Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

35 reviews

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

anna_brawn's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Abandonment, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Animal death and Transphobia

Minor: Eating disorder

ksmith_23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Dysphoria, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Torture, Transphobia, and Cursing

loujanae's review

dark hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Child death

maybephasing's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Transphobia, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment

walkie_check's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Blood, Deadnaming, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Death, and Bullying

Minor: Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Dementia, and Violence

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

Every once in a while a story comes along that is so insanely unique that it melts your brain when you think of the type of mind that must exist to have created it. This is perhaps the most unique story I’ve ever come across. It is then, almost by definition, a tad confusing. It’s short enough that re-reading chapters a few times didn’t completely drive me insane. It was more so that I would read a chapter and then a few chapters later realize I didn’t fully understand that other thing the way I thought I did… best to go back and go over it again. That makes this sound miserable but I swear it’s not. I can’t wait to read the stories of all the other wayward children for as long as Seanan will write them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Animal death, Body horror, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, and Vomit

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.

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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

pastelkerstin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I feel like this story suffers from its short length, especially once shit gets serious and it seems like everyone is moving on way too fast.

Also, when this came out it was on every ace rep recommendation list. And I get it: The main character is ace and it's mentioned explicitly and this is (was?) a popular book.
But the ace rep in this seems contradictory at times? I don't really know what to make of it. One moment Nancy says it's important to draw a distinction between asexual and aromantic and that she has had boyfriends and has romantic feelings. But then in another scene she says she doesn't want to date anyone. The thing is, it's not like Nancy's experience couldn't be a real person's experience. Attraction is complex and confusing. To me, Nancy seems to be somewhere on the aromantic spectrum, but the narrative doesn't confirm that. It just feels underexplored and odd to me (as an asexual aro-spec person).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Murder, Animal cruelty, Gore, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Deadnaming, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

Eye trauma

plantybooklover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

I'm fairly sure I am not going for the series. I read this book from the libby app using an audio book.  I didn't like the narrator very well- she tried to do the voices and a few failed miserably (for me) and it did affect my enjoyment of the experience. Every time she would do a certain voice I would just be like, no, that is definitely not that character's voice.
    This story tells the tale of a boarding school for unusual children, who have all slipped away through a doorway to a different world for a period of time. Once returned the children tend to want to return to the other worlds so desperately that parents - at their wits end- send them hopefully away to have their child returned to the prior, pre-doorway state. We follow Nancy, recently returned from the world of the dead, as she enters school.  Immediately after she enters several gruesome deaths occur and she and her new found friends- all from different "door" situations join together to find the murderer. 
   I really didn't enjoy this book that much, it is well written and certainly sets a mood and tone, and the story moves along at a good pace. There is a comforting message- about how it is difficult for children to be "fixed" when they aren't actually broken, an as such parents may do well to accept their children for who they are, rather than who they used to be.  The author includes a lot of diversity within the characters- without making them seem as if they were planted there to be the "diverse character" -- there is so much to love about this book.  Despite that, I still didn't love it, unsure still if it was the irritating narrator, so I may give book 2 a try in print or... if the narrator is different...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Vomit, Child death, and Animal death