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The Backrooms #1
The Backrooms
After a dizzying, ethereal experience that rocks his world, a teenager finds himself in a creepy, labyrinthine place. As he navigates the seemingly never ending rooms, he begins to lose touch with his humanity. But even as he succumbs to the madness, a flicker of hope remains. He must fight to hold on to his sanity and find a way out, or risk losing himself forever in the endless maze called the Backrooms.
All royalties received by the author from sales of this book will be used to help food banks for children. Thanks for your help!
All royalties received by the author from sales of this book will be used to help food banks for children. Thanks for your help!
- GenresHorror
165 pages, Paperback
Published February 10, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 22, 2023
This book is interesting and creative. The author wrote the book as a first person narrative. Indie authors often times get overlooked because there are some books that are not written well or the author did not take extra time to edit his/her work, however this book was written well & I recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading about the Backrooms. The Backrooms is open to interpretation & no one owns the Backrooms. Authors can put their own spin on the Backrooms in their stories. Kudos.
February 22, 2023
If you liked Stranger Things, read it!
This book was written by a 14 year old boy! Fantasy and adventure excellently well written.
It gets you. Very good. I recommend it.
This book was written by a 14 year old boy! Fantasy and adventure excellently well written.
It gets you. Very good. I recommend it.
October 10, 2026
DNF @ 29%
I wanted to like this so much. But this really isn't it. The spelling mistakes alone were bad but the story wasn't there either. Nothing made sense... Which you would think would be good being about the backrooms, but I can say this book was a much greater torture than the backrooms themselves. So much so that I'm tapping out for the first time this year on book #67 of 2026.
I wanted to like this so much. But this really isn't it. The spelling mistakes alone were bad but the story wasn't there either. Nothing made sense... Which you would think would be good being about the backrooms, but I can say this book was a much greater torture than the backrooms themselves. So much so that I'm tapping out for the first time this year on book #67 of 2026.
October 3, 2025
So i'm a big fan of books based on pre-existing worlds. Games, movies, comics, or in this case, creepy pastas/ARG.
I had a vague understanding of the backrooms and have seen references to it and video essays on it, but haven't really considered myself a fan. Still, i thought i'd give this a chance to see if i could see what all the hype was about.
Of course, this was a self published author, i wasn't sure the level of quality i would be heading into, but, i do tend to like my self published authors.
So this one's about a teenage guy who ends up in the backrooms and travels through the different levels trying to get out meeting all sorts of weird things along the way. and i'll tell you the number one thing bad thing about this book.
The pacing. Dear lord is the pacing in this awful. The beginning part of him ending up in the backrooms and just accepting being there and jumping into the fray is so incredibly off puttin. it's hard to describe how confusing and fast the beginning is. It seems as if you're expected to know all about the backrooms from the getgo and just assumes you know all about level 0.
And it isn't like it gets any better. Some levels the author will spend chapters on, while other levels he'll barely spend a page or two. Characters will be introduced just to die five pages later. It feels very haphazard in its pacing approach.
The other issue i have with the book is the main character Rook. He is one of those "super intelligent teenager" tropes that is so prevalent yet extremely annoying in fiction. He thinks and acts way more like a 30 year old than a 17 year old and honestly you forget he's a teen for most of the book based on his survival knowledge, lack of fear or empathy, and ability to just go with the flow of whatever horrifying stuff he sees.
Loses and arms and it gets replaced by a metal arm that regrows into a new one and he gets super strength? cool. He meets a group of humans for the first time and they all die? cool. He kills a bunch of actual humans? cool. The main character is not relatable really in any way and feels more like a robot than any sort of human.
Speaking of Rook, holy CRAP does the author jump the shark with this guy. about 1/3 of the way through he goes from being a normal human to getting regenerative properties that can regenerate missing limbs, removing injuries, ejecting poisons as well as receiving super strength in his left arm and not needing to eat or drink for months at a time. So at that point you're like "well i'm not worried for this guy anymore".
The whole point of the backrooms story is that they're a random human who is vulnerable. isolation, weak, but trying to survive in this weird, interdimensional, endless sprawling void of infinite rooms all different from one another.
When you're a superstrong, self healing guy with a gun with infinite magic bullets that climb the side of a skyscraper like spiderman and shoot spikes out your back, it becomes a silly parody at that point. you never worry for the guy because even when there's lines like "they stabbed me until my eyes and ears were gone, but in a minute my self healing gave me new eyes and ears" there's really no tension. Any thing this guy could come across he just beats or heals from. it kind of defeats the purpose of the story.
The ending, without spoilers is ambiguous. not very satisfying.
All in all, i still like the idea of the backrooms, but this author is not the one to truly encapsulate what it's really all about. they focused on the weirdest things while skipping over others and wrote a weird power fantasy book with an unrelatable super smart teen rather than a book about the backrooms.
The only saving grace was the speed of which i read it as well as the length. Still though. will read another backrooms book, but not by the same author.
2.5 out of 5 rounded.....up to a 3.
I had a vague understanding of the backrooms and have seen references to it and video essays on it, but haven't really considered myself a fan. Still, i thought i'd give this a chance to see if i could see what all the hype was about.
