| Title | : | Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children, #5) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0765399318 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780765399311 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 |
| Publication | : | First published January 7, 2020 |
| Awards | : | Hugo Award Best Novella (2021), Locus Award Best Novella (2021) |
But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.
Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.
Again.
Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children, #5) Reviews
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(3.5) Let's state the obvious: The fourth book was the best one and nothing will ever compare...
Now. I've been having mixed feelings about this series. I enjoy the ideas, the writing, how diverse the characters are but I always feel like "something is missing". Probably because the books are so short so there's a lot of "And after they saved..." aka we miss on all the fun adventures.
This book was different since we do get to see what happens when we go back to The Moors. If you enjoyed Jack and Jill from book 2, you'll be happy to get more here. I didn't love nor hate this book. It was a fun and quick read but I didn't connect to it as much as the previous one.
The ending leaves some opening for another books... that'll I'll read! -
1.)
Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
2.)
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
3.)
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
4.)
In an Absent Dream ★★★★★
"Hope is a vicious beast. It sinks in its claws and it doesn't let go."
I’ll be honest, I am still so extremely surprised to be giving a Wayward Children book less than five stars. I had the highest of hopes for this installment, because Jack and Jill’s story in
Down Among the Sticks and Bones meant so very much to me. Sadly, this just left like a very unnecessary addition to their story, that lacked the depth, empathy, and happiness from before.
This book does pick up with Jack and Jill and their new life in the Moors, but this time Jill has managed to switch bodies with Jack and I’ll be honest, this was not a plot twist I expected nor wanted. But basically, Jill wants to become a vampire more than anything, and she needed a body that would be capable of becoming one. And Jack and Alexis think they need the help of their old friends to switch back their bodies before it is too late! (Even though, Jack very much takes care of everything in hindsight.)
I think what I love about this series is seeing these kids find their portal worlds, miss their portal worlds, return to their portal worlds, while discovering everything alongside them. I also really like being blown away by a discussion that is beautifully woven into the story seamlessly. Like the importance of surrounding yourself with people who love and accept you, gender roles and societies expectations of those roles, loving your body and the journey it can take to get there, and the value of fair trade! But this installment just felt like the message was just about friendship and how you can help each other and be there for people, and it truly felt very surface level for me.
This novella, like the whole series, is diverse. This story has characters of color, trans rep, fat rep, ocd rep, anxiety rep, disability rep, and a queer main relationship. Jack and Alexis really are great, but again, the body changing with her sister stuff had me a little uncomfortable, I won’t lie. The writing is also very beautiful, and what I’ve come to expect every time I pick up a Seanan McGuire story. But sadly, these two aspects were the only things I really loved from Come Tumbling Down.
I also feel like maybe another thing that hurt this story was that we focused on so many characters, leading up to a quest that was very messily done because this is a novella and it felt rushed in finishing it. Also, if you’re going to make the main plot point be about one of the main characters being willing to do unthinkable things to become a vampire, I’d really like to see some vampires before the very end of the story. I truly just felt so very let down by the Moors setting in this story, it’s actually unreal. And I truly believe this added nothing new to the series.
Overall, I’m just disappointed. This is truly one of my favorite series of all time, and now I’m going to go into
Across the Green Grass Fields very cautiously with a lot less high hopes. Also, please for the love of god, I just want Kade’s story so badly. Please don’t give me another revisit that feels like a lesser version of the original in every single way.
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Trigger and Content Warnings: death, murder, blood depiction, panic attacks, and talk of cancer (in the past).
Buddy read with
Lea &
Maëlys! ❤ -
2.5*
-
Re-read 1/5/22: I loved this even more the second time around. This series is just my favorite thing!!!!
Original read 1/6/20: This is probably my favorite addition to the series since Down Among the Sticks and Bones and my heart is SO FULL. I love these characters so much and it was especially gratifying to spend more time with Jack and the gang from the first book. I now DESPERATELY need Christopher's story and I really, really hope that his is next to come! -
3.7/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“New things are the best kind of magic there is.”
