Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

45 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

I liked this! A very quick read that I would’ve savored if I’d known it was so perfectly Halloween-y! 

I will say that I guessed the baddie by accident very early on but said “no, they have to be a red herring”… Lol! 

A tad predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. A really interesting zoom in on what fantasy worlds mean to children, and what they protect them from. Not sure what to make of Kade’s story to be honest; it’s much bleaker than the rest & I didn’t feel we got a satisfactory explanation for that. 

I also feel that Nancy is overshadowed by nearly every other character; she felt like a shadow of a person there only to introduce us to the universe & experience shock on our behalf. this was a book where the main character was the least interesting person in it.

Halloween read 1/5(?) down!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Transphobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Child abuse, Murder, Bullying, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Deadnaming, Violence, Medical content, and Acephobia/Arophobia

regaliaofchaos's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

5.0

Truly beautiful, the way the story is written but also the story itself. 

I was drawn to this book for its LGBTQIA+ characters initially and then read the full blurb on the inside flap and decided I needed to read it immediately. Nancy is truly a marvel of a character, in just 160-ish pages you as a reader get to see a full scope of her personality and part of that has to do with the nature of the world she visited. It was small things like this that had made all of the characters have a depth you wouldn't expect from such a short novel. My personal favorite is Kade because he knows he's not wanted in the world he came from even though he longs to go back, I also appreciated that him being transgender wasn't his entire personality or the only reason why he was involved in the story itself.

The plot itself isn't overly complicated, you can somewhat tell where it's going about 3/4th's of the way through but I really loved how it was handled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gore, and Medical content

Minor: Eating disorder, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I don't know how I feel about it? It was quite hard to read because it was written in this manner that some might call whimsical but I'd just say it's an Alice in Wonderland vibe, which is liking having a bunch of disco lights going around and giving you a headache. The plot twist was so obvious and I don't really understand why the book ended the way it did? Because it was short, it was quite shallow but also, I'm glad it was short because I didn't want to have to sit through so much of it. Glad I have read the first and understand what people are talking about but no more. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Bullying, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, and Transphobia

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

This book was SO WEIRD and SO much darker than I had anticipated, and I absolutely devoured it. The audiobook, narrated by Cynthia Hopkins, was incredibly well-done, even though I felt like the beginning dragged on a little bit, especially with Cynthia's sort of, blasé tone? It worked, especially for Nancy and Jack.

I wish it was slightly longer, as I would have loved to learn more information about a certain character's motivations and I really could have listened to more world-building for another 30 minutes. I'm hoping that more will be explained throughout the series and I can't wait to listen to the rest. Both dark (because of the murders) and weirdly cozy (because of the found family), this book kept me on the edge of my seat, while also bringing comfort.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Medical content, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Eating disorder, and Animal death

Minor: Deadnaming

amselot's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit and Deadnaming

readingthief's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Death, Bullying, Violence, Transphobia, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Animal cruelty, and Deadnaming

books4em's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Loved this little book, will be picking up the rest of the series! My only complaint was there was a lot of high level vocabulary that I had to look up, and there were a few scenes or segways that felt very rushed through. That being said, it was a very interesting introduction to this world and series. I found each character unique and intriguing, and I appreciated that they all had different stories for the doors they walked into (whether I liked them or not). Loved the diversity too - ace/aro and trans main characters. Look forward to continuing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Murder, Torture, Gaslighting, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Outing

Minor: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, and Eating disorder

thebookishnerd_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Bullying, and Child death

Minor: Transphobia, Eating disorder, and Medical content

novelteareader's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Medical content

francestea's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious sad 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

Very reminiscent of Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children and The House in the Cerulean Sea. If you like the boarding school for odd/creepy children trope this story is also for you! The book is so short and the plot moves quickly so you’ll be picking up the second book the next day, plan accordingly. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Blood

Minor: Medical content, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief