Mini Book Review – Every Heart A Doorway (#1) by Seanan McGuire (4 stars)

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Title: Every Heart A Doorway (Wayward Children #1)

Author: Seanan McGuire

Published: 5th April 2016 – Tor

Format: Hardback – 173 pages

“You’re nobody’s rainbow. You’re nobody’s princess. You’re nobody’s doorway but your own, and the only one who gets to tell you how your story ends is you.” – Every Heart A Doorway

Hello Hello! How are you?

Next week will be quite busy for me and I have quite a few blog tours to do as well, so I thought I would do something quick and easy today before I forget to write my review of this book!

This was the first book for my O.W.L.s TBR that I read. I read this for Ancient Runes and the prompt was “a heart on the cover/in the title”. I finished this book on the first day of April and I was so happy to finally start this series because it’s been on my TBR for such a long time. I’m looking forward to reading the next books in the series as well.

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS

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.

MY REVIEW

I’ve been wanting to read this book for what seems like years. I always knew that this was going to be a bit strange, shall we say, but it did surprise me more than I was expecting. We meet Nancy as she arrives at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, and right from the minute she walks through the doors of this house, things are very strange indeed.

Nancy, along with all the children at this Home, went to different “universes” through doors that only they could see, either going to logical, illogical, virtuous or wicked worlds. It seems that Nancy went to an Underworld because she lived for a whole year in the halls of the dead. When all these children get back to their usual lives (if they ever do), they find that their lives are never the same, and if they are lucky, that is where Eleanor West comes in.

I really enjoyed reading this book, but I have to admit that at the start I was unsure of my feelings towards it. I couldn’t make out if I loved it or if I hated it because it was very peculiar. The characters all seem very strange because obviously they all lived in different worlds and have to now all live together in the same world. The real world is not a world that suits them because the worlds they travelled to were perfect for them. And quickly, at this Home, things start to happen and the blame is directed at Nancy because she is the newest back from a world.

I do like strange books generally, but this one gets very strange, but I was able to see past the strange and I did really enjoy my time reading this book. All the characters were really quite fascinating, it was great to see how each one has a special ability or such that helped them see the door or for the door to call to them.

MY THOUGHTS AND RATING

Once you get past the strangeness and twisty side to this book, you really get to see a world where kids are misunderstood and I think that this is what I got from this book the most. Fairy tales are things that all children believe in at one point in their lives, but I think for these children, their lives weren’t adequate for them and the doors that opened for them were, their lives became the fairy tales we all know about, but much more dark and twisty, or in contrast, happy with rainbows and unicorns.

I also really liked to learn more about each world the characters travelled to, it was interesting to see how they each went to different worlds, governed by virtue or wickedness, but it could be a logical world with wickedness or an illogical world with virtue. I really think that this is a great way to describe how people think and to show that there isn’t one set way of thinking or being.

I gave this book 4 stars because the strangeness sort of put me off a bit at the start, I do like twisty books but this was a bit too much for me right at the start and it took me a while to get used to it. However, I read this book so fast, I loved learning about all the characters, it was a great little book and I look forward to reading the next ones in this series. I also like how this book ended, I think it was really well wrapped up. I really do think it’s a great book to tell people that you don’t have to be like everyone wants you to be, you can be yourself and if you can’t find a place for you that fits, you just have to find another one. I do really think it’s a beautiful way to show people that you can be unique and that it’s not a bad thing, and I’m really excited for book two.

That’s all for now, I hope you liked this review! See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK (affiliate link) – Amazon FR (affiliate link) – AbeBooks (affiliate link) – The Book Depository (affiliate link) – Audible FR (affiliate link) – Amazon US –Barnes and Noble – Audible UK – Scrib’d – Kobo