Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

37 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

TLDR:  I really enjoyed this novella. It is so nice to see an ace character. 

 

In my meditations of what is a YA novel this is almost one. Most characters are children, but we start out with the pov of an adult. I wouldn’t have a problem with a tween reading the book, but it doesn’t have the heroic chosen one vibe that I associate with YA. So I don’t know. I liked the book though and in the end that’s all that matters, right? 

 

The plot moves quickly, not wasting time on too many descriptions. The dialogue is crisp and believable. One is given enough information regarding backgrounds for the main characters. The High Fantasy girls group could us a little more book time. I kept getting confused who was who and it didn’t really matter too much. 

 

The mystery was unexpected and fun though it did require a little suspension of disbelief. I did figure out who did it before the end of the book though. 

 

I want to know about Nancy’s new adventures.I really loved Kade’s character and would like to see his growing responsibilities at the school. I’m not sure I can stand reading about Jacqueline and Jillian’s parents though. They sound truly disturbing. 

 

I also hope that whoever makes a film or series for the telly of this does not make it into a children’s movie or dilute the themes of alienation and otherness of the novella. 

 

Like I say, it’s easier to write lots about the books you hate than the books you love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Murder, Body horror, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Eating disorder, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

lildawnprince's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Transphobia

erkoning's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I found this to be a really beautiful story. I fell in love with the characters, and got very invested in their journeys.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Death, Child death, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Gore and Bullying

Minor: Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Acephobia/Arophobia, Dysphoria, Dementia, and War

The book centers around

murders

. There are many things mentioned from the worlds that the children have gone to. The book clearly condemns the transphobia, but there is a "mean girl" type who intentionally and repeatedly calls a trans boy a girl. Past acephobia is mentioned by an ace character, from her own perspective. Dementia is mentioned, but not gone into depth.

blombern's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Very interesting concept. It's all about a boarding school for children who return from portal worlds and are not accepted by their parents who want them to get better. I personally did not like this book, as it turned into a murder mystery fairly quickly. I also didn't like the explanations of the portal worlds themselves as they were put into weird categories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

f18's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, Bullying, Gore, and Transphobia

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, and Cursing

lonelylooper's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Dysphoria and Acephobia/Arophobia

ellanarose's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 Beautiful and tragic, brilliant and terrifying. I loved every moment 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Gore, Abandonment, Body horror, Murder, Transphobia, and Violence

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Every Heart a Doorway is an interesting novella by Seanan McGuire and I'm glad my friend Bree suggested that I read it. I went into this story without knowing the premise and I think that was a great choice, so I won't say too much about the book. I'll just say that I really appreciated the asexual representation and I liked that this book kept my interest for it's duration, even though it was really short.

Overall I enjoyed this novella, I'm going to give it 4 stars out of 5. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  - 4/5 Stars

I read this for free on www.hoopladigital.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Murder, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

braveprincess11's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

“You’re nobody’s doorway but your own, and the only one who gets to tell you how your story ends is you”

This has absolutely become a comfort read for me. There’s something about Seanan McGuire’s writing, where she’s able to take tough themes and dark content, and sprinkle in just enough magic and humanity that the book is calming, comforting and uplifting overall. I think Seanan McGuire just became one of my favourite authors of all time, from this book alone.

And the representation in this book… Kade being established as trans and never questioned on it, (almost) everyone accepting his identity immediately. Nancy being written as an asexual protagonist, who actually used the word asexual, instead of just hinting at it! 

From the moment Kade was introduced, he stole my entire heart. I adore that child, and I will do anything to protect him. Kade deserves the entire world. 

Jack and Jill presented such an interesting dichotomy of human experience. They both went through the same door, and yet they lived very different lives in the Moors, coming back almost as directly opposing forces tied together by a string. I’m so excited to learn more about their lives in the Moors in the next book.   

I adore this ragtag little group of children, and I can’t wait to hear more about their adventures, both before and after their stay at Eleanor’s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder

tahsintries's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Abandonment and Transphobia