Since Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, it seems standard that fantasy “save the world” adventures must come in trilogies. Michael Pryor’s Doorways series follows this pattern and the latest instalment, The Book of Plans, builds very well on the first book, The House of Many Rooms.

The story follows the efforts of a Melbourne boy, Saul, who has joined a beautiful (otherworld) princess and her hard pressed followers in their battle with her evil cousin Stefan who is tearing down the structure of their world. Saul shares with the Princess an ability to open doors to other worlds and the group use this to search desperately for the Book of Plans that will help them thwart Stefan.

One of the highlights of The Book of Plans has the group ending up in Swanston Street, Melbourne, on the way to the State Library of Victoria, as they keep finding more connections with Earth than they first thought. After a rapturous description of the wonders and treasures of the Library by their Scribe (with which the SLV would be delighted!), Stefan’s evil touch reaches them and leads to a marvellous description of Swanston Street gone mad. A great collection of typical city characters dance and brawl and scream, losing all their civilized controls as the group struggle to escape.

In this style of fantasy adventure, the storyline often can become predictable, especially to dyed-in-the-wool fans. But Michael Pryor keeps the pace of this story moving quickly, introducing unexpected twists to the group’s quest. Usually the reader only discovers these as the characters do, though the key plotline can be seen building up gradually as clues are found.

The characters, too, are not just white hat/black hat goodies and baddies, but realistc people battling with their emotions and losses. This is particularly so with Saul, whose separated, absent parents and his feelings about them are a key part of the climax.

The Book of Plans is a good sequel to The House of Many Rooms because it keeps the story going and takes it further. The final book in the series is due out this year and I, for one, will be waiting for it eagerly.

Other titles in the series:
The House of Many Rooms
The Unmaker 

Review by David Beagley

© 1998 David Beagley