One of the best books I've ever read.
** Because of the uniqueness of the story line, I am unable to do a review without spoilers, nor am I able to shorten it. I apologize in advance for both. **
** Because of the uniqueness of the story line, I am unable to do a review without spoilers, nor am I able to shorten it. I apologize in advance for both. **
- Review by Cindi
I have seen this book all over the place recently. There have been Goodreads recommendations. I have seen it many times on my update page on Goodreads. Quite of few of my Goodreads friends and people I follow have read it. I'll admit to not being that interested for a variety of reasons. It's fanfiction for one. Those are hit or miss for me. I don't watch the TV series (ever) that these things are based on so that leaves me unfamiliar with the characters. Actually, that's a good thing. If I was familiar, I would not see it as an original story (to me) so I would have completely passed it by. The Doors of Time is long. Seriously long. But I was curious. I downloaded the book from Goodreads (preferable to reading it online) and sent it to my Kindle Fire. I figured I would read a few pages and set it aside to (maybe) come back to later. This did not happen. I was hooked within the first few pages and could not put it down. This should be published. Seriously, it was that good.
1988 - Jensen is a 10-year-old loner. He isn't alone by choice. He's odd. Different. Creepy. Weird. No one at school will talk to him. No one wants to be friends with him. But yet when asked, no one can say why. Just that he's a weird boy. He's miserable and he's lonely. He's never even had one friend. He also has a secret. A secret that, if discovered, could destroy his family or worse. He has a younger sister and two very loving and supportive parents who will stop at nothing to protect their son.... their son who has abilities that no one is supposed to have. Jensen is able to make things happen without meaning to. He can change the weather simply by getting upset or even being happy.. flowers bloom when he is around, books fly off shelves, light bulbs explode, glass breaks... as well as hundreds of other things. Each time something happens it coincides with his mood and his emotions.
Jared is a typical 6-year-old boy. He has two close friends. Chad is his age and Sandy is four years older. One day Jared is walking with Sandy and sees a young boy around Sandy's age sitting under a tree. Even from a distance Jared can tell the other child is lonely. When he asks Sandy about him, she gets mean and critical saying that the other kid is just weird and that nobody likes him. Jared wants to speak with the boy but keeps walking forgetting the sad looking boy not long after.
But when Jensen sees Jared, he sees something different. For the first time in his life, someone doesn't look afraid of him. Unfortunately the girl with him pushes the boy to walk away.
Something changes for both boys in that quick instance. Something... someone... is making sure a connection is made even if the boys are not aware of it at the time.
1992 - Jensen has been pulled out of school to be home schooled by his mother. He is unable to control his abilities and learning at home is the best option for him. His father is one step away from institutionalizing Jensen when he and his mother talk him into allowing Jensen to trying other things; hypnosis, yoga, therapy... anything that could help Jensen control the things that he does. He has hit puberty and as his body goes haywire so do his episodes. Jensen discovers music. The piano. He becomes somewhat of a prodigy and this helps him in ways nothing else can. The piano becomes his life, his entire world. He still unknowingly makes things happen but now he has something that he can control, his music.
1995 - Jared is being pushed to take piano lessons by his mother. His tutor turns out to be Jensen, the sad boy he saw on the playground years earlier. At this stage, Jensen is a prisoner. He is no longer allowed to leave his house for any reason. He is kept locked in his bedroom at night. His loving and supportive mother has now become the mother from hell. She's hateful and mean and she's terrified of her son. His father, who years earlier wanted Jensen institutionalized, is now his only ally with the help of his younger sister, Mac. When Jared begins piano lessons with Jared he finally gains a friend. A true friend. Someone who does not see a strange or weird boy. What Jared sees is an older teenager who is lonely and sad. It doesn't take long before they are the best of friends. For the first time in his life, Jensen has someone other than his family. This does not bode well for Jensen's mother. She does everything in her power to destroy the friendship but yet she continues to take the money for the tutoring sessions.
When Jensen is with Jared, he is able to see things... visions... of a grown Jared. A grown Jared who is in love with Jensen. Jensen falls in love with the older version of the boy. This is not some creepy book where a 17 or 18-year-old boy falls for a thirteen-year-old kid. Jensen is in love with the vision he sees, the adult Jared. There is nothing inappropriate at all in the way this is explained and nothing is done about these feelings as Jared is still a young teenager. He's not yet the man that he will grow up to be.
When Jensen turns 18, with the help of Jared and Jared's mother, he tries to be an adult. He makes a decision that can finally, finally get him away from the prison that is his home. He is in a position to follow a dream. Instead his parents rip him away from the only friend and the only life he's ever known. I cried like a little girl when this happened. I couldn't control it. It was that difficult to read. The entire first half was difficult to read.
I have read a lot of books in my day with horrible parents. I am hard pressed to remember one where I hated a mother as much as I did Jensen's. She started out as loving and supportive but that changed drastically as the years went on. She forced Jensen to never show emotions, to not feel. She kept him drugged to the point where he could not function. She hid him away as if he was an embarrassment... a nothing. She criticized him constantly and went so far as to call him a murderer. I absolutely hated, hated this woman.
