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 newfound schoolmates to get to the heart of things. No matter the cost.

Listening Length

4 hours and 44 minutes
Author

Seanan McGuire
Narrator

Cynthia Hopkins
Audible release date

April 5, 2016
Language

English
Publisher

Macmillan Audio
ASIN

B0161YRCJU
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	4 hours and 44 minutes
Author	Seanan McGuire
Narrator	Cynthia Hopkins
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	April 05, 2016
Publisher	Macmillan Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0161YRCJU
Best Sellers Rank	#25,460 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #175 in Fairy Tale Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) #328 in Contemporary Fantasy #738 in Classic Literature (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		58%
4 star		24%
3 star		12%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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This is different, strange, fantastical, weird and utterly wickedly wonderful and then someone dies.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

*** “She was a story, not an epilogue.” ***

Dear Miss McGuire take a bow because I think you might have outdone yourself.

This isn’t going to be for everyone. It is different, strange, fantastical, weird and utterly wickedly wonderful and then someone dies.

But before we get to that, imagine a world were the people who don’t quite fit into the norm sometimes disappear. ’That if you open the right door at the right time, you might finally find a place where you belong”. Now imagine that sometimes for various reasons that door opens again and put them back into this world where they never felt they had a place in. This is a story about those kids. The ones that desperately want to go back to the world that was home and are just trying to learn how to cope in a world that never was. But they always have hope that they can find another door to take them home, all they have is hope.

“Because hope is a knife that can cut through the foundations of the world,” said Sumi. Her voice was suddenly crystalline and clear, with none of her prior whimsy. She looked at Nancy with calm, steady eyes. “Hope hurts. That’s what you need to learn, and fast, if you don’t want it to cut you open from the inside out. Hope is bad. Hope means you keep on holding to things that won’t ever be so again, and so you bleed an inch at a time until there’s nothing left. Ely-Eleanor is always saying ‘don’t use this word’ and ‘don’t use that word,’ but she never bans the ones that are really bad. She never bans hope.”

This was the strangest story I’ve read in awhile. It was so different from the book I read before it that I finished the first chapter and had no clue what I just read and had to go back and reread it to bring myself into the right mind frame. But once I immersed myself I was all in. I wanted to know so much more about Sumi and the crazy candyland like world she visited, or Nancy and her time with the Lord of the Dead and the Moors where Jack and Jill spent there time

“I think the rules were different there. It was all about science, but the science was magical. It didn’t care about whether something could be done. It was about whether it should be done, and the answer was always, always yes.”

We get little snippets here and there but I wanted to live in these other worlds too.

There is a bigger overall plot of murder as some of the travelers are being killed off for no apparent reason and none of the kids at the asylum/school are safe. All of the kids need to work together to try and figure out who is killing them off and why. But for me all of this was secondary to the overall weirdness of all of the characters.

Very rarely do I read a short story and think ‘I need this so be so much longer’. I wanted this to be a full novel I wanted so much more. I loved the strange interactions between all of the travelers and how I believed that none of them were supposed to be in this land. I was genuinely sad when the story over but I loved how it ended.

You’re nobody’s rainbow.
You’re nobody’s princess.
You’re nobody’s doorway but your own, and the only one who gets to tell you how your story ends is you.

I truly believe that this is for anyone who has ever felt like maybe they just didn’t belong. I’m telling you right now that everyone feels that way at some point and you should read this because I’m 98% sure that you fit in way more than any of these kids ever did.

I really hope there are a dozen or more stories set in this world, because I really want to go through all of the doors and visit all of the crazy worlds Seanan McGuire can conjure in her head.

39 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Underwhelmed

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

Spoilers ahoy!

2 stars because the story was at least well written and something new. Not for me though, almost not at all.
It was fine, but just fine. A bit drawn and easy to guess the who and what of it all. This could have been a really magical story, with tons of different stories in it, and enormous worlds to explore and things to learn and enjoy.

Instead, this was a short story about someone who didn't like the way things were and then changed them. Everyone was depressing and non-relatable, except one and she was killed off at the start almost. Sumi was really the only interesting character, all others were just whiny children.

