REVIEW: Every Heart A Doorway: Wayward Children Series So far!
This series is truly remarkable and I love the titles of these books I hope you enjoy these reviews..
Every Heart A Doorway:
I read this book in 2017 and I’m writing this review in 2019. Weird how time works huh?
There have been many stories of young children entering different worlds either by doors, backs of wardrobes or falling down a rabbit hole. But what if these worlds actually exist. And this is the idea that Seanan Mcguire runs with. This book follows Nancy as she is introduced to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. The home is for children who have been to other worlds and cannot adjust back to reality or looking for a way home back to their world. Or the world that has accepted them and treated them as their own. This is what happens to all the children at the home. Nancy meets Eleanor, Kade, Jack and Jill, Sumi, Lundy, Christopher and many more whilst at the home all of which have gone through the same thing she has. We will later go into the origin stories of some of those characters through out the series but let’s just continue. But as soon as Nancy arrives, it’s almost like the atmosphere has followed her, the eerie sense around her and a presence that cannot be explained.
I will say at first, I was shocked by how small the book was. When the book came out, I remember a lot of booktubers ordering it and being shocked when it arrived. But I think short stories can capture our minds very easy. This one though, it took me a long time to get into and by that time, the book was over and I was itching for more stories in this world. Seanan Mcguire has created worlds within worlds and I was so happy to know that the characters can in the future return to their worlds, otherwise the book would have been to solemn and not enough light. You got to have a bit of hope mixed in to make the perfect book. There must be a balance of it all.
4 out of 5 stars.
Down among the sticks and bones:
In this story we follow two characters we have met in the previous book, Every Heart a Doorway. We follow Jack and Jill in their origin story. Jack was once known and Jacqueline, a perfect little princess for her mother. She acted the way her mother wanted her too and sometimes her mother was too strict on her. No dirt on her clothes. Must look pretty at all times. Jill also known as Jillian was the complete opposite of her sister, the adventurous tomboy. The son that he had always wanted but as a girl. The perfect daughter in his eyes. But they both desperately wanted to be the other and they were constantly jealous. Jillian wanted more boys to pay attention to her in terms of her being a girl and desperately clung on to the female name Jillian as a way to remind her she was indeed a girl. Jack just wanted to get down in the mud and get dirty. But it wasn’t until they were twelve years old, that they found a door to another world, which said ‘Be Sure.’ They went through and found a life in a magical place. A place where they could finally feel like themselves and be at home. They were finally at peace within themselves until they destroy their own happiness.
Overall an enjoyable read and I seriously love these stories in how they are short and compact but are so engaging with little words on the pages.
4 out of 5 stars.
Beneath the Sugar Sky:
Beneath the Sugar Sky is a direct sequel to Every Heart A Doorway. In Every Heart, a character called Sumi died before she was meant to. Now her daughter from the future is looking for her because she is disappearing. Rini, her daughter, and the gang consisting of Kade, Christopher, Cora and Nadya must find Sumi’s soul. So they go to the Halls of the Dead and ask for Nancy’s help in finding her soul. But in exchange one of them must stay there. Nadya elects herself to be the soul that stays as the Hall of the Dead is closer to her world and than the world she currently inhabits. But Sumi doesn’t seem that she is back together yet, so they must go to find her nonsense in her world.
This book series is just amazing. I’m in awe of Seanan Mcguire and her writing because it is utterly gorgeous. The amount of story she can tell in such a short time is so riveting. Although, I wasn’t as intrigued in this book as I have been in the others. I just feel like she has got much more story to tell so I won’t be giving up on this series.
In an Absent Dream:
In this book, we follow Katherine Lundy, a character previously introduced in Every Heart A Doorway. We find out her origin story and how she ended up at Eleanor Wests Home for Wayward Children. Katherine, never Kat or Kitty, Lundy was always a peculiar child. She was a very serious child set in her ways, wanted to always study and never be a housewife. More interested in educating herself rather than the societal norms. When at age 8, a door to another world appears in front of her. She decides to step through and goes to a world filled with riddles, logic and fair value. Everything costs at the Goblin Market and it is paid with fair value. What this means is, that trading must be fair to both sides in which they will then say fair value. But if something is not fair value, you can accumulate debts. Doing work for another easily pays off debts but if you don’t complete it, the market will take something from you instead. Lundy hops between our world and the goblin market, taking care of her friend Moon along the way but when the deadline is soon approaching in which she must decide by her eighteenth birthday as to whether she stays in the Goblin Market and take the citizenship oath or return to reality and never go back. But Lundy wants it her way; she tries to cheat the system and does not get what she expects in return.
I seriously have no idea how Seanan Mcguire does it time and time again with this wonderful pieces of literature. She has created a world in which many worlds exist and she has so many stories to tell. Her writing and the world building is what brings me back every single time. Anything else I say about this series is just me gushing about how wonderful it is. Each book has a different theme and I seriously love that.
4 out of 5 stars.