The Portable Door
This book is the first of a series set in an around a firm of consulting magicians. Within that series this is the first of a trilogy starring Paul Carpenter.
We follow our uninspired and unremarkable hero as he interviews for and unexpectedly gets a job at a mysterious but seemingly ordinary business. He then goes on a series of increasingly fantastical misadventures before the real nature of the firm is revealed to him. All this while he nurtures a crush on his fellow new employee Sophie.
I enjoyed the book when I first read it back in 2004. What I can tell you now that I couldn’t then is that it’s a case of diminishing returns with the rest of the books in the series. I only stuck with it as far as I did because I wanted to find out what happened to Paul.
Recommended for lovers of comical fantasy especially those who know a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan (which I don’t but apparently it enhances the experience).