[book rec] For those of you who haven't read it, Every Heart A Doorway is currently 80% off as an ebook; descriptions and praise within

EHAD is an incredibly charming heartfelt blend of fairy-tale logic and very current meditation on youth and identity

It's at least tied with Arcadia Project as the most delightfully diverse scifi book I've read based on our world, and definitely the most diverse YA

it's set at a boarding school for kids who have had Portal Adventures (aka, gone to Narnia/Oz/Fairyland/etc) and had to deal with adjust afterwards; no one else believes them, but at the school they at least can share what they've been through

I've never read a book that so earnestly sold me on a big central metaphor - namely, that the adventures the children had and the magical worlds they escaped or still long for reflect something they need that the "real"/normative world will not give or allow them

and the ways they deal with that reflects ways of navigating the world as you, hypothetical Non Normative Child, inevitably grow up (or don't)

the characters are lovely, the worlds and delightful vivid sketches

the plot felt a little bit like it could have used one more editing pass, I think personally, a little rough, but this book still made me feel safe and welcome and happy in a way no book has managed since I think The Goblin Emperor

there are several sequels so if you've got a favorite side character: good news!

anyway if you like genre YA that's imaginatively playful with old tropes and reflects the inner lives of children as both as diverse and as fraught as they really are and you have 3 bucks lying around, recommended

Note: if you heard the premise and immediately had a million ideas, maybe jot those down first. I think the 1 disappointment I hear from people about this book is just that it wasn't the thing that excited them most about the premise

which is rich with a whole lot of different potential

ANYWAY THE SALE PROBABLY WON'T LAST MORE THAN ANOTHER DAY OR TWO, SO GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT IF YOU WANT IT

thanks for the reminder I wanted to read this, just placed a hold on it

OMG I love that book so much

Down Among the Sticks and Bones is probably my favorite in the series so far tho

I'll look into it when i get to them

I already have a hold on a library copy. It's on my to read list.