A review by ehmannky
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I went into this story completely blind and just chose this by the cover at the library and I am so, so happy I did. I am a huge fan of looking at the aftermath of tropes like "the chosen one" and "portal fantasies," and this book is just looking at trauma from kids who lived out the portal fantasies. It's weird and it's dark and there's murder and just glimpses of the weird, horrible and wonderful worlds that these kids travelled to. 

I don't think that this reads as YA, even if most of the characters are teens. Not that YA can't be brutal like so much in this book, but it reads more adult to me. Like, trigger warning for those who read this book, you're going to read about multiple children getting harmed, dying, and having their corpses mutilated during the book. 

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