Every Heart a Doorway - Seanan McGuire

[goodreads]

Title: Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 176
Date read: October 2017, December 2019

Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children

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.


Sometimes I love starting a book without having any idea of what it's about. I hadn't read the back blurb, but just decided to read this because a friend of mine recommended it. And it didn't take long for me to be utterly charmed by it. It had just the right mix of whimsy and crazy for me and appealed to me so much. It had much the same atmosphere as "Miss Peregrine...", but I liked this one a lot more... in fact, I wish it had been longer, as I would have loved to hear about more of the worlds and how the whole Nonsense / Logic / Wicked / Virtuous classification worked (yes, I'm a nerd and I'll happily own it!)

The plot turned out somewhat darker than I had originally anticipated, but the ending was SO satisfying! There are two more books in the series, but as the world-building was one of my favourite things about this book, I can't help but wonder if the others can live up to it... doesn't mean I'm not going to give them a chance though!