Every Heart A Doorway
by Seanan McGuire
(Wayward Children #1)
Published by Tor
on April 5, 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Length: 176 pages
by Seanan McGuire
(Wayward Children #1)
Published by Tor
on April 5, 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Length: 176 pages
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Synopsis:
Synopsis:
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss Eleanor West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.
No matter the cost.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss Eleanor West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.
No matter the cost.
My Thoughts:
When Nancy arrives at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, she doesn't quite understand what everyone is hinting at with their talk of Nonsense and Logic, Wickedness and Virtue and wants nothing more than to return to the Halls of the Dead. She soon learns that she is in the right place. Each and every one of the people in this school have traveled through mysterious doors that have taken them to some other world and then spit them back out again.
Eleanor West, a world-traveler herself, created the Home for all of those that have returned from their worlds and don't quite fit in with reality anymore. But shortly after Nancy's arrival, students start turning up dead, and Nancy and her new friends must find out who it is before they too end up dead.
I loved the idea of children flitting off to their own little fantasy world through some magically appearing door. Like Narnia or Wonderland. But also darker worlds that resemble gothic literature as well.
Of course, this is all after the fact. The young adults in this school have already lived out their magical stories and are now mostly suffering through normal existence, still looking for their door and hoping that it will let them back in someday.
I loved the lgbt+ representation and explanations. There was also a certain level of feminism and snark in this book that I loved.
How short the story is for one.
I wished there were more to it overall. Some of it was abrupt with things left unexplained.
It also seemed to whiplash from a fantastical magical realism story to a murder mystery that no one seemed all that serious about, even after it kept happening. And then it all wrapped up in a rush.
I felt like there should have been a reason that Nancy returned and was sent to this special school with people so similar to her right in the middle of a murderous plot, but it ended up feeling so random (nonsense) instead. Perhaps that was the point.
I really enjoyed this but I also wished there were more to it. It was intriguing enough to make me want to continue the series if only to get the rest of the story we are missing here!
Have you read this? Did you enjoy it? Should I continue the series?
Eleanor West, a world-traveler herself, created the Home for all of those that have returned from their worlds and don't quite fit in with reality anymore. But shortly after Nancy's arrival, students start turning up dead, and Nancy and her new friends must find out who it is before they too end up dead.
"For us, the places we went were home. We didn't care if they were good or evil or neutral or what. We cared about the fact that for the first time, we didn't have to pretend to be something we weren't. We just got to be. That made all the difference in the world."
I loved the idea of children flitting off to their own little fantasy world through some magically appearing door. Like Narnia or Wonderland. But also darker worlds that resemble gothic literature as well.
Of course, this is all after the fact. The young adults in this school have already lived out their magical stories and are now mostly suffering through normal existence, still looking for their door and hoping that it will let them back in someday.
I loved the lgbt+ representation and explanations. There was also a certain level of feminism and snark in this book that I loved.
"This world is unforgiving and cruel to those it judges as even the slightest bit outside the norm."What didn't I love?
How short the story is for one.
I wished there were more to it overall. Some of it was abrupt with things left unexplained.
It also seemed to whiplash from a fantastical magical realism story to a murder mystery that no one seemed all that serious about, even after it kept happening. And then it all wrapped up in a rush.
I felt like there should have been a reason that Nancy returned and was sent to this special school with people so similar to her right in the middle of a murderous plot, but it ended up feeling so random (nonsense) instead. Perhaps that was the point.
I really enjoyed this but I also wished there were more to it. It was intriguing enough to make me want to continue the series if only to get the rest of the story we are missing here!
Have you read this? Did you enjoy it? Should I continue the series?
