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anastasia_raf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I truly liked this book! I found it fascinating to say the least. That book is what an original idea is, and I believe the execution of that idea was excellent.
It makes me wonder if it is a metaphorical way of presenting children scarred from familial expectations and traumatized by a parent's ambitions and ideas of a daughter, a son, a child.
Or if it bears the hope that imagination can be salvation to a child and to those prisoned in societal views and ways.
And still this book felt so magical, so surreal and yet so heavily rooted in reality.
I have so many thoughts about this book and so little to say. I decided that I'm going to let the book show you everything.
It makes me wonder if it is a metaphorical way of presenting children scarred from familial expectations and traumatized by a parent's ambitions and ideas of a daughter, a son, a child.
Or if it bears the hope that imagination can be salvation to a child and to those prisoned in societal views and ways.
And still this book felt so magical, so surreal and yet so heavily rooted in reality.
I have so many thoughts about this book and so little to say. I decided that I'm going to let the book show you everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Transphobia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gore, Death, Grief, Deadnaming, Child death, Child abuse, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse
ehmannky's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I went into this story completely blind and just chose this by the cover at the library and I am so, so happy I did. I am a huge fan of looking at the aftermath of tropes like "the chosen one" and "portal fantasies," and this book is just looking at trauma from kids who lived out the portal fantasies. It's weird and it's dark and there's murder and just glimpses of the weird, horrible and wonderful worlds that these kids travelled to.
I don't think that this reads as YA, even if most of the characters are teens. Not that YA can't be brutal like so much in this book, but it reads more adult to me. Like, trigger warning for those who read this book, you're going to read about multiple children getting harmed, dying, and having their corpses mutilated during the book.
I don't think that this reads as YA, even if most of the characters are teens. Not that YA can't be brutal like so much in this book, but it reads more adult to me. Like, trigger warning for those who read this book, you're going to read about multiple children getting harmed, dying, and having their corpses mutilated during the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Body horror, Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia
Minor: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse
belladsb's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
-January 2022-
C.A.W.P.I.L.E. : 9.14
If this is not an apropiate title, then i do not know what is, for it's true that every heart has a doorway, some just may find it more easily than others, but that's beside the point.
In this tale we encounter so many stories equal in thein uniqueness, united by the same feeling of yearning, by the screams of wanting to be heard and the whispers of wanting to be accepted.
It's wonderful in the way it explores how a lot of family units deal with trauma, by wanting to revert, the hardship of accepting that things will never be the same and not knowing how to mourn them, so maybe it's best to make them go away...
How telling can it be, when you think of the reticence of some parents to let go of their children, to let them find their own voices & paths, to let them be hurt.
How hard it has to be for a kid, growing up to "be sure" of who they are or who they want to be, to stand up to those who love us, to try find and forge our own way, our own story...
It's cruel to ask a kid to "be sure" of so much, yet it is the requirement for then, they have accepted the consequences, no refunds here (in this world or any).
And so they go head first, not knowing what it means to "be sure" finding a place fit for them, only to be thrown out later, back into a world that never spoke their language, that never saw them for who they were since it already had decided without them what their place was in it. They know now what is to be sure, for they are sure, that they don't belong here, in this roles planned for them, they're sure, they found their home and now they're lost.
Going more specifically into the story of this particular novella,
This is a beautiful introductory novel for the series, welcoming us to the diferent directions, the complexity of the world, and the musing tone of the tale overall.
We meet character form all over the compass, even if we only get a glimpse of most.
I'll go into Nancy, since she's the star of this particular number. The stillness, her world, her ways, I find so soothing, I connected with her in those way even if I could not in others, she was aproachable, and calming, observing. I loved her.
The plot was realy fun, as well as the resolution, but what gives the killing blow for me is the writing, simple and impactful, right to the core.
"You are nobody's rainbow"
In the end, there's only one thing I hope to gain from this book/series, and that is: If I am to be a Therapist, I hope I can channel all the Eleanor West energy I can manage both to the family as well as my patients. Both the soothe to the family for things will get better, even if they're different than from before ("Let me help, please, just let me help") and to the children, for them to feel understood in some capacity, help them find the similarities in their differences.