This was a nice addition to the Wayward Children universe. But it felt somewhat... repetitive to me? Like we have seen some of these things before? Let me explain.
These are 200 page books, more like novellas. They explore very unique worlds from multiple people's perspectives. We have had an entire book of one world... why have another one about that same world that can't offer us anything extremely fresh? When there are so many more characters, and new ones added all the time, that we can explore? Don't get me wrong, the book itself was really good but it wasn't refreshing. This series works best when it gives us new perspectives and worlds and characters and themes and just all around... new content. And yes, I know my second favorite book from this series is the second one, with Jack and Jill and the Moors, but I didn't need more of them so soon. Maybe it's because I binged these books in three days? Maybe I would have felt differently had I waited a year to read the next? You always consume content differently when binging. It happens with shows and movie series and all that jazz. I can't know what I would feel like if I traditionally waited for this book to come out. I just wanted to explore more lore and then have the matter that this book talks about be resolved later on. Basically, have more past tense personal stories.
Let's forget the rant and talk about the book itself. It was good man. It was really good. I couldn't expect anything else from this series. The writing and the wackiness, it's all there. Honestly, these books are getting weirder and weirder and I'm here for it But my problem with the general foundation of this book still stands.
Overall, ending this long haul of reviews, I just want to tell you to pick this series up. It's not a silly middle grade series about kids. I'm not saying kids series are silly but they are not for some people. I also thought that too, because of the size of the books and their subject matter. Yes, and maybe the marketing didn't help I guess. It seems like middle grade, but it's not. There is the world "fuck" multiple times in them. Yes. When I first saw that word in that book I was relieved. I don't like middle grade a lot haha. Anyway, read this series, it's short and amazing and I'll see you next time K BYE! -
Oh, lookie, we’re back at the Moors! Maybe I’m biased because of the whole vampire business, but the Moors have been my favorite of all the portal worlds in this series. Not that I’d live there! Oh no, I’m perfectly happy observing them from the safety of my couch.
Well, to be honest, this book is not really about the Moors. We don’t arrive there until the 40% mark, and no vampires appear until the 85% mark, only to disappear a few pages after. But the book is not really about that. It’s about Jack getting the gang back together, discovering new friends, having a full rich life while living with OCD, finding love, finding heroism, learning to be a “good” monster. And, in many ways, it works perfectly.
I quite enjoyed the extended worldbuilding, seeing how each area in the Moors needs to have two monsters of opposite alignments, balancing each other out. Seeing that being a monster doesn’t equal being evil.
Ultimately, I had the same problems as with
Beneath the Sugar Sky. Compared to
Every Heart a Doorway, everything suddenly becomes much easier. Even death itself becomes much less meaningful and characters get resurrected left and right. It’s true that the book shows resurrection isn’t always the solution, and won’t work perfectly the second or third time, but still, death is a lot less final than it should be to have any impact. It’s a bit like a video game where players get multiple lives until they lose them all.
Jack getting the gang back together felt unnecessary, since the others didn’t really contribute to the final victory. In fact, Jack did everything herself, except maaaaybe for the but even that didn’t feel decisive. Alexis tells the others that Jack couldn’t have done it without them, but I don’t see it. The final battle itself feels anticlimactic; it barely starts and is over immediately, with no real struggle and no real stakes.
Every Heart a Doorway presented an interesting and well developed concept that stood well on its own. Some of the future installments felt unnecessary, just random stories with the established characters.
I was wondering why
Down Among the Sticks and Bones and
In an Absent Dream worked for me, and
Beneath the Sugar Sky and Come Tumbling Down didn’t. I think it’s because in Down Among the Sticks and Bones and In an Absent Dream we see something else. We see how children find their doors, how they decide to stay, who they were before, what made them want to leave their world, what made their new world perfect for them specifically. The other books give us adventures and hopping across worlds with the already established characters. It’s fun enough, but doesn’t add anything new.
