This is another book that has been on my list to read for ages. I saw it getting kicked around in lists of books with asexual main characters, and I knew a few friends that read it and really liked it. Honestly I surpassed all of my expectations, I loved the world of this book and I’m really excited to dive into the rest of the series.
The book follows Nancy, a girl who has just returned from the Halls of the Dead to parents who thought she was kidnapped and don’t understand why their daughter is behaving so differently now. They send her to Eleanor, a woman who runs a home for troubled children like Nancy. Hidden from the parents though, is that this is a home/school for many similar children who went to other fantasy worlds, returned, and have a hard time adjusting. Nancy’s roommate is Sumi who went to a Nonsense world, and her friends include Jack and Jill, two twins that went to the Moors, a land ruled by a vampire. Jack becomes an apprentice to a mad scientist and Jill becomes the vampire lord’s pet. There’s also Kade who went to a fantasy realm and was kicked out when he realized he is actually a boy.
Things heat up when Sumi is discovered head, with her hands cut off. Then another girl is discovered dead with her eyes removed. Nancy, Kade, Jack, and Christopher (from a skeleton realm) stick together to try and survive, especially since the other kids suspect that the creepy kids from death realms and the mad scientist might be behind this. Eventually it’s revealed that Jill has been behind this, she’s trying to create a perfect girl from pieces of girls to make someone who is wanted by every realm so that she can return to the Moors. Jack stabs her sister and is then able to bring them both back to reanimate her. The book ends with Nancy discovering an old note from Sumi that tells her to write her own story, leading to her rediscovery of a door to the Halls of the Dead and returning.
Now the best part of the book is the way it turns some fantasy tropes on their heads. After the kids return home, what happens next? Of course they have a difficult time with their parents and peers. There is some order to the worlds, some are Nonsense and some are Logic, but I honestly never really understood that. But it is really amusing to hear about the different worlds. One character went to a spider realm, Sumi went to a candy realm or something, and just about every version thereof. And each child is molded to that realm meaning that the personalities are just as vibrant as the realms.
Also fun is the representation. Nancy is pretty openly asexual and talks about it a lot, including dropping that she isn’t aromantic. As Kade flirts with her it makes her anxious until she explains that she just finds people pretty, leading to his understanding (even though she never used the word with him). Kade similarly is openly trans from the time we meet him, and it leads to him being rejected by both his parents and the world he went to. I would love more information on his experiences, but it was heartbreaking to hear about how badly he wants to remember his experiences despite the pain from not being about to go back ever. And I love that the main love interest is trans, that’s so great for people to see.
The book is really short, I think it’s technically a
novella. But for all of that it establishes a universe from the beginning and
doesn’t waste time getting to the main mystery. I’m so excited to check out the
rest of the books and hopefully expand this whimsical world.
No comments:
Post a Comment