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A review by tatyanavogt
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
4.0
Edit: Updating to a 4 Stars, the book is still awesome and I really enjoyed it but it isn't a favorite
So I saw this book recommendation from the booktuber Naya Reads and Smiles and I had no idea what to expect. But I was looking for some quick reads and decided to give this a shot. I have to admit, this book did not disappoint.
The basic premiss of this book is that children all over the world find doors that lead to their own personal wonderlands, some dark, some nonsensical some logical etc. And for some of the kids who are forced back to the real world against their will they end up at a sort of boarding school designed to help these particular children get used to the normal world.
We follow one girl who has returned after spending time in a world of the dead and desperately wants to return back (like all the other kids at this particular boarding school). But shortly after she arrives something pretty major happens and everyone is trying to figure out what happened and why. The students are on edge and we're slowly learning more and more and trying to figure out whats going on.
The premiss is interesting, the mystery kept me on my feet and overall I really enjoyed the book. I don't think it was a masterpiece and can even admit that there are several flaws in the story but I really enjoyed myself while listening to the audiobook.
Spoiler thoughts:
I loved that we had some asexual and transgender representation at the school. I liked the contrast in worlds of the wonderland type worlds and I LOVED the actual mention of Alice in Wonderland being inspired by these kids real life experience and how they felt about.
I was confused by the main characters asexuality as it is something that I admittedly know little about and the books explanation seemed to contradict itself, which I don't know if that felt that way from my own ignorance or if it was an actual mistake. To clarify the main character briefly explains the difference between asexual and aromantic and how in her case she has no interest in the sexual aspect of things but does enjoy the romantic things. And then later she contradicted herself and made it seem like she wasn't even interested in that. (I'll admit it could have been an instance of someone saying something that they don't really mean because it's easier/safer than explaining the complexities of reality, but it still stood out and confused me a little bit) Seems like a topic I just need to do some research on..
Another thing that caught me off guard is the story and age range of all the characters made me feel like this was supposed to be a middle grade/YA book. I think, based off of reading it that it was intended as more of a YA book but I had a few moments while reading it where I wondered if it was intended for an older audience. This is something that I normally dont think about but since the base topic of the book felt so young but the actual happening where more dark and mature it just threw me off. I don't think this is a bad thing, its just something that I thought about while reading it.
And at this point that is all I can think of. Enjoyed the book, would recommend.
So I saw this book recommendation from the booktuber Naya Reads and Smiles and I had no idea what to expect. But I was looking for some quick reads and decided to give this a shot. I have to admit, this book did not disappoint.
The basic premiss of this book is that children all over the world find doors that lead to their own personal wonderlands, some dark, some nonsensical some logical etc. And for some of the kids who are forced back to the real world against their will they end up at a sort of boarding school designed to help these particular children get used to the normal world.
We follow one girl who has returned after spending time in a world of the dead and desperately wants to return back (like all the other kids at this particular boarding school). But shortly after she arrives something pretty major happens and everyone is trying to figure out what happened and why. The students are on edge and we're slowly learning more and more and trying to figure out whats going on.
The premiss is interesting, the mystery kept me on my feet and overall I really enjoyed the book. I don't think it was a masterpiece and can even admit that there are several flaws in the story but I really enjoyed myself while listening to the audiobook.
Spoiler thoughts:
Spoiler
I loved that we had some asexual and transgender representation at the school. I liked the contrast in worlds of the wonderland type worlds and I LOVED the actual mention of Alice in Wonderland being inspired by these kids real life experience and how they felt about.
I was confused by the main characters asexuality as it is something that I admittedly know little about and the books explanation seemed to contradict itself, which I don't know if that felt that way from my own ignorance or if it was an actual mistake. To clarify the main character briefly explains the difference between asexual and aromantic and how in her case she has no interest in the sexual aspect of things but does enjoy the romantic things. And then later she contradicted herself and made it seem like she wasn't even interested in that. (I'll admit it could have been an instance of someone saying something that they don't really mean because it's easier/safer than explaining the complexities of reality, but it still stood out and confused me a little bit) Seems like a topic I just need to do some research on..
Another thing that caught me off guard is the story and age range of all the characters made me feel like this was supposed to be a middle grade/YA book. I think, based off of reading it that it was intended as more of a YA book but I had a few moments while reading it where I wondered if it was intended for an older audience. This is something that I normally dont think about but since the base topic of the book felt so young but the actual happening where more dark and mature it just threw me off. I don't think this is a bad thing, its just something that I thought about while reading it.
And at this point that is all I can think of. Enjoyed the book, would recommend.