired. The plot of this book was very interesting, though I enjoyed the intensity and cliffhangers of Twilight more.

I did enjoy the development of the characters, particularly the closeness of Viktor, Dana, Coco, Ingo, and Anna-Lena toward the end of the novel. The ending was very bittersweet and quite satisfying in terms of questions answered and which characters survived and what their futures looked like. I look forward to reading the final book of this trio, Colony, and finding out more about the doors and the characters involved.

This the third and final book in this set (though they aren't to be read in any specific order) was consistent with the first two books. The beginning, shared, quarter sets up an intriguing tale of a group of disparate experts tasked with rescuing the missing daughter of a rich businessman, who has disappeared after going through a mysterious door.
This book sees the group enter a door that takes them to an alternate version of middle-ages France/Germany and the reign of the Frankian empire. As with the World War II element of the second book, this was more or less a passing interest to the book rather than a key element of the story.
The group have found themselves in a version of history where women rule the empire and generally take positions of power, and a building conspiracy among men seeks to reverse this and look to change this in the history books. For me, this was the most interesting aspect of the book, and one that could be plausible. Sadly, I couldn't see past some modern day people apparently conversing comfortably with people from the 9th century without issue, and there being no attempt to address this at all.
Meanwhile in the real world, we learn more about the doors, their use and the mysterious agency controlling them. We learn more in this one book than the other two put together, and between the three we now have a good amount of knowledge about these portals. Some aspects of their use don't add up though, as with any sort of time travel/portal notion.
The book ends fairly abruptly with a long voyage which is skipped over in a very 'sod it, that's the word count reached, wrap it up' style.
Overall, I was very disappointed with these books. While I liked having to piece together things from each book and start to get a feel for the world, I felt so much of it fell short. As with the other two books, it offered so much promise but fell flat.

I decided to go for a common review for the three books as there are similarity and I struggled a bit with these three stories.
The concept is fascinating even if I would have preferred one book with a common introduction and three different parts.
I found the three books entertaining and there's plenty of potential but I assume it's one of those "it's me, not the book" i couldn't get into the story and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc, all opinions are mine

Over the next three days, three reviews will stand before you. Read them in any order, some elements will be the same, others quite different. If you would like to go straight to the segment unique to this review, please start with paragraph 4.

Drafting a book must be like standing in front of a series of doors, which one do you step thorough? Each option will make the novel a vastly different read, characters could be good or bad, the world may implode or explode. Like parallel universes, these differences are infinite, each option creates more options. An infinite library of books never quite written. Markus Heitz decided to experiment with this idea with his three Doors novels. Each starts the same, but then diverges.

Walter van Dam’s daughter has gone missing within a series of underground tunnels and he will do anything to see her return. He is rich enough to hire some of the best to find her; a Professor of Geology and a couple of cave explorers make sense, but why also have a bodyguard, paranormal expert, and clairvoyant? It seems that these tunnels are not as they first seem. Gravity seems to fail, and monsters stalk the dark. Strangest of all are the doors found deep below the surface. Which door will our rescuers open?

In Field of Blood the team decide to open the door with the ! Inscribed on the front. Within it is not more cave formations, but instead a portal to a different past. The year is 841 and Europe is once more at war. Two of the largest ever armies recruited to date are preparing for battle. The victor will control Europe and large chunks of Moorish lands, the losers will be wiped from history. Whoever wins, it will end in one of the bloodiest battles in history. This is the scene that our rescuers find themselves trapped in.

Upon exiting the door, they stumble across the scene of a recent massacre. Wishing to blend in, the team dress in what clothes are available. Unbeknownst to them, they are now wearing the livery of a Duchess who is key to the direction the battle will take. In their attempt to survive they must convince the locals that they are Dark Age warriors and not futuristic warlocks and witches.

The Dark Ages have their name for a reason, and I know little about what happened in Britain, never mind mainland Europe, during this time. This is not usually an issue in science fiction as anything can happen, but Heitz likes to play with alternative realities. His vision of Europe in 841 is one dominated by both warrior men and women. In fact, it is the Empress who is in charge and rumours are abound that a female Pope in imminent. There is an interesting slice of misogyny that plays through the novel as treason is afoot from a group of men. I do not think this is what happened, but I could not attest to it, therefore this alternative history may in fact be reality, undermining the point. The 1944 location of Colony is better known and more obviously alternative.

