Review: Strong First Effort
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2013
The Doorknob Society is a strong first effort in Mr. Fletcher's series. Easily dismissed as a rip-off of Harry Potter, the characters are fun and relatable while the story itself is different enough from Harry and Hogwarts to stand on its own. Though written in the first person, Mr. Fletcher does a good job of making it work.The story centers on Chloe the teenage daughter of a traveling magician. Her mother disappeared some time ago for no apparent reason. Chloe soon learns that her family has certain magical abilities and has ties to a secret magical society and its feeder school(The Paladin Academy), which is being eaten away by politics and rivalry. She and her band of friends find themselves in danger at almost every turn. The action is well-written and the best part of the book.My favorite part is Chloe being torn between the "perfect" boyfriend and the bad boy who clearly has an interest in her and may not be so "bad" after all.What hurts the book is a general lack of editing and the constant repetition of "my mother left/abandoned/disappeared on me." In fact, those sections are so heavy handed that it gives away the big reveal long before it happens.Chloe also repeatedly states she is broken without really showing her doing things that might indicate a troubled young woman. She and her father have a great relationship, she does well at school and makes friends easily. That doesn't give me an impression of a girl trying to fit in.I would give the book 4 stars for premise and 3 stars for editing issues. But it did interest me enough to want to continue reading the series which is all that really counts.