The entire first half of this book is an emotional roller coaster. Anyone who can read what Jensen went through... what his horrible mother put him through... without getting teary and emotional has no heart. Jensen did not ask for the life he had. He did not ask for his abilities. He was born with them and stuck with him. It was not his fault but yet he was treated so horribly. I do not recall the last time I got so angry with a fictional character. My heart broke for Jensen. My heart broke for Jared because he had his best friend ripped away from him without warning.
2006 - Jared has not seen nor heard from Jensen in almost ten years. When Jensen was taken away from him, his whole world fell apart. He got physically ill. There were problems with his parents. He grew up and tried college but that did not work out for him. He ended up in a long-term relationship with Sandy, his old friend from his early childhood. But there was always something missing. Jensen yes, but something else. Something that would make his life whole. He loves Sandy very much but he's never quite felt complete with her. Whatever was missing in his life was always there.... in the background.... just out of his grasp. He never forgot his best friend. He never stopped caring for him. This was a platonic love. Jared is straight and never felt more than special a kinship with Jensen. However, he knew that his life was not complete without Jensen in it. Without him, Jared has only gone through the motions.
Jensen was forced to endure the unimaginable for two years after being forced to leave his home. A total stranger stepped in to save him. Without this person Jensen would not have survived. He was able to go to college and then later become a piano teacher at a prestigious university. His abilities never went away and he is still suffering as a result but he is able to live a not quite normal, but an adult life. With a lot of help from two very important friends. Because of the visions of his teenage years, he hangs on to the hope of reuniting with Jared, his soul mate. This hope is the only thing keeping him going. His abilities are now going in a different direction and the consequences on his body and emotional well-being is devastating. He can barely function. He can't function without his roommate and friend. He has to be reminded to eat, to sleep, to even put his socks on before he leaves the apartment. He suffers black-outs that can last for days. While he's able to teach, he has a difficult time just getting through each day. But yet he still holds out hope. He knows that Jared is his soul mate and that they will be together some day. He doesn't know how or when but he knows it will happen.
Then he sees Jared in a bar in New York. He has one of his episodes and loses him. Again. Thankfully, Jared had figured out that Jensen was different the day he went away as a teen. He sees things in New York and he just knows that Jensen is in the city somewhere making these things happen. Unfortunately, Jared is in New York with Sandy, his girlfriend of three years. Eventually the two men find each other but it doesn't go as planned. Jared is very much involved with a female and Jensen's whole world comes crashing down as a result. His visions never showed a woman in Jared's life. What .... who... does he have to hold onto now? The only constant in his life is his music. Without his music, he can't function. During all the years of waiting for Jared, he had the thought of Jared to fall back on... the knowledge that the two men would be together some day. Now Jared has found him and it doesn't go as planned for Jensen. How will he function? How will he survive? The music is no longer enough.
I will not be going into a lot of details in regards to the second half of this book. It was pretty much more of the same. Jensen has episodes because of Jared. Jared goes back home to L.A. with the woman he loves. He and Jensen try to maintain a long-distance friendship but it's not what Jensen wants. Sandy is a bitch though the author tried to make her into a loving and understanding girlfriend a couple of times. I did not see it. She was a bitch as a teen and a bigger one as an adult. Jared loves Jensen but not in that way. Jensen can't function without Jared in his life. It takes a long (a really long) time for the two men to get it right. There were a few times that I felt that Jared was jerking Jensen around. There are a LOT of times where I felt that Jensen's episodes were too much. Did that take away from the story as a whole? Not really though the redundancy was frustrating at times. They finally, FINALLY get it right and work on their happily-ever-after. I enjoyed how that played out though I wish the back and forth between the two men would have been minimalized some.
The first half of this book is beyond perfect. You feel what Jensen feels. You will watch as his mother demeans him, makes him feel not worthy of living. You will hate the mother with every fiber of your being. You will absolutely fall in love with Jensen, as I did. Your heart will break for him as mine did. You will shed a few tears watching as this poor, lost child is made to feel as if he is an abomination, a mistake, a fluke. Jared is the ultimate best friend who grounds Jensen. He gives him something he's never had before... friendship... love.... acceptance.
The second half of the book, while good, was a bit much. I saw more about Jensen's inability to cope without Jared than Jared's inability to live without his best friend. It made Jensen seem disabled and Jared flighty.
Overall (even with what I just mentioned), an outstanding book. I was left with a couple of questions but nothing that took away from my enjoyment. This book will be marked as a new all-time favorite for me. I have read the short that takes place immediately after this one but I will not be reviewing it for this blog. It is a quick continuation of Jared and Jensen's relationship. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.
The link for this free story as well as for the short story that takes place immediately after the Epilogue are as follows:
Good review. Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It is seriously one of the best books I've ever read. Very emotional.
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