Every Heart a Doorway

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Every Heart a Doorway is a YA novel by Seanan McGuire, the first in her Wayward Children series. It was the winner of the 2016 Hugo Award, 2017 Nebula award, 2017 Locus Award, and received many nominations.

Nancy arrives at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, a few months fresh from a stint in the Underworld. She learns that she is one of dozens of children who found doors to magical worlds, that run on nonsense or logic. They're back in reality, and most are not handling it well. They want to return to those worlds. Nancy is no different. She wants to find her door, sooner rather than later.

Orientation will have to wait, however; dead bodies start appearing on school grounds, missing their limbs. Nancy is suspected, as is a mad scientist's apprentice named Jack. Miss West becomes frantic about protecting the children, by any means necessary. If they don't find the killer soon, the school could close, and Nancy may never find her door.

Tropes used in Every Heart a Doorway include:

Adult Fear:
- We see two sides of it with the premise of the doors: your child goes missing for a few months, or a few years even, and they come back utterly changed. Lucky ones have PTSD or a dose of Nonsense, and the not-so-lucky ones have been raised by vampires or served as Underworld servants. The stories of where they have been are too ridiculous to be the truth. Indeed, Christopher's parents logically think that the Skeleton Girl he met and wants to marry must be another runaway he met while missing, and are terrified to think that she must be dying on the streets.
- Then imagine you are the kid. You are this child who found a magical world, some scary, others nonsensical and some rational. Then you are thrust back into this reality, where you have become a stranger to your parents, who were once a distant memory. If you speak the truth, you'll likely be committed. Even if you can't explain, your parents will want the old you back, the cheerful child.
- Kade mentions that his parents disowned him for presenting as a boy when he returned from fairy land. They want "Katie" back, and nothing to do with Kade. Miss West took him in as an open-minded Cool Aunt and made Kade the heir to the school, as well as her Number Two after Lundy is murdered.
- When students are murdered at the school, Eleanor gives a meaningful funeral to the ones that are her wards, and hides the ones that have families by having Jack dissolve the bodies in acid, or have Nancy give them funerals. She knows it's not the right decision, but a death on school grounds with investigators would mean the school would be closed down.
Bullying a Dragon: Those acclimated to the school know that Kade is more important than he looks, given he will inherit ownership and management when his aunt Eleanor retires as headmistress. Thus, Angela comes off as stupid and transphobic when she insults Kade by saying he's supposed to be a girl after he defends Nancy and Jack. And she says it in front of Miss West, his aunt, without realizing that Miss West was in earshot. We don't hear of her punishment, but Eleanor gives her a stern talking-to in the morning.
Cool Aunt: Miss West is revealed to be this for Kade. When his parents disowned him for coming out of the closet, Eleanor took him in and made Kade the relative who will eventually inherit the school. Kade says that she's his real family, even if she went to a Nonsense world and didn't understand that he came from a Logic world for a few months. He becomes her Number Two after Jill kills Lundy.
Do Wrong Right: This is why Jack maintains that she's not cutting up dead bodies for their organs. The killer is super sloppy, leaving the bodies out for the students and teachers to find. She was trained to always hide bodies, and be precise with any organ donation. Indeed, when accused of taking Lorelei's eyes, Jack has to point out that she may have a lab, but not a full research facility for ophthalmology or optometry. She would wait until a bioengineering firm hired her, and used their resources to keep her out of trouble. We find out Jack was right; Jill, her twin sister, was a sloppy killer when under servitude of a vampire, and it was her killing someone and being indiscreet that led to an angry mob going after her.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Downplayed with Jack, who has done mad scientist deeds like involuntary organ donations For Science! under her mentor Dr. Bleak's tutelage. She maintains, however, that everything was pragmatic and practical. Jack is also shocked and betrayed when learning that Jill was the one killing students to rebuild their door, and also attacked her sister to keep her from meddling. While she knew Jill was unstable, and got them exiled in the first place, she hoped to find a third option that would allow them to return together.
Honor Before Reason:
- This is why Lorelei returned to the real world. The spider queen she met offered to make her princess of this Web Kingdom, but Lorelei said she had to ask her parents first, despite knowing that her door may not reappear. What's tragic is the spider queen put it in a corner of Lorelei's bedroom and kept it open at a great cost; and Lorelei searched for two years before she was murdered. When the spider queen realizes Lorelei would not be able to return home, she mourns for a year.
- Jack reveals that she could have returned to her door at any time, if she either murdered Jill who was the cause of their exile, or left her behind in the real world. Obviously she refused to do the first, until she caught Jill in the act of trying to murder another innocent student, and doing the second option would be unthinkable. Jill is murderous and vain and selfish, but she's family. Once Jack plunges scissors into Jill's back, their door opens, and she carries her sister's body into the moors hoping to resurrect her.
Only Sane Man: Kade out of all the students is the best-adjusted of the kids who haven't or never will find their doors. He helps them do clothing swaps when their parents meddle with their wardrobes, gives them a basic introduction if orientation is no help, and is matter-of-fact about the truth that even if he found his door, the fairy world would not accept him back because they only take girls and realized after the first Goblin King died that he was a boy when he was labeled an heir king. It's also revealed that he's in his twenties and looks like a teenager, owing to his time in a fairy land. So he's going to run the school when his aunt retires, in the hopes that he can help other kids either find their doors or some sort of peace with their lives.