Every Heart a Doorway

Sometimes a writer hits a premise that's so brilliant, you get angry with yourself for not thinking of it first. Seanan McGuire did just that with this book. What happens to the protagonists in fantastical stories who journey through a portal to another land, live an entirely different life, and then get expelled back into the boring world, the world where they're no longer the savior of nations or the most beautiful, or the whatever-it-took-to-complete-the-story-in-their-portal-world. How do you come back from something like that?

In this book, they get sent to a special school/therapy home that tries to teach them how to be “normal” again. The home has varying degrees of success on its residents. Some acclimate back to the normal world and go off to work a 9-to-5 and have families. Others...don't.

When the main character returns from her Underworld adventure where she became the beloved of the Lord of the Dead, she has trouble fitting into the school, but clicks with a group of misfits (even in a home of misfits) and gets to the bottom of a murder mystery.

The book's premise is brilliant. The prose is graceful. The characters are interesting–familiar to those who have read fairy tales, but still with a hint of uniqueness. McGuire makes use of interesting cliched tropes, but spins them in a way that feels new.

I'll probably read the sequels, but the books are really geared more toward YA girls. My almost-15-year-old daughter is loving the book.

Very beautifull and whimsical story. I loved it. I am diving in to read the whole series.

Well written, imaginative, great merged of a fairy tale setting and the real world. Not really my thing taste-wise, but I can appreciate its quality.

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 has been on my to-read list for a while, so perhaps part of my disappointment lies in the fact that I waited so long to actually read it, and the high hopes and expectations I had. The premise of the story immediately caught my attention, and likely does for many readers. The setting and vibes of this book are good. I did like the dynamics between the characters, though I felt it was kind of pointless as we didn't really get to know anyone beyond the surface level. I realize this is the start to a series and things could be fleshed out more later, but it didn't make me want to read book 2, because why do I care about any of these people. The pacing is slow in the beginning, with the action really only hitting at the nearly 40% mark. This unfortunately feels short lived, and by the end it kind of peters out, and things are "resolved" in such an unsatisfactory way with no real foreshadowing to anything. I didn't hate the book, and I might even be tempted down the line to get the second one from the library, but I feel like it was lukewarm at best and not a good sign for things to come.

This is one of the most creative and engaging settings for a series I???ve read in a long time, and I'm glad I waited until I knew there would be many more stories in it.

Wow... honestly wow. I get the hype now. I also feel like every time I read this book I might have a different opinion on the endings and consequences and what these people go through.

This is a re-read for me. I really loved the book the first time I read it and this second time it's no different. A very unique story and the writing is captivating! I highly recommend reading it ❤️

3.5 stars.

Interesting stars to the series, but did not find it as magical as everyone else. Also for some reason, don't know why, I was thinking the characters would be 10-12 years old, not 17-19.

4,5

This story was better than expected. The characters all had a backstory that was easily explained in such short time. There was no holding back with the gory details, but this added to the overall vibe of this murder mystery. The concept of the story is super interesting, can't wait to learn about more worlds in the upcoming books.

I thought of reading a series after a long time. Every series I thought was long and intimidating. Then I saw this and I'm really happy that I chose to read this book. It was really enjoyable. I think I'll love it even more as I read other books and know more about the characters.

Good narrator, and I like the writing style and world building.

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this book up but it was amazing , a great story, written well with fun characters and exciting places to explore in further books. Can't wait to get to the next one.

4.25/5

this was soooo cute! fantasy isn't really for me so that's why i didn't give it higher but I still really enjoyed it nonetheless. :)

also i need a book about Kade pls thx

Maybe this is my gateway to becoming a fantasy girlie?? Loved the creepy vibes here and the writing was amazing.

actual rating: 4.5/5 stars

this was so cozy and cute and i did not expect it to have a murder mystery element to it. i had such a delightful time reading this.

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.

I heard so many good things about this series, but I was still surprised at how quickly McGuire makes us feel like we are in between 2 worlds just like Nancy and the others. I can see how there are so many more stories to be told in these worlds.

 I really liked this book. I think it was very cleverly written. While I was reading it I thought probably Alice needed some group therapy when she returned from Wonderland. Also Wendy when she came back from Neverland. I think no one will be able to go to a magical, wonderous place to then come back to the “real” world and carry on as if nothing had happened. That's why I think this was such a great premise for a book.
I also think that the characters are very interesting and so detailed. I can't wait to read the second book in the series. 

