Beyond the Black Door
Fascinating
Layered
Intense

Beyond the Black Door

Beyond the Black Door is a young adult dark fantasy about unlocking the mysteries around and within us—no matter the cost... Everyone has a soul. Some are beautiful gardens, others are frightening dungeons. Soulwalkers—like Kamai and her mother—can journey into other people's souls while they sleep. But no matter where Kamai visits, she sees the black door. It follows her into every soul, and her mother has told her to never, ever open it. When Kamai touches the door, it is warm and beating, like it has a pulse. When she puts her ear to it, she hears her own name whispered from the other side. And when tragedy strikes, Kamai does the unthinkable: she opens the door. A.M. Strickland's imaginative dark fantasy features court intrigue and romance, a main character coming to terms with her asexuality, and twists and turns as a seductive mystery unfolds that endangers not just Kamai's own soul, but the entire kingdom ... An Imprint Book “I couldn’t put down this deliciously dark dream of a fantasy.” —New York Times bestselling author Lisa Maxwell “A dark delight, gorgeously written and as twisty and enigmatic as a labyrinth at twilight. I wanted to stay lost in its pages forever, wandering ever deeper into the maze of Strickland’s beguiling, intricately imagined world.” —Margaret Rogerson, New York Times bestselling author of An Enchantment of Ravens
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Reviews

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AHNA@x__yoursonly
4 stars
Feb 14, 2024

** spoiler alert ** What do you do after a book hangover? Seriously, I'm having a hard time moving on from this book. Even if I want to read something next, I want it to have similar components to the story. But where else could I find it??? I love most of the things in this book. I love the bond between Kamai and Marin. I love the bond between Kamai and Nikha (or should I say Kihan now?). I love the relationship between Kamai and Vehyn. And most of all, I love the acceptance and peace that Kamai has towards herself now. Oh, oh. And I love that Kamai respect herself and knows better because as much as she loves Vehyn, she knows it's not her job to fix him. Of course, goes straight to my favorites shelves and I would recommend this to my friends!

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Nessa Luna@octobertune
3 stars
Jun 3, 2023

I was very intrigued by this story but overall I wasn't a huge fan of the plot. The characters were nice (view spoiler)[though I honestly really hated both Vehym and Razim, and I really didn't like the possible romances with either of those characters. (hide spoiler)] but it didn't really bring up the rating by much, unfortunately. Loved the representation in this book, though! Overall I think this story is a 3,5.

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Nicole Dykeman@holobookthief
2 stars
Aug 25, 2022

Okay, hear me out. I highly recommend this book. The queer rep alone deserves a thousand stars—it’s handled SO well. Seeing an ace main character was incredibly important to me, as I know seeing a trans love interest will be important for so many others. On top of that, the magic system is cool and I just generally love the atmosphere. But...my reading experience was just not great. It’s taken me a couple weeks to get through it, and picking it up often felt like a chore. I was just slogging through until the end. Things certainly got more exciting in the last 50 pages, but overall, the pacing was somehow too fast and too slow at the same time. The characters don’t have any real depth. The villain is a discount Darkling. I just was not vibing with anyone. So yeah I’m sad because I was really anticipating this one and for some reason it just did not work for me :(

Photo of Kesya Sandry
Kesya Sandry@kesyaisreading
4 stars
Apr 24, 2022

okay damn. I don't even know where to start, but i love this book, i enjoyed it, and oh my god did i just cried reading this? oh hell yes, i am. Not because the story is sad, it's because something else. You've been warned. So let's start with the blurb, shall we? So, we'll follow our main girl—Kamai Nuala on a journey to discover the secrets about her life, after a tragedy hit her. Kamai is a soul walker, just like her mother. Which means she could go on a journey into other people's souls while they're asleep. But no matter where Kamai visits, she sees the black door. It follows her into EVERY soul. Kamai was warned never to open the black door, but she didn't listen ... Something i loved about this book is the diversity. Not just in race but also sexuality. Not to mention Kamai might be an asexual, which is very new to me since I've never read any book with asexual character(s) representation. The plot is also very intriguing for me personally. And there's a lot of architectural description in it and, mind you, it's SO descriptive and detailed to the point where my little tiny brain couldn't process and imagined any of it. So that's on me. The story gets more interesting and intriguing when it reached the complications. Before the complications, it might be boring for some of you because you'll just read about the world-building, magic system, and the whole sha-bang. Overall, i recommend it! And oh, I'm obsessed with Vehyn and Nikha, thank yew.