I'm really disappointed in this not being more grand. I don't mind the dark approach of it, but it wasn't made into anything. Just a bunch of kids that could've just as easily have been mentally challenged, than the worlds being real.

Recommended for:
Anyone looking for a short, easy read that doesn't require you getting into lots of details, but still looking for something new and different.

Not recommended for:
All of us looking for a grand adventure like The Hobbit or Harry Potter, or Narnia for that matter. Skip this if you want a large, grand world to explore, because you will be disappointed.

17 people found this helpful

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Jessica Fierro

Interesting premise, underwhelming ending.

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2017

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After all the hype about this book and all the reviews saying how beautiful it was, I was underwhelmed. Maybe it was a case of too-high expectations, but while it was well written, the characters felt flat and one dimensional, and the plot boiled down to little more than a murder-mystery with a pretty unsatisfying ending. It was a neat premise, the school for children suffering the after effects of beong engaged in magical quests in other worlds, and I would have loved to simply learn more about that world and all the various types of magical worlds-- than to just follow the murder mystery seen through the eyes of a not very interesting protagonist.

34 people found this helpful

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Lorna

Meh.

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great concept. Terrible execution. Tiresome preachiness with fake diversity.

31 people found this helpful

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J.T.

A tad overhyped.

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2017

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This is a really nice, short book. It has a very interesting concept, a tight story, decent characters, and executes everything very well. There are also a few really good, memorable lines here and there, which are the hallmarks of a good writer.

I'm fond of the use of female protagonists in a largely female context, along with the inclusion of a transgendered character. These are all things that are sorely missing in popular media, and younger minds should be exposed to these ideas and perspectives sooner rather than later.

But taken as-is, I would consider this to be a wonderful young adult book, but nothing more. The narrative is very simple and you see the end coming from a good mile away (which is to say, halfway through this already rather-short book). The universe and concepts are very interesting but are not fleshed out. And the characters, while well-defined, are rather shallow (albeit by design, given their background and respective ages).

Given the controversy around the Hugos in recent years I hesitate to say this, but I think it's worth noting that were the characters all young boys in the typical, over-saturated manner, then this book would likely not stand out at all. So the question becomes whether or not you believe that the divergent, much-needed perspective and setting add enough value in and of themselves.

To that end, I would say that this book is a praiseworthy addition to any young adult library, as it expands horizons and reinforces positive messages to people of all genders, but as a story in and of itself is likely "just" above-average. If you have to choose between this book and yet another also-ran story of a young boy who finds a magical X that takes him on a quest to save Y, then please choose this one. But if you're looking for the next Dune (a perhaps unfair comparison), then this isn't it.

15 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Yvonne Marjot

Some doorways lead to dark places, and the children who return are marked in ways that are not always visible.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a wee gem from the multi-talented Seanan McGuire. I’m a fan of her Toby Daye series, and I’d wanted to read Every Heart is a Doorway ever since Tor released it in 2016. It won the 2016 Nebula Award for best novella and the 2017 Alex Award , and has just won the 2017 Locus Award (reader voted). The awards are fully deserved.

Miss Eleanor’s Home for children who have travelled through doorways into fantasy worlds should provide a retreat and a sanctuary for bruised and fragile psyches suffering from their (mostly unwilling) return to the ‘normal’ world. But it proves instead to be a very dangerous place indeed. Understand this: the doorways of which we speak do not open onto moral and uplifting otherworlds where children can be kings and queens and yet remain unspoiled. Some doorways lead to dark and dangerous places, and the children who return from them are marked in ways that are not always visible. This is the story of some of those returnees.

I have two caveats. The first is that with relatively little effort this could have been a full length novel. A broader picture of the residents of the home, and a little more detail on the individuals who appear (however briefly) would have added colour and depth, and the premise could easily have carried more detail. And, secondly, the ending left me desperately hoping that this would prove to be the beginning of a sequence. Dear reader, luckily it is. I’m off now to pre-order Down Among the Sticks and Bones.

3 people found this helpful

Amazon customer

How many pages?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

I placed my order for this much hyped up book and eagerly awaited its arrival. Upon opening the box, I was shocked that I spent £14 on A5 size 170 page book. I know the product description lists the number of pages but I didn’t expect the book to be so ... small.