-May 2019-
Absolutely Beautiful, I loved loved loooved the complexity yet openended-ness of this book! I already want to re-read AND it’s the first book in a while that actually make me stay up until late at night bc I could not put it down and I didn’t wanted to come back from it
C.A.W.P.I.L.E. : 9.14
If this is not an apropiate title, then i do not know what is, for it's true that every heart has a doorway, some just may find it more easily than others, but that's beside the point.
In this tale we encounter so many stories equal in thein uniqueness, united by the same feeling of yearning, by the screams of wanting to be heard and the whispers of wanting to be accepted.
It's wonderful in the way it explores how a lot of family units deal with trauma, by wanting to revert, the hardship of accepting that things will never be the same and not knowing how to mourn them, so maybe it's best to make them go away...
How telling can it be, when you think of the reticence of some parents to let go of their children, to let them find their own voices & paths, to let them be hurt.
How hard it has to be for a kid, growing up to "be sure" of who they are or who they want to be, to stand up to those who love us, to try find and forge our own way, our own story...
It's cruel to ask a kid to "be sure" of so much, yet it is the requirement for then, they have accepted the consequences, no refunds here (in this world or any).
And so they go head first, not knowing what it means to "be sure" finding a place fit for them, only to be thrown out later, back into a world that never spoke their language, that never saw them for who they were since it already had decided without them what their place was in it. They know now what is to be sure, for they are sure, that they don't belong here, in this roles planned for them, they're sure, they found their home and now they're lost.
Going more specifically into the story of this particular novella,
This is a beautiful introductory novel for the series, welcoming us to the diferent directions, the complexity of the world, and the musing tone of the tale overall.
We meet character form all over the compass, even if we only get a glimpse of most.
I'll go into Nancy, since she's the star of this particular number. The stillness, her world, her ways, I find so soothing, I connected with her in those way even if I could not in others, she was aproachable, and calming, observing. I loved her.
The plot was realy fun, as well as the resolution, but what gives the killing blow for me is the writing, simple and impactful, right to the core.
"You are nobody's rainbow"
In the end, there's only one thing I hope to gain from this book/series, and that is: If I am to be a Therapist, I hope I can channel all the Eleanor West energy I can manage both to the family as well as my patients. Both the soothe to the family for things will get better, even if they're different than from before ("Let me help, please, just let me help") and to the children, for them to feel understood in some capacity, help them find the similarities in their differences.
-May 2019-
Absolutely Beautiful, I loved loved loooved the complexity yet openended-ness of this book! I already want to re-read AND it’s the first book in a while that actually make me stay up until late at night bc I could not put it down and I didn’t wanted to come back from it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Body horror, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia
Minor: Animal death
libraryofdoe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Wow. An absolute delight of a novella, and a fantastically intriguing opening to the series. The positive representation for marginalised communities felt really well done and I enjoyed the commentary on childhood psychology and socialisation a lot more than I expected to. If you go in expecting a murder mystery you might be a bit let down as the killer is obvious almost immediately, but if you go in expecting a speculative piece about found family and trauma you won’t be disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Transphobia and Racism
Minor: Child abuse and Child death
egernand's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I feel like this story should have been more reflective, but wasn't given time to breathe due to the plot barging in. I don't feel that the plot added much, and prevented the character exploration or some of the setting exploration I wish would have taken place. Also, it was jarring and characters' roles/reactions to it damaged my suspension of disbelief. I liked the initial ideas of this story, but was unsatisfied by the direction it went.
The story is about children who had adventures in other worlds, and have now returned to the normal world and have to figure out how to cope. I thought that would be the focus of the book, and that it would explore things like the drastically different scope of what's important, coming from magical/extremely other worlds where you might die, or are saving the world, or are stuck as a servant, etc, returning to a world where you're just expected to do well in school, act nice to other children, behave for your family, etc. The plot overrode any deep exploration of that position these people find themselves in.
The story is about children who had adventures in other worlds, and have now returned to the normal world and have to figure out how to cope. I thought that would be the focus of the book, and that it would explore things like the drastically different scope of what's important, coming from magical/extremely other worlds where you might die, or are saving the world, or are stuck as a servant, etc, returning to a world where you're just expected to do well in school, act nice to other children, behave for your family, etc. The plot overrode any deep exploration of that position these people find themselves in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Bullying
Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Violence, and Transphobia
Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
kharlan3's review
(fantasy). I’m going to be thinking about this book for a while. Ace MC and trans side character. Excellent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Transphobia, and Eating disorder
Minor: Animal death
anyepagan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Child abuse, and Child death
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