Overall, if there are more books in this series, I’ll read them, but I hope they’ll bring something new and expand the world instead of just playing within the boundaries set in Every Heart a Doorway. -
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artwork preview!!!
i. am. ready. -
The Wayward Children books have turned into such a great series ... and here's #5! Full review, first posted on
Fantasy Literature:Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children was an island of misfit toys, a place to put the unfinished stories and the broken wanderers who could butcher a deer and string a bow but no longer remembered what to do with indoor plumbing. It was also, more importantly, a holding pen for heroes. Whatever they might have become when they’d been cast out of their chosen homes, they’d been heroes once, each in their own ways. And they did not forget.
Come Tumbling Down, the fifth installment in Seanan McGuire’s WAYWARD CHILDREN YA fantasy series, returns to the conflicted relationship between twins Jack (Jacqueline) and Jill Wolcott, in a some-months-later sequel to where we left them at the end of
Every Heart a Doorway. (
Down Among the Sticks and Bones is a prequel that tells their story in much more detail, though it’s the second book published in the series.) To recap — spoiler alert for the first and second books here — as children Jack and Jill had found their way to a portal world called the Moors, where Jack was raised by a … if not mad, at least highly peculiar … scientist, and Jill was raised by a master vampire to be his daughter and heir, before they returned to our world and spent some time turning the Home for Wayward Children upside down. When they returned to the Moors at the end of Every Heart a Doorway, Jill was dead at Jack’s hand, but Jack was confident that she could resurrect her sister once they returned to the Moors and, perhaps more important, that because Jill had died and been brought back to life, she would no longer be able to be turned into a vampire.
But Jill is not in the least repentant of her lethal lifestyle, and she and her adoptive vampire father have thought of an ingenious way to get around this limitation. What she’s now done is beyond the pale — not only is it ruining Jack’s life, pushing her to the edge of a mental breakdown, but it’s likely to lead to an imbalance of power and deadly warfare in the Moors world. So Jack, with her girlfriend Alexis, returns to the Wayward Children home to get help from her old friends. Did Eleanor say “no quests”? Oh well!
Come Tumbling Down didn’t quite reach the heights of my favorite books in the series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones and
In an Absent Dream, but it comes quite close. McGuire does a great job examining Jack and Jill’s deeply troubled hearts. Jack, brilliant but burdened with OCD, has found joy in the mad scientist lifestyle, at least until the most recent troubles. She calls herself a monster, and in some ways that’s true, but she’s more or less a good-hearted person, if obsessive and demanding. Jill, though, is on a whole different level.Jill had always been the more dangerous, less predictable Wolcott, for all that she was the one who dressed in pastel colors and lace and sometimes remembered that people liked it when you smiled. Something about the way she’d wrapped her horror movie heart in ribbons and bows had reminded him of a corpse that hadn’t been properly embalmed, like she was pretty on the outside and rotten on the inside. Terrifying and subtly wrong.
Joining Jack on her quest to set things right again in Jack’s life and in the Moors world are several familiar faces, including Kade (the one-time goblin prince), Christopher (who longs for the magical skeleton world of Mariposa), Cora (the former mermaid with the blue-green hair) and Sumi. They all bring their unique characters and talents to the story. The most delightful was Sumi, whose flighty behavior and off-the-wall comments conceal a sharp mind. She calls the crimson moon in the Moors “the sugared cherry on the biggest murder sundae in the whole world” and is serenely confident that one day she’ll find her way back to the world called Confection, where the gummy worms will eat her body when she dies.
Come Tumbling Down is a quest type of adventure novel, mixing together friendship and horror. It’s lifted above the norm by the quirkiness of the characters, by the tragedy of the broken relationship between twin sisters Jack and Jill, and by Seanan McGuire’s insightful commentary. She muses on what would have happened if Jack had become the vampire’s protégé rather than Jill, and the ruthless business tycoon Sumi would have become if she hadn’t found the door to Confection as a young girl. And she shows us how wayward children can be heroes. Sometimes, even, the monsters are the heroes.
I received a free ebook for review from the publisher and NetGalley. Thanks so much!
Initial post: I HAVE THE ARC! *does happy dance* *throws confetti in air* Update: And I read the whole thing in one evening. #noregrets -
Be sure to visit
Bantering Books to read all my latest reviews.
