Every Heart a Doorway

2 1/2 stars for something that I really wanted to love, but it sadly fell short of my expectations.What happens when you mash together the whimsy of the coming-of-age theme in [b:Peter Pan 34268 Peter Pan J.M. Barrie https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1337714526l/34268.SX50.jpg 1358908], the magical world of Narnia in [b:The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 100915 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) C.S. Lewis https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1353029077l/100915.SY75.jpg 4790821], and the nonsense-filled Wonderland of [b:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass 24213 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872220l/24213.SY75.jpg 2375385]? Well, you get this diluted, rehashing of beloved classics that don't hit home in quite the same way. The author's strange way of alluding to these classics by bashing them, especially when it comes to C.S. Lewis, was unnerving to say the least, and disappointing. It is a bit of an unspoken rule that one should not refer to a work in the same genre, especially not a defining one, in a negative, satirical way. While the idea of portals to other worlds in the fantasy genre is nothing new, to deny the influence of C.S. Lewis is just downright insulting, regardless if you agree or disagree with this Christian views. That would be like denying the fact that Tolkien is the father of high fantasy... plain ridiculous.I had wanted to read this book for the longest time, but I never seemed to be able to get to it. When I saw that it was finally available at my public library, I jumped on it and read voraciously, but I ended up being disappointed by my earlier high expectations. The premise sounded like a bit of a prequel (or maybe an alternate world) to [b:Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 9460487 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) Ransom Riggs https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546430481l/9460487.SY75.jpg 14345371] (which I also wasn't a huge fan of), so maybe I should have expected things to be a bit lackluster. There's no denying that McGuire writes really well and effortlessly paints vivid scenes of faraway worlds, but the narrative itself is where this story suffered for me. I would have liked for Nancy (or any other child) to return to ‘their world' and get a better understanding of how the portals work, but instead I was given a slow slice-of-life story of a handful of jaded teens who complain about clothes or food. Typical. [note: maybe this happens in another book, I have no idea since I haven't read the rest of the series, but it doesn't happen in this one.]The attempt at diversity here was, whilst honourable, token at best. It felt like the characters had labels slapped onto them just for the sake of it without actually diving into what makes them stand apart, their difficulties, etc. This is something that seems to be recurring in lots of post-2010 publications wherein authors attempt to divesify without fully exploring these topics. Perhaps it is due to the current social climate we live in that authors feel the need to prove themselves as open and ‘woke' as possible, but it comes across as fake if the diverse characters are simply used as placeholders for diversity.Overall, while I did enjoy many aspects of the worldbuilding and the writing, this novella had too many pitfalls for my taste that discourage me from reading the next book in the series.