Seanan McGuire: "Every Heart a Doorway"

Title: Every Heart a Doorway [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Wayward Children (1st of ?? books)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (technically it would be Portal Fantasy, but since I don't have a Fantasy Room in my blog, I decided to shelf this one as Supernatural - that's the closest I could get), Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2016
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: An imaginative look-in-reverse at one of the most common fantasy tropes. A few diverse characters (especially when it comes to the sexuality spectrum).
Cons: You have to suspend your disbelief for things that largely transcend the premise...
WARNING! Gruesome murders/disposing of bodies.
Will appeal to: Everyone who's ever felt out of place, but doesn't necessary dream of a happier world than the one they live in...

Blurb: 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. 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, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of things. No matter the cost. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: Before I start, a couple of things:

• this is one of the rare mainstream series I read...the premise was too juicy to pass it up 😉.
• I'm pretty much cover-blind, but HOW STUNNING IS THIS ONE? It even has the title crossing the door...it's so subtly done that I haven't noticed for a long time. And the sequels? All these covers are a work of art 😃. (Later edit: ...wait, WHAT?!? the Spanish version title doesn't do the door-crossing thing?!? ARE THESE PEOPLE FRIGGIN' JOKING?!?).

ALL THE DARK PLACES

There are lots and lots of portal fantasy stories around, whether in book or movie form. What sets McGuire's vision apart from all those is that, with this book (and series), she tries to answer two questions that (to the best of my knowledge) no one else ever did before: what happens to these kids when they come back from their adventures? and why the worlds they visited chose them in the first place? Now, the way these questions are answered is both satisfying and infuriating. It makes sense that those kids wouldn't be able to adjust back to the "real" world, especially since no one around them will ever believe their side of the story. But to some extent, all the worlds they visited are harsh and unforgiving, or even downright cruel. In Ch.3, Jack explains:

"For us, the places we went were home. We didn't care if they were good or evil or neutral or what. We cared about the fact that for the first time, we didn't have to pretend to be something we weren't. We just got to be. That made all the difference in the world."

I get it, but I don't get it. The price for their freedom was still too high to me - the worlds that made them at home too dark, and more often than not, just a different kind of cage. Then again, I plaud McGuire for her inventive and - well - guts. Even if I have trouble suspending my disbelief, I can see how the way she imagines these portals is far more nuanced and interesting than if they were mere playgrounds where to have a grand adventure and maybe live happily ever after. [...]

MURDER, SHE HID

Now, without getting too spoilery - shortly after Nancy's arrival, Miss West's home is plagued by a series of, well, murders. And since some of the kids come from particularly dark worlds, where death is not an issue for a bunch of reasons, I kind of get how they manage to deal (on various levels) with those murders...even if they don't seem excessively fazed about risking the same fate. But I can't suspend my disbelief about how easy it is to sweep the mess under the rug, not only when it comes to the law - because, at least in one case, there are still parents to answer to. Also, now that I'm mentioning this - I don't get how, all this time, Miss West has been able to deal with the cases (albeit rare) in which her kids found their way back to the places they called "home". Even if she fake-reported those kids as runaways, I suppose their families would have blamed her and press charges? How is her "Home" still open? And finally...I think the culprit was ill-equipped to deal with the bodies, even if their plan had worked. Sorry I can't elaborate further, for the two or three of you who haven't read the book already...

BOOK OF (SELF) RULES

So, you see, I'm torn. I understand that there's magic in this book...in this series. I understand where it wants to go. I'm happy it exists. I'm on board about reading the whole thing. I'm grateful a good chunk of the sexuality spectrum gets represented in it, and not as an afterthought. I understand that a story like this lives by its own rules, and you can't apply too much logic to it. On a level, it's like those faces where the single features aren't "perfect", but the way they come together creates a different kind of beauty. And I understand this is, in itself, a fable - albeit dark - so, again, looking at it too closely is useless, and maybe even wrong. The fact is...I don't know where I stand in regards to Nonsense and Logic*, but I can't unsee all the things that don't make common sense in here. So, I like it and I don't. I'm sure it couldn't have been written any other way, but I still can't help feeling uneasy with the way it's written. One thing I can't deny though - this is a work of art and poetry and compassion, trying to answer the questions most people can't even seem to formulate. For that alone, it stands out and shines. So, my rating here is a compromise between Nonsense and Logic, I suppose. Maybe I'm a child of both and at home with neither 😉.

* Two of the "main coordinates" for the portals the books talks about.

For quotes from this book click here.
For my "Skeleton Song" review (prequel short story) click here.
For my "Down Among the Sticks and Bones" review (second installment in the series) click here.
For my "In Mercy, Rain" review (companion short story, following "Down Among the Sticks and Bones") click here.
For my "Beneath the Sugar Sky" review (third installment in the series) click here.  
For my "In an Absent Dream" review (fourth installment in the series) click here.
For my "Juice Like Wounds" review (companion short story, outtake from "In an Absent Dream") click here.
For my "Come Tumbling Down" review (fifth installment in the series) click here.
For my "Across the Green Grass Fields" review (sixth installment in the series) click here.
For my "Where the Drowned Girls Go" review  (seventh installment in the series) click here.

For my "Lost in the Moment and Found" review (eighth installment in the series) click here.

For my "Mislaid in Parts Half Known" review (ninth installment in the series) click here.

For more Supernatural books click here.