+Interesting perspective from the 'kids who are left behind'
-Not actually much going on at all
-Ending felt extremely quick and tried to answer every last question
-Don't know if this is actually a book younger kids would read

Real rating is 3.5 stars, but I chose to round down because I wasn't a fan of the ending at all, which I'll explain more in the review. Overall, I do like what this book was trying to do, and aspects of it definitely worked more for me than I thought they would. However, I'm not sure how much of this had to do with the book itself and how much had to do with my experience to similar stories and connections I already had to related ideas.

Okay so, I love the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. I love the idea of doors that appear to kids when they aren't looking, of the adventures that come at the oddest moment. I love how this series explored the lasting impact of those adventures, especially when those kids are thrown back into their normal world and forced to adapt. This booked played on aspects of that, except the point of view was from someone who didn't go themselves, but saw someone else go. Lucas, after missing his brother for almost a week, finally gets him back, but now Aidan is full of stories of this second life he started to form and live. The position of Lucas was a tough one, he was overjoyed to have this brother back, but could see the sorrow that Aidan carried due to being forced back home. It was an interesting position for the story to take, and I enjoyed how it stopped to make me think about that perspective. While reading Wayward Children, you think about whether you'd enter a door if you came across one, but while reading this book, you consider what it would mean to leave others behind, or be left behind yourself.

However, despite this interesting premise and interesting exploration of adventure and the effects it has on those around you, there wasn't actually much going on. Early on it's clear that this story isn't specifically about where Aidan went, and it also didn't have much to do with trying to get him back to where he belonged (since the argument seemed to lean to the fact that he belonged with his family). Instead, we just see a lot of discussions about how and why Aidan left, if he'd do it again, and other emotional explorations. There's some stuff happening regarding other people's reactions to Aidan's disappearance and story, but even these feel minimal, and are generally quickly resolved with no large impact to the story or Aidan/Lucas's lives. While this is fine in many books and genres, and I like books with a focus on introspection vs. constant action, it makes me wonder how much this book is aimed at kids? I just feel like I wouldn't like this as much if I were younger, and reading books full of quests and magic like Percy Jackson (what I was reading then). Obviously I can't be the final judge of that, kids themselves will have to be, but it's just something that made me wonder.

I also just wasn't a fan of the ending, and that's why I chose to round down in the end. I feel like this book's strength came from some of the what ifs, and not necessarily knowing if Aidan was telling the truth, but trusting him and trusting Lucas to judge and make his own opinion. The ending negated this. I also felt like it tried to tie off the whole book with a nice, neat bow, solidly engraining Aidan back into this world and giving him a whole list of reasons to say, if he were to ever see the door again. I just didn't like that this book took every question that could've made you think after the end, and answered it.

Overall, I did enjoy this, but I'm not quite sure who I'd recommend this too. Maybe it's a good, short story to read alongside stories like the Wayward Children series, to give you another angle on the idea of disappearing kids and magical worlds.