[Book Review]: EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)

Time for another book review! I'll be trying to do these on weekends, especially when I've finished a book that I really want to talk about. And I really want to talk about Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire.



I have been a Seanan Fan for a few years now. I picked up the first in her October Daye series when I got sick of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (for many reasons I chose to stop reading it), and found that Seanan's series delivered exactly what I'd wanted from Butcher's. I picked up more and more of her work, increasingly please by what I read. I have a lot of Feels about Seanan's work, and was super excited to pick up Every Heart a Doorway.

Blurb:
Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

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 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.



Here's my review:

One of the reasons I love Seanan's writing is that it's very diverse and inclusive. So was Every Heart a Doorway. The main character is asexual (and makes the distinction that she's not aromantic), and one other major character was transgender, and I thought it was handled extremely well. Not being trans myself, I can say for sure how "right" it was, so I'd like a more informed opinion, but I think my trans friends would have been happy with that representation.

But the story! I wasn't expecting a sort of mystery element - and I should have been considering what I have read by her - but it played out very well. I'm a little disappointed at the turn of events for one of the obvious minority characters, but I really liked Nancy, Kade and Miss Eleanor herself. The ending left me conflicted. On the one hand I was happy certain things worked out the way they did, but on the other, I'd also hoped a bit for a different outcome. I only have one real complaint about this book: why was it so short? I really want so much more from this world; the potential is enormous. I hope she comes back to it in the future and sets more stuff there.

Four huge glasses of wine!


Pick up a copy from one of the options at Goodreads!

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