This Is a Door ARC Review 🚪

  This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri

 

My Star Rating: 5 Stars 

Page Count: 400 pages

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Novel in Verse 

Date Read: July 23rd-25th

Publication Date: October 27th, 2026

Publisher: Stonefruit Studio

Review: 

This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri was a great   middle grade novel told in verse. I loved the author's note at the end of the book where he explains his process of writing the story. He created a story based on the writing structure of the hero's journey but changed it a bit to fit Nothing's journey. Each chapter goes along with a part of the structure.

Daniel Nayeri describes the book as an illustrated novel without pictures, which is the perfect description of this book. The shape of the verses change to fit what is being told on the page such as into different shapes, twisting around the pages, and even changing size. It was one of the most inventive ways I have ever seen a book written and I highly recommend this for younger readers and for the older readers who still enjoy these types of stories. If you do choose to pick it up, the print copy would probably be your best option. The formatting doesn't translate as well into an ebook.

*Thank you to Stonefruit Studio, Daniel Nayeri, and NetGalley for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.* 

D'ORC ARC Review 🐔

 D'ORC by Brett Bean

My Star Rating: 4 Stars

Page Count:  pages

Genre: Fantasy Graphic Novel  

Dates Read: July 21st, 2026

Publication Date: August 25th, 2026

Publisher: Image Comics

Review: 

D'ORC has a humor similar to what I have found in the I Hate Fairyland comics, though the story is uniquely Brett Bean's own. I enjoyed the idea of the prophecy causing everyone to believe D'orc is the one meant to bring upon the end of the world and seeing what their blame causes.

The sentient/possessed shield and the ghost of the head of a chicken were clever ideas for companions who brought a lot of humorous scenes. I like how the shield is a play on the talking sword trope and how it is blood thirsty. The ghost chicken head was an interesting take on the animal sidekick. Some of it's scenes were so funny.

There are many powerful messages throughout this volume such as don't blindly judge someone you don't know just because you are told to. It was interesting to see how Brett Bean used these messages in this oftentimes absurd and funny fantasy story.

I have loved Brett Bean's artwork for years in the I Hate Fairyland series and I was looking forward to what he would bring in his own adventure. His illustrations are great as always. I loved the map. D'orc's story is a fun one that I look forward to getting more of it in future volumes.

*Thank you to Image Comics, NetGalley, and Brett Bean for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*