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

The transition from pre-teen to adult is a time of fantastic possibilities. A child goes from viewing the world at the waste level of his parents to matching them or, sometimes, towering over them. Adolescents uncover new abilities every month as they master music, sports, or human interactions. Young girls metamorphize into swans with the capacity to make boys stutter and create life. Anything is possible at this time. They might think that today I can break the five-minute mile; perhaps tomorrow I will fly.

On the other hand, these changes upset the established order of childhood. The adolescent leaves the security of home and has to find ways to fit into new, different, and uncomfortable societies. They deal with strangers who don't affirm or love them as their parents and siblings have. They experience conflict. They find that their new capabilities mark them out for jealousy and ostracism.

These are the features of life that define Young Adult (“YA”) fantasy. The universality of these experiences is why YA fantasy is perpetually popular. Dystopian Science Fiction series like “Divergent,” “Hunger Games,” and “Red Rising” play on these elements in the themes of selection, competition, and training.

Fantasy also utilizes these universal experiences to tell stories about escape and acceptance. The classic trope is the outcast who goes through a door or falls through a hole into another world where the protagonist learns the new rules, masters them, and finds success and acceptance.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire takes the fantasy tropes and flips them. She asks what happens to those children who return to the real world after their journey to the fantasy world. Would they forget their experience and thrive in the real world? Or would their experience make them forever pine for the world they've lost?

McGuire paints the picture of those students who have been rejected by their fantasy world but cannot stop looking for a way to return. They are heartbroken and disconsolate. They lost a place that accepted them for their unique characters and shaped them like origami trees to fit into the fantasy world, whether it be the Halls of the Dead or Candy Land or a Hammer horror film.

The protagonist in Every Heart a Doorway is Nancy. Nancy found a doorway into an “underworld” of silence and solitude. She learned to play the role of a living statue. Color was forbidden to her. As cold as her world sounds, Nancy loves it and wants to return to it. She hates the real world where she is forced to wear colorful clothes and go out into the sunlight.

I liked the premise. The story itself is scant and short. It turns into a murder mystery when the mutilated bodies of students are discovered. This feature shows up around halfway through the book and drives the book to its conclusion. Through this conflict, we meet other students and found out about their adventures. A lot of these worlds sound truly bizarre. The twins Jack and Jill lived in a world where Jill was the pet of a vampire and Jack apprenticed to a mad scientist. Although this world is a nightmare, they want to return.

One of the things that I noticed and found disturbing was that the situation of a number of girls would be deemed “unhealthy” in our culture. Nancy is trained to be a living statue, totally passive. Her self-esteem is based on the approbation of her “master,” the Lord of the Dead. Her deepest desire is to return to a reality where she will stand for days, perfectly motionless, barely breathing, not talking, a passive object.

Is this really a fantasy of adolescent girls? Perhaps it is compared to the cruel competitive world of teenage girls.

Jill was the pet of a vampire. She provides this bit of information:

“Jill laughed. “I don't wear these because I want to remember where I've been. I wear them because the Master liked it when I dressed in pale colors. They showed the blood better. Isn't that why you wear white? Because your Master liked to see you that way?”

That these are ideals for any teenage girl seems....disturbing.

This is part of a series on the “wayward children.” I think it could be an interesting read for a few books until it inevitably becomes repetitive. McGuire can develop the worlds that she has been hinting at. Her division of fantasy worlds into “High Logic” and “Nonsense,” “Virtue” and “Wicked” offers an interesting premise for future stories.

This is a slight book without a lot of content, but it was still entertaining.

A solid OK. I loved the idea but the execution felt clumsy.

Interesting book.. I like the premise of the story. I guess I never really thought much about it, but I apparently like portal fantasy. The book had some really good quotable moments and moments that make you reflect on your own life. The story was short so it felt like everything happened pretty quickly but I suppose that's expected of short stories. I will continue on and read more of the books from this series to see what other stories can be told from this world. Overall a good read and would recommend it.

This was a lovely, whimsical read. I appreciated the diversity of both the characters and the worlds they visited (though all of the magical realms sounded awful to me, tbh...I guess this is why I was never received the call to adventure as a child) even though I didn't really understand the “High Wicked, Low Logic” etc. etc. part of it.

I will definitely continue this series, as I'm interested to see where it goes. 4 magical doorways out of 5.

The concept of this book intrigued me from the start, and I couldn't wait to dive deeper into the fantasy of it all. However, the plot turned out to be completely different to what I expected. At first I was excited when things started getting dark, but the book ended up being too short for me to truly get into it. It all resolved way too fast and it was kind of predictable in my opinion. I will continue in the series though, because I truly do love the main idea of these worlds.