Reviews

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

pastryghost's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely adored this book. This is like everything I want in a fantasy, and in a sweet, concise, lovely little novella.

jadeynk18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

cassidysreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

I’m struggling to find if this is marketed as YA or not, but this absolutely is NOT YA at all. My library specifically placed this series in YA, and I can affirm this is not a safe book for children. If I read this as a teenager, I feel it would have been incredibly harmful to my own mental health.

0/5 stars. What a waste of time.

First off, I was SO excited for this book. The concept of children who went to a different world from a door and then returning to their real home and finding they just didn't feel like they belonged anymore was so fascinating to me. This Narnia-esque vibe was really appealing to me, and with all the praise around this series I was super stoked to start it. And unfortunately, I was incredibly let down.

How does one even describe the absolute bizarreness of this book?

I feel like this book's only purpose was to be as quirky, odd, and nonsensical as possible. Instead of having much substance, it just uses the guise of fantasy to justify it's whimsical prose. Had I known it was going to have that kind of overly flowery writing prior to reading, I likely never would have picked it up from the library. However, I'd much rather have the flowery prose of Shatter Me over this, which says a lot. If quotes like "the word had simply escaped her lips, like a runaway calf" and "an unreported death is just a disappearance in its Sunday clothes" tickle your mind's fancy, then you might just enjoy it.

"That's because Narnia was a Christian allegory pretending to be a fantasy series."

Well, to twist McGuire's own words: this book is LGBTQ+ allegory pretending to be a fantasy series. The irony of having that quote in the book when the book itself is quite literally doing the same thing. And truthfully, there's nothing wrong with that kind of concept whatsoever. But it's the way it was executed that disappointed me. The representation just felt like it was there to check the diversity box, and it didn't feel like it meshed very naturally with the actual story. The only story that truly blended seamlessly with the fantasy elements was probably Kade, and even that felt a bit off-kilter as you didn't truly know that

Kade is transgender

until more than halfway through the book. The announcement of Nancy's asexuality just felt like it was plopped in there for representation and not because it was a major part of her character or her story. I also think her roommate's conversation of masturbation immediately after Nancy's expression of her asexuality was kind of inappropriate and just felt a bit insincere to mention in regards to an asexual person. It just felt like the book was trying to be LGBTQ+ with the masking of fantasy, but the two didn't blend seamlessly into each other.

Now my primary issue with this is the school itself. Essentially, children who have traveled through doors to a different dimension return home from those doors and struggle to come back to reality. Their families don't know how to help them, and so they're sent off to this school to "fix" them. But in actuality, it's a school of children who have all traversed through doors and is a means of interacting with other children who understand their troubles. In ways, this reminds me heavily of mental illness. Mental illness can be heavily misunderstood and brushed under the rug, and so in some places, it felt like it hit close to home in that regard. However, there was a huge lack of emphasis on healing, which I found to be troubling.

Instead of coming to terms with the reality of their actual lives and finding a means of meshing back into their true home after being in a different world, they're essentially embracing it and nurturing this idea that they can return back to those dimensions. It just had this nuance to it that made me feel like it was encouraging others to relish in their mental illness as if it's simply a personality trait, rather than viewing it as an illness that one can heal from. Which, again, I find very harmful and disruptive to true healing as someone who has dealt with this myself. It might just be my own interpretation of the story, but that's the message I was getting from it.

I just felt like with the combination of whimsical writing that's trying too hard, to the dangerous nuance of mental illness embracement, to the wacky change of pace from fantasy to murder mystery (which is a whole different issue in itself), I frequently found myself taken out of the story. Which made it far less enjoyable to read. I was SO excited for this concept. I love the idea of children going through doors to different worlds and coming back home trying to relearn their previous life. But it just felt like it wasn't executed in the way I had anticipated with all the hype surrounding this series.

Needless to say, Seanen McGuire's writing is just not for me, and this story is just not for me. So unfortunately, I will not be continuing this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Mental illness

lisyda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I finally got to start this series, after hearing so many good things about it. And I wasn't disappointed.

Eleanor West runs a boarding school for children who have returned from hidden worlds that they stumbled into and never wanted to leave, yet for one reason or another, were forced to do so. The worlds these children visit range from colourful and chaotic (made me think of Discord from MLP) to dark and strict and everything in between. And for all of them, that world was their true home. It's a short story, so I don't want to delve too deep into more details other than this particular story is also a murder mystery, which I wasn't expecting.

The main character for this book is Nancy who has returned from a land of the dead where, among other things, she learned how to be very. very... very.... still. Learning about the children and their worlds was fun and fascinating and showed how diverse and different people are. What is comfortable and homey for one is the opposite for another. I also liked that some of the worlds and their descriptions are darker and grittier and it reminded me somewhat of a dark fairytale-esque story in that regard (according to GR, people who liked this book also like T. Kingfisher's works, which totally makes sense).

The impact these darker worlds have on some of the characters is reflected in how the characters handle death as well. For some of them, it's something they barely react to, because it's been a big part of their life in their portal world. And let's just say that some are very efficient at taking care of corpses. I also appreciated how the rainbow-coloured worlds weren't described as much safer or easier, instead having a tendency towards being more chaotic and unpredictable.

I enjoyed reading this and already have the next book on hold on Libby. It will be fun to dive into more of these hidden worlds soon.

xxpumpkincatxx's review against another edition

5.0

This book was everything I didn't know I wanted! One of the reviews claims its Alice in Wonderland meets Grimms Fairy Tales...that has to be one of the best descriptions of this book.

It's a short story, but filled with so much detail. I immediately connected with each character and could empathize with the pain of needing to be somewhere they belonged, yet stuck in our drab world.

I was not expecting the plot to take such a turn and become a gory mystery, but I will say I loved it. So well put together.

The goodreads page says #1 so I'm curious to see if another book will be released in this series!

rarc2012's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

sashucity's review against another edition

4.0

Stunning idea that found a right author to be written about.

I guess, Seanan McGuire was taken to Nonsense world in the childhood – it will explain the oddity of narration and story.

Fortunately, this oddity is unique and charming.

ninsiana0's review

adventurous challenging dark funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

4.0

shaxx's review against another edition

3.0

Mám ráda divnoknihy. A tahle má skvělý námět. Co se děje s dětmi, které objevily průchod do jiného světa, zažily si tam svá dobrodružství a jsou zpět v našem světě? Jak pokračují jejich příběhy, jak se cítí? Pokud vás vykopl neuvěřitelný svět zpátky do nudného a šedého reálna, budete pátrat dál po vstupu zpět, upadnete do depresí, zasvětíte svůj veškerý čas tomu najít ty skryté dveře, které se objevují na podivných místech?
Nicméně za mě by si tenhle námět zasloužil větší rozsah. Kniha je kratičká, má 168 stran (a sice v současné době 8 pokračování, ale i tak) a nemůžu se zbavit dojmu, že by to udělalo lepší službu, kdyby byl větší prostor pro poznání postav, vykreslení místa a atmosféry.. Přišlo mi to strašně osekané. Tolik zajímavých světů a osudů a do popředí se tu dostává chabá detektivní linka.
Nicméně dám tomu další šanci a mrknu se po druhém dílu, protože mě pokračování zajímá.

pippa_monckton's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this