The content itself and the ideas on which the story is based are truly amazing. Authors’ imagination is to be respected and admired. I also liked her writing style.

Where I felt let down is that this is essentially just a short story and I didn’t think the storyline was properly developed. In the space of 170 pages we had the introduction, the plot (several of them actually), the characters and the ending which was quickly wrapped up. There wasn’t really much time to get to know the characters, let alone like them or pick your favourite. The ideas of the “other worlds” are fantastic but ultimately the shortness of the story let the book down for me.

The second book is based on Jack and Jill (characters from the first book) but since I don’t feel I connected to the characters I know I will not be purchasing the second book.

I liked the book but didn’t love it. I expected to be pulled into the magical world of impossible things and instead I felt I only took a fast train ride through some scenic parts. And the train was travelling really fast! I would have expected to pay £5 for this.

If you like fantasy series, try Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy.

One person found this helpful

Susan Stepney

what happens when you come back from fairyland?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

There are adventures to be had in fantasy lands. But what happens when you come back from Fairyland, or Narnia, or wherever? How do you readjust to Mundania? Can you readjust? Or will you break, fruitlessly searching for your lost life, your true home?

Eleanor West runs a boarding schools for those children who can’t readjust. Their parents think them damaged, or wayward, or mad. Eleanor knows better, having herself returned from a Netherworld. Most learn to cope, in the company of those who understand. A few, a very few, find their way back. But when new girl Nancy arrives, dark things start happening, and the school itself is threatened. Is Nancy the source, or the trigger, of these events?

Life After Fantasy has always struck me as an issue. The scene at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where the Pevensie children return home after decades in Narnia, always horrified me: they had been adult royalty; how did they cope with being ordinary children again? Jo Walton tackles this issue in her wonderful short story, "Relentlessly Mundane". Here Seanan McGuire tackles it differently, in a 170pp novella.

Despite wanting to go to Lewis’ Narnia (for the Talking Animals, if not for the sexism, racism, classism, bad theology, and shoddy plotting), and to Marjorie Phillips’ Fairyland, I didn’t find myself attracted to any of the Netherworlds described by McGuire. (And I don’t think that’s just because there are no Pauline Baynes illustrations, or that I am half a century older than when I read the originals.) However, that lack of attraction is not a problem: it just serves to illustrate how everyone is different, and what is hearts-ease for one may be horror for another. But, consistently, Mundania is home for none.

This is not a typical school story, as it does not dwell on any lessons, except for some interesting Netherworld classification schemes. Nancy as new girl allows for some expository passages, but not that many. The tale focuses mainly on the deadly goings-on that threaten the school. And even there, we do not get a lot, since this is a novella. But McGuire does paint vivid pictures of the various main characters, and the very different homes they wish to return to. I wish this was a novel rather than a novella, and you can’t say fairer than that.

7 people found this helpful

BookWorm83

The prose is as beautiful as the title

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

I have been wanting to read this for a couple of years, firstly for the title: Every Heart A Doorway is just such a beautiful, lyrical title and then when I read the synopsis I was so hoping for the price to go down a little but I finally bit the bullet because it's a story about children who don't belong in the 'real' world. I always felt as if I didn't belong so this resonated with me, trying to be like everyone else is hard, especially when it doesn't make a difference.
The language is so beautiful and poetic and then it changes dramatically to swearing. I imagine if Irvine Welsh and Lewis Carroll had co written a book, the result would be very much like Every Heart... Wonderful, brutal, very much like The Moors. Can't wait to read book 2!

Polly Morgan

Magical, whimsical and dark!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

The premise of this book is genius – what happens when a character re-emerges from their magical fantasy world and are thrown back into reality? How would Alice feel, leaving behind Wonderland? It also touches on the struggles for children growing up and not feeling as though they fit in. The book is full of magic and whimsy, but fear and death underpins the Home. The world building is amazing, especially given how many multiple worlds are mentioned! I adored the LGBTQ+ representation, and the addition of a gruesome mystery. My only issue was that it was only 171 pages! I wish it had been longer, as every page was a joy to read.

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