Title: The Green Door

Author: Heather Kindt

Pub. Date: June 11, 2020

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The game was supposed to be easy… enter the door, find the object, collect the prize money.

The Green Door is the first book in Heather Kindt’s young adult fantasy series. If you like strong female leads, adventure, snarky attitudes, and sexy sirens, then you’ll love the first installment in the Eternal Artifacts series.

This will be a spoiler free review. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m honestly a little lost with my thoughts and opinions on this book. I requested it on NG, because I’d read another book by this author and enjoyed it. I figured that I would enjoy this one too.

I did enjoy it, but my expectations were way off, and I thought the character relationships were a tad convenient. This book was a portal fantasy meets the Redwall series, and just kind of weird. I didn’t quite get the world, but it somehow worked? I’m trying to think of other fantasy books that I could kinda comp it with, but none come to mind. It was just this kind of weird, humanoid animal, tyrant king, magical game…thing. Basically I thought it would be more along the lines of Triwizard Tournament, and it wasn’t. Maybe we, as the reader, are supposed to be just as clueless as the MCs when it comes to what the purpose is, but it ends up feeling like an escape room, where no clues are given, and you just have to do things and hope the door opens. If we’re supposed to be as clueless, then okay? It’s frustrating, but I’ll deal…I guess.

Like I said, I’m kind of conflicted on how I feel. I can’t figure out if these books are going to pull from various literary worlds – the second book, The Red Door kind of feels like it might be Wonderland inspired…but if that’s the case, I have no idea which literary world The Green Door pulled from. I am hoping that this is going to be a bunch of books, one to cover each door introduced in this book. I think that could be really cool!

Back to the characters really quick…I loved the best friend dynamic between Meg and Brek, even if it felt a bit cheesy at times. I didn’t really understand Meg, her character kind of flip flopped for me, a bit surface but overall, but she’s kind of cool. Brek by himself didn’t really do much for me. I liked him much better in conversation with Meg. He just felt meh, and his whole “achievement unlocked” moment towards the end of the book felt strangely out of character. As for Carter…well, I don’t really buy into Insta love. He was also, absolutely a freaking rich boy cliché. I can’t tell you how many times I rolled my eyes.

Actually, all the romance in this book felt so cliché and there’s a moment at the end with Brek that I just “wtf’ed” because “of course now he feels that way”. Like, he had 8 years to feel something, and only when Meg starts feeling something for Carter, does he hint at anything. Jfc.

Come to think of it, this book plays heavily on basic character tropes and stereotypes. While some of it works, I think that it also doesn’t necessarily help. It all just ends up feeling kind of surface.

So, if you’re looking for a quick, enjoyable, low-pressure, portal fantasy meets Redwall, then give this a chance. Just turn your brain off for 300ish pages and read. Don’t try to be too critical. I’m definitely looking forward to reading book 2 when it comes out. I’m hooked enough to want to know what happens next. This book is out today, so there’s no wait!