The Silver Door | Emily Rodda

I reviewed book 1 in The Door Trilogy last year – The Golden Door. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was looking forward to book two a lot.

Sadly The Silver Door is basically the same plot as book one – just through another door into another part of Dorne to find the other brother.

This area of Dorne is desolate and barren. The whole time I was reading it I had images from the Mad Max movies in my mind.

When we were introduced to Bones at the edge of the Saltings I immediately thought of Bruce Spence’s Mad Max character.

The Silver Door became for me a skimmer.

I raced through the descriptions to get to the action so I could find out what happened to Rye and his brothers.

I remembered Pennac’s ‘The Rights of the Reader‘ in time not to feel bad about this. (He says on pg 155, “Even when we’re grown-up, and though we may be reluctant to admit it, we still skip from time to time, for reasons that are strictly between us and the book.”) I rejigged his Right to Skip to the Right to Skim and raced happily to the end.

I will probably read book three – The Third Door – when Rodda finishes it, where Rye will no doubt finally realise that he is the hero of this story. But right now, I’m feeling a little underwhelmed by the formula. I should stress that this is no doubt my adult perspective impacting on what is a middle grade reader. A middle grade reader that middle grade aged children would devour for it’s adventure, page-turning drama and thrills.

These books would be great for the youngest son in a family or for anyone who is overshadowed, over-looked and underestimated!