+2
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Alice@chatspirates
3 stars
Nov 17, 2021

3.5

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Leelynn Brady@sometimesleelynnreads
3 stars
Oct 19, 2021

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Imprint and Fantastic Flying Book Club for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication. Whoa. This one a difficult one to read, especially in the beginning. I won’t spoil much about it, but there were some aspects about the family dynamic of Kamai and her “step brother” that were really skivvy to me, and even to her Kamai and her mother. Basically, it’s the idea that a man believes that he can have any woman he wants, whether or not she even wants him as well. I don’t like that power dynamic, especially because Razim (Kamai’s “step brother”) pretty much pushes his sexual advances on her from a semi young age, to the point that Kamai’s mom is even like “stay away from him.” I don’t know if the Razim’s father ever noticed, but I’m glad that Kamai’s mother did, and tried her best to keep her daughter away from him because he gave me some sexual predator vibes and that was just not okay with me. I really liked the concept of the plot, with Kamai and her mother (I want to say her name is Nuala, but correct me here if I’m wrong. I don’t have the book in front of me) being able to travel through other people’s souls. They basically get to see what’s inside a person’s soul, and that soul somehow creates a house with different hallways and all that. It’s super interesting, and apparently being able to do this was outlawed back in the day because people would take advantage of that kind of power and actually end up making permanent and damaging changes to a person’s soul. So Kamai and Nuala had to keep this a secret from everyone, even their family. Also, something very early on that was mentioned was that Kamai doesn’t seem to have a soul, and if she does, it’s so hidden that even she can’t seem to see it. Nobody can visit her Nehym (soul house) because it’s like she doesn’t have one, and that seems to make Kamai feel like something is wrong with her. The journey that Kamai has to go through in this book – not only physically but psychologically and internally – was really great to see. I love that Kamai was asexual, and the author made it very obvious that she was like this, without there being anything wrong with how she feels. Kamai may have felt like something was wrong with her because unlike her brother, she just didn’t seem to have any sexual feelings for anyone in the beginning – male or female – and going through her thought process with this was insightful to see. I definitely recommend this book, not only for the ace and POC coded rep, but also for Kamai herself. I really liked her as a main character, and I feel like she’s a pretty three dimensional character that went through great character growth, and was someone that I wanted to support and cheer on through this book. I’m kind of bummed that it’s a standalone, but who knows? Maybe there may be more mini adventures of Kamai, like when she was younger and would explore different Nehym with Nuala.

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Rachel Schommer@gym_and_genres
3 stars
Aug 18, 2021

This was a fun little fantasy! It felt a bit like a marriage of Disney (the older kid version) + GoT which I can get down with. I was able to visualize the setting in my head and it was gorgeous. Every scene was lush with color and detail. I really loved the concept, but something about the writing didn't quite get there for me. None of the characters resonated strongly with me, and I didn't end this book with any sort of book hangover which automatically knocks it out of 4-star range for me. But it was still a very enjoyable read, and I love that there are more books with diverse gender and sexualities out there these days. Love the ace representation!

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Elaine@elanna_g
4 stars
Mar 9, 2024
+4
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Hannekei@mostlyjustreading
2.5 stars
Oct 5, 2022
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Zahia Saeed @zahiawrites
2.5 stars
Sep 1, 2022
+2
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Jillian Clare@wherethelostboysmet
3 stars
Aug 16, 2022
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Alayna Jones @alaynaxjones
4 stars
Aug 14, 2022
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Eliana Mor@elianamor
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022
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corinna@bythebook
3 stars
Aug 12, 2022
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Roz@irasobrietate
4 stars
Mar 27, 2022
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Nicole Lambert@nerdcoleture
4 stars
Mar 20, 2022
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Sonja@snjareads
3 stars
Jan 2, 2022
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vania vela@vaniavela
4 stars
Dec 26, 2021
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Kaitlyn Kelley@katieann
3 stars
Nov 18, 2021