Those of you who read my last review of
In an Absent Dream know how much I admire Seanan McGuire and her Young Adult fantasy series, Wayward Children. In fact, I believe I have given all but one of the previous four novellas in the series a full five stars. It’s not typical of me, as I tend to be a critical book reviewer and am unafraid to point out a novel’s flaws. It’s also not typical for a long-running series such as this one to consistently be excellent.
And I do not believe I can give
Come Tumbling Down any less than the highest of marks.
In this installment, McGuire continues the story of twin sisters, Jack and Jill, whose narrative arc is the focus of the second novella in the series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones. The two teens were last seen in Sticks and Bones, leaving Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children and returning to their beloved home on the Moors.
But now Jack is back. (Although, not feeling fully like herself.) She is in desperate need of assistance from her friends – and Christopher, Sumi, Kade, and Cora, as all good friends do, agree to help Jack as she faces what may be the most difficult challenge of her life.
I feel it is important to note that, much to my surprise, Come Tumbling Down does not seem to be quite as well received by readers as its predecessors. The singular most common criticism being that the story isn’t “needed.” It is “unnecessary.”
Am I seriously the only reader who has been dying to know what happened to Jack and Jill since their departure for the Moors?!?!
I mean, really?
The commonly shared sentiment of the supposed pointlessness of this novella is just so puzzling to me. I have been WAITING for this. (Very patiently, I might add.) Jack is my absolute favorite of all the Wayward Children, and when I discovered that McGuire was finally giving us a continuation of her and Jill’s story, I was ecstatic, to say the least.
Apparently, I’m in the minority. (shoulder shrug)
I won’t take too much time rehashing here, all the thoughts contained in my review of In an Absent Dream -- thoughts about the beauty of McGuire’s writing and the magical, fairy-tale-like quality of these stories. Just know that all I wrote in my previous review holds true, as well, for Come Tumbling Down. It’s gorgeously crafted.
And once again, McGuire tackles her favorite reoccurring theme of what it means to be an outsider, to be someone who is struggling to fit in and meet society’s standard of normalcy.
But this time, McGuire seems to also be focused intently on the subject of heroes. She uses her amazing story-telling abilities to not only define what it means to be a hero, but also to show us that we are ALL heroes and there are many . . . so very many . . . different ways to be heroic.
”It’s all right,” said Sumi, helping Christopher to his feet. She kept her eyes on Kade. “He’s a hero too, remember? We’re all heroes here. Sometimes a hero has to fall.”
Just rereading that quote, as I am typing it, punches me in the gut. The simplistic beauty and poignancy of it brings tears to my eyes.
I don’t believe McGuire could’ve written it any more perfectly. Do you?
And finally, I would be remiss, I think, to write this review without ever saying much about Jack.
As I wrote earlier, Jack is, by far, my favorite character in the Wayward Children series. She is complex. Unapologetic. Various labels and adjectives have been applied to her in the novellas – mad scientist, heartless, cold, twisted, monster.
Monster – such a harsh, harsh word.
But I don’t see Jack as a monster. To me, she is a young woman who sees black and white – there is no gray. She is exceptionally intelligent. A logical thinker, often to the point of coldness. She is bluntly honest. She has an extremely strong, innate sense of rightness. She’s fair. She does not allow her emotions to best her. But at the same time, she feels. She loves fiercely.
And she will do anything . . . and I do mean ANYTHING . . . to do what is just and protect who she loves.
I like her. I respect her. I see myself in Jack.
Does that make ME a monster, too?
I think not. At least, I hope not. (wink)
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#1
Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
#2
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
#3
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
#4
In An Absent Dream ★★★★★
#5
Come Tumbling Down ★★★★★
#6
Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★★
#7
Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★★
#8
Lost in the Moment and Found ★★★★★
Hope is a vicious beast. It sinks in its claws and it doesn't let go.
