The Door to Lost pages is a collection of connected short stories, all written with a mix of the weird, sci-fi, bizarre, horror and fantasy genres. There are a handful of experiments with meta-fiction as well. Many of the stories left me with a kind of sharp heartache, a bittersweet hope that the fanciful dreamy parts of the novel are real and that the indications of a grim reality are the only fiction the author intended.
The book pulled me in easily. The prose is very simple and kind of alluring. I don't know if that is due to the writing style or the subject matter. Maybe both. For example:
"Aydee had to control herself so as not to scream with excitement. Here was a story she needed to read: an opportunity to learn how other people, besides Lucas, besides herself, had been affected by their contact with Lost Pages. A chance, maybe, to better understand this strange life and her place in it. She bundled herself in her reading chair, enraptured." p74
Everything about it forced me to keep reading, even when I was afraid of what I would find on the next page. All the stories are connected by an original mythos, each tale adding to your knowledge of it, slowly building another world in the background. A mythos of gods, protective beings (that include grade school boys), strange beasts, curses and spells, all kinds of magic and dimensions. The shifting sense of reality is a feature of the whole book; once you think you have a handle on the world, Lalumiere changes it with a sad twist. It is left up to you as a reader to decide which reality you believe to be real.
It isn't a difficult or long read, but neither is it light reading. I would suggest it if you want something bizarrely engaging and maybe a little raw and bittersweet.