Every heart a doorway - Seanan McGuire (english review)

Disclaimer: English is my third language,  so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. You can read this review also in spanish here.

In the summer of 2013, very intrigued by the fact that a zombie-themed trilogy had managed to be nominated for the Hugo awards during the previous three years, I decided to give a chance to the first part of the saga written by Mira Grant: Feed.

I was very disappointed by the novel: I did not like the plot (nor its approach or its resolution) neither the characters, and the style of the author did not convince me.

In the first pages of the great short novel that I will talk about today, Every Heart a Doorway, before the story begins, I discovered that Seanan McGuire, the author, is Mira Grant.

If it had been a novel of more pages, maybe I would have thought a couple of times before reading it; what a mistake. But fortunately it is a short novel, so I decided to continue and therefore I discovered the fantastic universe that McGuire has created.

The story is set in a residential school for young people with problems. These young people had disappeared from their homes for a long period of time, to return explaining that they have stayed for much longer time than they had been missing in magic and fantastic worlds. This causes alarm in their parents, psychologists and therapists. The school is ruled by an old woman who also suffered the same experience several times during his childhood and youth.

The truth is that these worlds really exist, and that all the young protagonists of the story are dying to get back to them, and it is this homesickness the reason why their families end up entering them into the residence. The story begins in a somewhat typical form, with the arrival of a new resident, Nancy, who will be the main protagonist, and with who we will discover the peculiarities of this rich and imaginative universe.

The story is full of details about the characteristics of the different worlds that the protagonists had visited, and it makes the experience of reading it more rich. I highlight the division into categories of the various types of world that can be visited and the difference in the speed of time in magical worlds and the real world. Weeks in our world can mean years in other magical worlds. 

There is also a great job behind the protagonists; some are very charismatic and intriguing and I would love to know more of their story, save the main character, who is a bit insipidus.

Because the argument and the age of the protagonists, it may seems a young adult novel, but although there are details aimed at this audience, most situations are posed for an adult audience.

Just to raise an objection, I find the resolution of the main plot too obvious.

In summary: Excellent  short novel of fantasy, that at times reminded me of the magical worlds that create Gaiman and Pratt. A riot of imagination, emotional and humorous, with good characters and full of details that provoke curiosity about this fascinating universe.

I've seen in Goodreads that Seanan McGuire is writing a couple of stories more in this ambientation. You can find here a very interested reader.