Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review is spoiler-free!

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children #1
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: April 5th 2016 by Tor.com
Format: Hardcover, 173 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

I’ve yet to look at any other reviews of this book (I typically don’t if I’m going to review it myself, just in case opinions curb my opinion), but I feel like the biggest complaint for this book would be its length … which is exactly my complaint.

I love, love, loved the story to bits. McGuire’s writing style is absolutely enticing and whimsical and a perfect fit for the type of story she’s telling, and I even have to admit that, despite the length of the book, I feel like I read closer to a 300-page story with how much information and story she was able to give us in around 170 pages. She skips a lot of the frills and lulls you get in longer books with similar stories, and I was pretty surprised at how well that ended up working out. So, really, it does work for the length, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want more!

(Sure, there are more books out, but they’re $18 a pop for the hardcovers! I don’t think that’s justified, even with how good they are. Not for the page number. Bleh.)

I will be reading the others (in fact, I’ve already read the second as I’m writing this, and I’m halfway through the third…) and reviewing them, but I just wish this particular one had more to it, especially with how it ended.

Now, characters. Despite the fact I think I related the most to Kade, Christopher was my favorite character we were introduced to, and I wish he had had more scenes to him so I could enjoy him more.

Kind of bad wording, but I can’t think of a better way to put it. I liked his wit and how he interacted with everyone! I liked Nancy and Sumi and Jack and Jill and etc. too, sure, and I really loved the dialogue we were given, but I want more of Christopher, and I hope he gets his own story at some point.

The dialogue, though, to touch back on that … I’d read these books for the dialogue alone, because I found it hilarious, if a little crude. Sumi mildly shook me for reasons I won’t spoil when she opened her mouth, but I found myself accepting it despite my prudish instinct, and I even laughed quite a few times. The scenes were okay, and some of them were actually very interesting, but the dialogue is what made it all work together for me. The characters worked much better together than they did apart.

Once again, and for the final time for this review, I just wish I had been given more! I really hope McGuire doesn’t stop at three books. I might actually be heartbroken, despite my four-star rating. (Really, four point five, but you can tell why. I won’t say it again.)

Thanks for reading!