Every Heart A Doorway
So I quickly mentioned this book in passing when I talked about Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire, but I love this story and I think it merits its own blog post.
Every Heart a Doorway is the first book of the Wayward Children series, with Among the Sticks and Bones being the second book (even though it’s technically a prequel). Instead of following Jack and Jill, the story follows Nancy, a young teenager who’s just recently returned to Earth after having spent time away in the Halls of the Dead.
She is the newest student at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children and is a bit of an oddity among the students. Many of them went to worlds filled with either magic, rainbows, dreams, colour, and life. Nancy went to an Underworld, and some of the students see her as dark and scary.
This doesn’t help either when, soon after Nancy’s arrival, students and teachers start dying very gruesome and bloody deaths. It’s up to her and her new friends (which includes Jack) to figure out who the killer is before there are any more victims.
Every Heart a Doorway isn’t a terribly long book either, so it’s a short read. And I don’t read many murder mysteries, but this one was “fun” since it had the extra element of fantasy from all the different doors.
What’s also really exciting (and this is what got this book on my radar) is that Nancy is asexual and the term “aromantic” actually appears in print. During two separate occasions, Nancy talks about how being asexual has changed how she interacts with the people around her.
Another character, Kade, is a transgender male. He befriends Nancy and helps try to solve the murders. His story is rather tragic, since he was basically kicked out of his world when they learned he wasn’t a girl. And the book does address transphobia briefly and the struggles Kade has had to go through since leaving his door.