Despite not understanding if this was an alternative history book or a time travellers avoiding breaking history book, there is still merit in the location. The Dark Age storyline really comes to the fore as the battle beckons. Heitz can throw his characters into an old school slobberknocker of a fight.

There is a contemporary storyline that plays out far more mysteriously. There are hints of shadowy corporations and networks of failing portals. This X Files like mystery is explored in all three novels, from slightly different perspectives. Over the three books you will get a fuller sense of what might be happening and whilst it made complete sense to have such different adventures behind the doors, it was a little odd that events diverge so much in the present, when not much has changed.

Although I had a disconnect with the historic setting of Field, I found myself enjoying the character arcs more. In this novel our characters are given room to breathe, in the literal sense as the other books see them being offed quickly. We get to know a lot more about the dynamic of the group and many of the secrets they hide.
The Doors series is translated from German and has locations and characters from the country. In the case of Field this adds an additional barrier for readers not versed in the various power players of Europe at the time. Although the books start the same, they do drift into slightly different genres. In this case the book takes a step back from the action and concentrates more on character. It is far stronger in that aspect, but action fans may be a little disappointed, even with the epic battle towards the end.

This was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a horror story (you know, that title). But rather, it is a fantasy/sci-fi mash up with elements of a few other genres. As such, I didn’t really enjoy it.

In a nutshell - a very, very wealthy German businessman assembles a team to rescue his daughter, Anna-Lena, who is trapped in an underground labyrinth of caverns and tunnels underneath the family’s abandoned mansion, next to the family’s abandoned mine. In this labyrinth there is a place with five doors (hmm, weird but interesting). Some of the doors have markings on them in lipstick suggesting that Anna-Lena has been there. The rescue group comprises six people including climbers/cavers and scientists and a medium/clairvoyant. Coco, the medium, identifies the door behind which they will find Anna-Lena. They step through and find themselves in... the Middle Ages! What the? The rest of the book is about their adventures in the Middle Ages including a massive battle (of course) and lots of blood and mayhem.

I thought this would have made for a great horror story but as fantasy it just didn’t work for me. To start with, and this may have been lost in translation, but the narration felt quite flat to me, it didn’t elicit any emotions or connection with the characters. The characters themselves were not thoroughly developed, this book was all about the doors. One of the characters, ostensibly their ‘bodyguard’ who was the least likely bodyguard you could hope to meet, seemed pointless and didn’t add anything to the story. There was also the rather over-used trope of a secret, all-seeing organisation pulling the strings of world affairs. As a plot line it didn’t really make much sense either. Oh yes, there were a couple of aliens who were not very well explained either.

I applaud the author for trying something different here. In this book the team goes through the door marked with “!”. There are two other books which, after a common introduction to the mission, have the team going through a door marked “X” and one marked “?” to experience presumably quite different adventures but I won’t be reading them. To me, the story seemed quite full of loose ends but that would maybe be clarified by reading the other two books. I’m sure the book would appeal more to readers who actually enjoy fantasy style stories. I thank Netgalley, Quercus Books and the author for my review copy. My opinions are my own.

2.5 stars rounded down.

I was gifted a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for a review and I’m very grateful for that chance. I requested this book as the synopsis really intrigued me and now I’ve read it I’d still say the ideas are fantastic BUT...
it took me so long to get through this book.
Something didn’t work for me but I’m not sure what. I get the feeling something might just have been lost in translation as I think it might have been written in German originally.
I kept reading as I didn’t want to give up and wanted to know what happened but I didn’t quite gel with the story. This book is out for release just next week (March 2021) along with two other books in the series. The three books begin the same but continue after the characters choose a different Door to go through in each book. I love this idea and even though I found it hard to get through this book I am finding that I want to see what happens in the other books!

This book was interesting. The mash if genres was a little overwhelming at times but overall, worked. The characters were diverse but lacked that connection a reader craves. The world building was epic and the tale was exhilarating.

Overall, this book had a mix of good and bad qualities, but was entertaining.

What a blast I had reading this series. So original, mysterious and very fun. I highly recommend it and I would recommend reading all three of them of course, commit to it, the reward will be worth your time!