Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Every Heart a Doorway

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

35 reviews

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

It was a little slow to get going, which makes sense since there had to be a lot of explanation about how things work but once it got going I really liked it. I liked the characters and the various worlds, and of course, it's always interesting to think what my world might be (although since I can't think of one I'm afraid I'd end up at the other school).

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ehmannky's review against another edition

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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.

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

really good. why wasn’t it longer. i liked it a lot.

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belladsb's review against another edition

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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

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