Reviews and Comments

I want to stress while the book deals with tough topics, it is ultimately hopeful and you should absolutely read it when you're in the right place to do so (and listen to ballet music while you read it)

One: I'm really grateful to Seanan McGuire for the included Content Warning at the beginning, that let me know while there WAS abusive elements in the early parts of the story, I would not see / be subjected to the worst of it. Gonna send her a message about that as soon as I can get it concise.

Two: While this DOES include gaslighting (and implications of coming sexual abuse) the book is about Abuse as a whole (just in another Portal Fantasy Setting). So Keep that in mind while reading.

Antsy (full name: Antoinette) loses her father early in the story. And gets a step father she has never liked or trusted. When her mother asks for permission to marry him, Antsy refuses, but it becomes clear her Mother just believes it's childish complaints.

And then, the reasons to feel icky around the man continue, starting with Gaslighting to make Antsy look like an untrustworthy liar: after all, why would an adult lie about a conversation or two with children?

He always calls her Antoinette, never Antsy. And of course, the night Antsy Runs (thank god) he starts making more... overt moves on her, and while she does not have the vocabulary for what's happening (and is pretty sure her mother won't believe her even if she found it) she knows (correctly) that she's in danger and runs away.

Anyway, she gets to a thrift store door as nexus. Basically, the premise is: it's where lost things end up (including a lot of money) and when you open a door, you can end up in all sorts of worlds, and do trade.

Here's the catch: Antsy ages (at least) 2 days for every door she opens, and none of the others at the thrift shop TELL her this. They Encourage her to open doors.

So in the span of two years, Antsy (actually 7, pretending to be 9) goes through puberty, and is at a minimum in her late teens by the end of the book. In. Two. Years. So she CANNOT return to her home anymore, realizing the problem.

She leaves the thrift shop (and goes to her home world, where she finds out (I think as a result of her running away) that her abuser is in prison for the Child Pornography the police found on his computer) but wants to eventually return to the thrift shop nexus, because she wants other children who end up at the nexus to make informed decisions about their time, even if they choose to go hog wild with doors.

Basically, the way I interpret it, along with the way her Abuser calls her Antoinette in an attempt to age her into a name that doesn't fit you, is that the book (while being a portal fantasy) is an allegory for the way Child Abuse forces children to grow up too fast. She effectively would have had her childhood taken from the Abuser if she HADN'T gone to the door, and because the runners of the thrift shop were exploiting her, she STILL lost her childhood.

I nearly wanted to cry when I finished the book. It's definitely dark, but it's beautiful. A+ good book would read again

This was recommended to me last year during the Smashwords Sale (it may have even been free at the time). It took me longer than expected, but I read it, and I love it.

I don't like reading books taking place during or after the Apocalypse for a variety of reasons, but the simplest one is "it stresses me out and makes me despair over the state of the world". This is not stressful. This is a downright soothing book.

The book has its own unique take on vampires.

One of the main characters is trans, and it is only mentioned in passing, and has no impact on the plot.

I think if you're a library nerd you'll really like this book.

This is a YA SFF retelling of Marie Antoinette's Life until the Revolution / Reign of Terror Starts.

I cannot call my myself a Maria Antonia expert, because other than listening to Dana Schwartz cover her in the podcast Noble Blood (or the guest episodes on You're Wrong About) I haven't studied her heavily, beyond having listened to these episodes multiple times.

But if you listen to those episodes, you get the impression: Marie Antoinette's biggest crime was being Marie Antoinette. Like "The Affair of the Diamond Necklace" (does not occur in this book) but that's basically "Marie Antoinette says no to buying a hideously expensive necklace. Priest she hates gets catfished into thinking she's both in love with him and needs him to buy the necklace, despite the mountains of evidence Marie Antoinette did nothing wrong in this scam case, the general public believes it's a false flag operation because She TOTALLY Wanted the necklace." (I could go into more detail but just listen to Noble Blood)

Like to be clear, the revolution is more condensed in this book, and ends before she has any children (so you don't have to focus on THOSE Heartbreaking details of her life. I want to stress if you decide to look up those details there's a Major Bummer Warning / Fucked up Shit warning there)

There's changes of course. Louis is Asexual in this telling (that makes a lot of sense tbh) and instead of the mechanics of locks and keys he is more obsessed with programming / hacker shit (though I don't think he ever says "I'm in", sorry) her Sister-in-Law Elizabeth (who I know nothing about to be honest) has a relationship with a woman.

Marie Antoinette does not like Madame du Barry but there's no scandal for failing to acknowledge her, though I thought it was building towards one.
Maria Antonia's Dog, Mops is in the book.

There's some interesting implications that I hope get dug into with some sort of sequel, that a lot of these popular figures (Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, etc) existed in the past, but unless I missed it (and I may have, there were parts of this book where I was a sobbing mess) it didn't go anywhere with it.

Anyway, an excellent debut, I'd really love to see more from this author.