Comparing your book to the Chronicles of Narnia, both in the text and in marketing, is quite the choice. 

I love portal fantasies and I think the concept and intention of this book was pretty solid. The premise was excellent and immediately drew me in. There was lots of mystery and intrigue and tension between the characters in the first half and I was excited to see where things would go. 

I think the magic of Narnia works so well because, even though the human characters that entered into it often became kings, queens, or other powerful creatures (like when Eustace becomes a dragon), the world was so much bigger than them and contained mysteries they didn’t fully understand. Aslan and his role wasn’t explicitly explained and it didn’t need to be. Because Jeremy remembers everything from Shanandoah, the world lacked mystery and tension. And because we’re just told things from their previous time in that world without ever getting to experience it with them, it was hard to feel connected to the characters that live in Shanandoah. Part of the magic of portal fantasies is getting to know the world alongside our characters, and I just didn’t feel like I got to do that.

There were lots of dialogue choices that didn’t do a great job of walking the line between the whimsy of the fairy tale world and the maturity of the characters. The world building was just too sparse with way too much telling and not enough showing. I occasionally liked the little interludes with the Storyteller, but they didn’t always work. Those sections were at their weakest when they lacked subtlety and just beat you over the head with The Point. There were explicit references to Aslan, but no original characters memorable enough to compare to him. The consistent mention of Narnia kept reminding me how much Shanandoah did not live up to its influence. All of these issues just kept getting worse throughout and it got more grating over time. 

Overall this was kind of meh to me. . . really solid first half but I struggled to stay invested once they actually made it to the magical world. Meg Shaffer’s writing just may not be for me, but if you liked her first book it could be worth checking out.