Of course, this was a self published author, i wasn't sure the level of quality i would be heading into, but, i do tend to like my self published authors.
So this one's about a teenage guy who ends up in the backrooms and travels through the different levels trying to get out meeting all sorts of weird things along the way. and i'll tell you the number one thing bad thing about this book.
The pacing. Dear lord is the pacing in this awful. The beginning part of him ending up in the backrooms and just accepting being there and jumping into the fray is so incredibly off puttin. it's hard to describe how confusing and fast the beginning is. It seems as if you're expected to know all about the backrooms from the getgo and just assumes you know all about level 0.
And it isn't like it gets any better. Some levels the author will spend chapters on, while other levels he'll barely spend a page or two. Characters will be introduced just to die five pages later. It feels very haphazard in its pacing approach.
The other issue i have with the book is the main character Rook. He is one of those "super intelligent teenager" tropes that is so prevalent yet extremely annoying in fiction. He thinks and acts way more like a 30 year old than a 17 year old and honestly you forget he's a teen for most of the book based on his survival knowledge, lack of fear or empathy, and ability to just go with the flow of whatever horrifying stuff he sees.
Loses and arms and it gets replaced by a metal arm that regrows into a new one and he gets super strength? cool. He meets a group of humans for the first time and they all die? cool. He kills a bunch of actual humans? cool. The main character is not relatable really in any way and feels more like a robot than any sort of human.
Speaking of Rook, holy CRAP does the author jump the shark with this guy. about 1/3 of the way through he goes from being a normal human to getting regenerative properties that can regenerate missing limbs, removing injuries, ejecting poisons as well as receiving super strength in his left arm and not needing to eat or drink for months at a time. So at that point you're like "well i'm not worried for this guy anymore".
The whole point of the backrooms story is that they're a random human who is vulnerable. isolation, weak, but trying to survive in this weird, interdimensional, endless sprawling void of infinite rooms all different from one another.
When you're a superstrong, self healing guy with a gun with infinite magic bullets that climb the side of a skyscraper like spiderman and shoot spikes out your back, it becomes a silly parody at that point. you never worry for the guy because even when there's lines like "they stabbed me until my eyes and ears were gone, but in a minute my self healing gave me new eyes and ears" there's really no tension. Any thing this guy could come across he just beats or heals from. it kind of defeats the purpose of the story.
The ending, without spoilers is ambiguous. not very satisfying.
All in all, i still like the idea of the backrooms, but this author is not the one to truly encapsulate what it's really all about. they focused on the weirdest things while skipping over others and wrote a weird power fantasy book with an unrelatable super smart teen rather than a book about the backrooms.
The only saving grace was the speed of which i read it as well as the length. Still though. will read another backrooms book, but not by the same author.
2.5 out of 5 rounded.....up to a 3.
January 6, 2026
As an avid Backrooms enjoyer, I can understand the hype.
However, looking at this book from a storyteller perspective, It's all over the place. The story stays consistent when it comes to the Levels (although for more than half the book the levels are 1 behind due to the character thinking Level 0 is Level 1) but as for the characters and the plot, it's a hot mess.
Even as someone who enjoys Backrooms related content, I would think before buying this one. The only thing this book has going for it is that its about The Backrooms.
However, looking at this book from a storyteller perspective, It's all over the place. The story stays consistent when it comes to the Levels (although for more than half the book the levels are 1 behind due to the character thinking Level 0 is Level 1) but as for the characters and the plot, it's a hot mess.
Even as someone who enjoys Backrooms related content, I would think before buying this one. The only thing this book has going for it is that its about The Backrooms.
October 7, 2026
This was so immersive. And even if it's not 100% perfectly written it's pretty good. Considering it was written by a young teenager and the typos are almost non existent. My favorite level was the underwater one. I had dreams after that one! I alreayd downloaded part 2 to my kindle to read tonight!
December 23, 2023
Some inconsistencies and spelling errors, but all in all was an entertaining read.
November 20, 2024
Me ha encantado, es una historia de supervivencia, exploración del espacio liminal infinito y transformación.
February 11, 2025
Like Reading A Video Game
At first it was interesting. But, as the protagonist moved on, it either got silly or mostly boring. And the conclusion was beyond disappointing.
At first it was interesting. But, as the protagonist moved on, it either got silly or mostly boring. And the conclusion was beyond disappointing.
June 16, 2026
i gave it a go twice, but i couldn’t finish it. the backroom descriptions just weren’t that interesting.
June 22, 2024
Very entertaining. Must read if you like The Backrooms or science fiction.
August 30, 2023
I loved going on an adventure with this character who survives terrifying rooms and explores the backrooms, growing in skill and confidence in every level. Really creates an eerie and liminal feeling almost like being in a videogame or dream, and there are some terrifying rooms (terror hotel is gripping). I also liked learning things from the character, who mentions Euclidean geometry and knowledge of Latin, and has an internal monologue logical and interesting enough for the character to keep his sanity. I also loved how every room is different, and I feel so immersed in the backrooms after reading this. If you're interested in the backrooms, or just like creepy adventure stories, I highly recommend this.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews