Every Heart a Doorway

Hovering between 4 to 5 stars. This is a very nuanced exploration of what it means for some of us to navigate the very confusing threshold between childhood and adolescence, and having then to come to terms with a bewildering and often very frightening adult self-identity.

Nancy is sent by her parents to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children after she returns from a trip to a magical land altered in almost every way. At first she thinks it's just an ordinary boarding school until she realises that all the students there have been to a different magical land of their own, have come back to the “real” world, and somehow have found their way to the Home to reintegrate themselves.

In terms of plot, there is a mystery that pops up rather unexpectedly, and while it operates decently enough to drive the story and the characters along, my opinion is that the plot really takes a backseat to what I find is the main attraction here: the exploration of each character's growth and individuality.

It doesn't take much to realise that the magical lands these children and teenagers have been through is a thinly veiled analogy for the confusion of puberty and early adolescence. A wide variety of personalities, sexualities, and identities are explored here: our protagonist Nancy is asexual and also probably a bit of a goth, Sumi might have some form of ADD/ADHD, Kade is a trans man, Jack is grappling with gender stereotypes forced upon her by her parents and instead wanting to pursue the sciences, while Christopher is... well, I haven't figured that one out yet.

What the book does best is the way it explores, slowly and respectfully, how each of these individuals navigated their individual journeys, how they felt when they were shunted back into the “real” world, why they each wanted more than anything to go back “home” to the magical land from which they have been expelled, and how they handled interacting with all these other teens around them who have been through the same thing but yet still can be cruel and vicious towards those whom they perceived went through a “lesser” world than their own.

I've never read a book quite like this before and I really appreciated the journey that it brought me on. I'd recommend this wholeheartedly to just about anyone!

I loved the setting and the concept of this book – the idea that the thousands of stories of children going to another world and then coming back either like no time had passed, or like years and years had passed in a day are all true. And then exploring what happens, psychologically to those kids. I always love it when a book takes a well-known trope and turns it on its head by asking the questions we all should have been, but took for granted. I also really like books that exist in a dialogue with other books and only really make sense to prolific readers.

Multiple people recommended this to me, and one of them talked mostly about how the main character actively sought to understand and develop empathy for people who were different from her. I don't appreciate that theme as much as she did, but I did like that there was a co-mingling of characters from a bunch of different genres and an exploration of how that works, and how it works if two people both went to The Underworld but it wasn't the same.

Where this fell down for me was the plot. The murder mystery just wasn't super compelling and I felt like the social contract of the book was broken twice, which really broke the metafictional spell for me. The first was when magic turned out to work all along in the real world, when the boy played his bone flute and then again when it turned out that Jack would be capable of resurrecting Jill, kind of making the whole murder mystery thing a little shallow.

Overall, though, I found this a beautiful and atmospheric novella.

Home. That's what this book is about. Nancy is the newest student at a boarding school of wayward children - chosen ones that slipped through secret doorways and found other worlds. They found where they belonged, only to go tumbling back to a reality that doesn't understand what they experienced and what they need.

Nancy's parents think she's anorexic, that she was kidnapped by someone who did such terrible things to her that she had to make a fairytale to cope. But Nancy was in the Halls of the Dead, a world where stillness and peace is the ultimate virtue. The years she spent there - only a few months in reality - taught her to slow her heartbeat and breath to a crawl, to survive on the barest amount of food. At the school, the students categorize the worlds they traveled to by direction - Logic, Nonsense, Wicked and Virtue - but to Nancy her world was neither good or evil. All that mattered was that it was hers.

I loved this book. It was simultaneously sweet and cruel. While not every world described was a “fairy” world, Seanan McGuire's writing balances on that line of otherworldly and painfully real so artfully. The characters are charming, funny and endearing. Even though Nancy's defining characteristic is her stillness and ability to disappear, she's very much a well-defined and strong character that one can admire. Aside from her, Jack was by far my favorite. She has a vicious sense of wit that had me snickering to myself repeatedly, not to mention an undeniable sense of style.

Despite this book's wistful premise and short length, it doesn't pull any punches. The murder mystery is a gruesome one, complete with some gory scenes and a very clinical approach to body disposal. But more than anything I found the very premise of the story just heartbreaking. How do you cope with knowing that the perfect world for you is out there but no one believes it exists, and no one will help you get back there? How does someone deal with that loss?

A lot of credit should be given to the queer representation in this book - Nancy is asexual, and Kade is a transboy. It is astoundingly refreshing to see characters that come from a different point of view, and there's an uncanny connection with the queer experience and the fairy one. That said, this is a short book, and I was a little surprised by how much time Nancy spent explaining what asexual meant to her new acquaintances. Kade's story seemed to fall a little more organically. Ostracization and isolation is of course a big theme with this book, so Nancy, Kade and a few others make up a band of misfits within a school of misfits for a multitude of reasons.

Every Heart a Doorway is a complete, tight, beautifully done story. It would have been fine as a stand alone, but I'm thrilled that there are going to be two more. Better yet, the second book is going to be about Jack and Jill and their frightening world of vampires and mad scientists. And have you seen the cover? You should see the cover. And then read this book.

This is a thought-provoking book that tugs at the strings of all fantasy readers. Who doesn't want a magic door that will lead us beyond our often boring life? Gah, I know I do! And yet, McGuire explores so much more here with nuance and care to the characters and the plot. Though I sped through this one (my attention was hooked, I tell ya!) it's one of those books I think of long after I read it. Marvelous, marvelous. Haunting, mysterious, thought-provoking, pertinent.

This was macabre, lovely, and endearing. I read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children a year or so ago, with really high hopes for a story like this one. I found it really disappointing though, where Every Heart a Doorway is well-written and concise. It also takes familiar fantasy worlds and ties them together in a truly brilliant way. I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves fairy tales (the glittery, sweet kind, as well as the dark).

I loved it. I have never been so excited about a book from the first 20 pages in my life. I even annotated it, which I never do. I saw someone say the ending was predictable but I didn't expect this at all. The only thing wrong is that it was so goddamn short. I need to read the second book immediately.

The way every kid is so totally mad in their own way because of their world is really interesting. Some sentences make no sense in the exact right ways for the right reasons. I really loved that about the writing style. 

More of a 3.5.

This is one popular series that everyone among my mutuals seems to have read, and while it's always been on my radar and I knew I would eventually get to it, I just was never in a rush. But this August I found myself adding this book as part of the readathon tbr (believe me, it's not the first time) and surprisingly, I have gotten around to reading it.

I definitely picked it up while I was already in the middle of two more books because I wanted a quick read - and it delivered. I finished it in just a couple of hours and it was interesting enough that I didn't wanna put it down. I was fascinated by how much the author was able to incorporate in such a short novella - a world full of portals which lead to many more magical and dangerous worlds, special kids who are able to find these portals but are forever changed by their experiences, the joy of finding the one place where we belong and the trauma we suffer when we are ripped apart from that place, and the lengths to which some might go to find that home again. Add to all this, we also have a murder mystery and a whole host of eclectic characters who are suspicious of each other, and it makes for a compelling read. The author also tries to be inclusive and accepting, and it was nice to not only see asexual and trans protagonists but also understand their inner thoughts about themselves.

Overall, this was a fascinating little read and definitely for fans of portals as well as quirky ensemble characters. Ofcourse due to its length, it feels a bit simplistic and the resolutions are fairly quicker. But it has definitely piqued my interest. And who knows, I might pick up the rest of the series sooner rather than later.

I liked the fact that it doesn't feel like a “series book”, I liked the representation, I even liked the story a lot. Still, it doesn't feel like a Hugo winner to me. Not saying that it shouldn't have won—I haven't really read the others, and by all means, congratulations! it's a great book—, but I don't know... it's not what I would've predicted if I had read it before. Anyway, can't wait to see what happens next. Seanan's writing is nice and fluid, and she does a great work with the “School for Gifted Youngsters” trope—is it a trope? it should be.

Nancy is no longer home.

The boarding school she is sent to houses those who have been lost in portals to worlds very different from our own. Only these children do not get to stay in their new homes and have been sent back to where they had been found.

This is such an interesting story. I liked how the other worlds have been described based on their logic and virtue. It gives us a much better idea of the rigidity of the rules that the children had to follow. Also, if you are looking for something quick this is it. It is an absolute breeze and a pleasure to read.

Liked it



This was the first time listing to this book on audio. I've only read this book once before, but I remember that I thought it was very confusing. But, the audio made it so much better. It was quite clear from the beginning, and some things are really obvious reading it the second time around.

Short Review: A beautifully written tale with much to say about society - more relevant with every passing day. I've read it five times so far and I still come away deeply moved each time.Longer Review: So, after falling down a rabbit hole or stepping through an abnormally large wardrobe, and having many adventures, how do those children like Alice and Lucy adapt to life back in the mundane world, surrounded by adults who just don't understand? Well the School for Wayward Children is there to help, billed to parents as a place of therapy - really it is there to allow these children to be with peers who have had similar adventures, and cope with the burning desire for that door that would take them back “home”.And now darkness stalks the school grounds...It is written in a lyrical, beautiful style with very interesting rounded characters. The book is obviously intended to ask very tough questions about society and identity and just manages to pull that off without spoiling the storytelling or sounding preachy. The only downside to the book is that I'd just got to know the characters and got the feel for the world, when it was taken away from me...and it was so good. [Edit in January 2020: There are now several other books in the series exploring these characters and focusing on their lessons. The author's skill, already good, has increased remarkably].Now I know how those wayward children feel...I'm looking for that door back to the school...Added after 3rd reading: I'm going straight on to the next book: [b:Beneath the Sugar Sky 27366528 Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children, #3) Seanan McGuire https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1494436031l/27366528.SY75.jpg 47413798] After 4th Reading: Excellent - with so many lessons about modern life contained within these few pages. Once again, I'm going right onto the next book.After 5th Reading: I think that this is a book you can come back to time and again and always find something new and something beautiful. A wonderful gem contained in so few pages. Once more I'm moving straight on to the next book.

3 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Picture this: a halfway house, of sorts, for children who have gone through portals to other worlds and returned, broken by their inability to go back. They identify themselves by the portal world they experienced – “I'm Kade, by the way. Fairyland.” Each world falls on a spectrum between several extremities: Logic to Nonsense, Wickedness to Virtue, etc. This matter-of-fact seriousness brings gravity to what could easily have been a silly story. Author Seanan McGuire clearly put a great deal of thought into these categorizations as well as the psychological trauma a child would feel having been stuck in our world, never able to find a door to return to the only place they ever felt they belonged. As such, each character has a more compelling backstory than the last.

Overall, I was more intrigued by the overall idea here than the plot that unfolds, but Every Heart a Doorway is a tidy, well-written novella that was an enjoyable diversion.

I really enjoyed the world that is introduced. Children fall through doors to other worlds and then when they get back to the real world they miss the old world. They are put into a school that is supposed to help them readjust to regular life. Their parents don't know that the head mistress of the school understands them better than they think as she has done the same.

I really wanted to give this book a two star rating but I bumped it up to three because I think the premise is really interesting and the main character's sexual orientation was like me which I haven't seen in books before so I was pleasantly surprised by that. But I feel like it was such a waste of a great idea. The book felt forced in a lot of ways. All the characters sounded the same. The mystery was just... not. I knew right away who did it and why and some of the clues were poorly executed. The writing was good though. Obviously, McGuire knows how to write. I just think this wasn't as good as it could have been and I'm sad about that. 2/5 = 3/5