I've come to realize that I seem to start every Wayward Children review the same way: by gushing about how, no matter how much I think I already adore Seanan, this latest book has made me love her even more. Well, I'm sorry to be repetitive, but I'm really not sorry at all, because yet again, this series has wholly blown me away. In fact, I think Come Tumbling Down may just be my favorite yet.The gates slammed shut behind them with remarkable speed, and everything was quiet, and Christopher knew, with absolute certainty, that not all of them were going to make it home.
Come Tumbling Down takes us back to the world of The Moors, which is probably my very favorite world in all of the doors; with its terrifying beasties and strange scales of balance between them, coupled with its oceanic dark gods and the idea of death as a temporary thing, nothing in this series has made my little horror-loving heart quite so proud. There's an eerie vibe to the atmosphere in this installment that is never scary but always borderline unsettling in the most delightful ways.Whatever they might have become when they'd been cast out of their chosen homes, they'd been heroes once, each in their own ways. And they did not forget.
Of course, if all we talked about was my love for The Moors, it would do a tremendous disservice to the pure reverence I feel for Seanan's masterful character-building. The poor lost souls in this series are, as far as I'm concerned, an absolute gift to the world, in this installment most of all. The cast is as effortlessly and wondrously diverse as usual, between Jack's OCD (own-voices rep, at that), the precious sapphic representation, not one but two gorgeous and brilliant fat girls, and more. As usual, it's all approached with such genuine care and thought that it's impossible to miss how much Seanan wants readers to see themselves in her story, and as a reader who saw myself in many of these characters, I'm endlessly grateful for it.Jack laughed. It wasn't a happy sound, not exactly; it was the sound of someone clinging to the last vestiges of sanity and stability with all their might. It was the sound of slipping.
Beyond waxing on for ages about how much I needed and loved and cherished and adored every moment of this adventure, this time with these characters in this fantastic and twisted world, and telling you that Seanan's narrative voice is my absolute favorite in the world... I'm not sure there's much more I can say here without branching out into murky, spoiler-filled territories. Instead, I'll tell you that I think this series holds everything magical about the world of SFF stories, and that time you spend in Seanan's worlds is never time poorly spent, and that if there were any single series I could convince any of my friends and followers to pick up, it would be this one. I'm so ecstatic that there are at least 3 more novellas on the way, and I truly hope they sell well enough that Tor.com will allow this series to go on much longer, because I can't imagine ever getting tired of the Wayward Children.
All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Tor.com for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review! -
I would like a new brain, please.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with this one. We just don’t get along. Like, for example, there is nothing I love more than reading, but my brain has spent most of this year making be in “”””reading slumps””””, which leads to absurdity and hijinks like “taking three days to finish this book, which is shorter than some school-assigned readings I was expected to do overnight and didn’t because ew, textbooks.”
Nothing says READING SLUMP like taking 3 days to finish a 200-page YA fantasy, my guy.
And there wasn’t even anything particularly wrong with it!! I mean, yes, I have never not had trouble connecting with the characters in these teeny lil Wayward Children books, and no, this is not my FAVORITE of the settings in this series (Candyland exists in this world! And so does Wonderland, technically speaking), but still.
When don’t I have a complaint.
And this installment was very exciting!!! Very plot heavy compared to the other books.
In conclusion, my brain has no excuse and I would like a new one, please and thanks.
Bottom line: Good book! Bad brain.
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pre-review
like the wizard of oz, except instead of a ragtag group of southern belles and men in costumes it's a small army of raging teens, and instead of a yellow brick road it's a bloody path through a fairytale world of monsters, and instead of going to see the wizard it's going to kill your sister.
but other than that, exactly the same.
review to come / 4 stars -
I don't even have enough to say to really write a review about this book. It just felt so... unnecessary? It wasn't bad, exactly, and McGuire's writing was as gorgeous as it always is, it's just... I have rated every previous book in this series five stars, but I felt like I didn’t need this one. I loved Jack and Jill so much in
Down Among the Sticks and Bones but it felt unnecessary to return to them in this book. It was almost like a rehash; a filler. Especially after the high
In an Absent Dream left me on.
Maybe this wonderful series just needs to end? -
“No one should have to sit and suffer and pretend to be someone they’re not because it’s easier, or because no one wants to help them fix it.”
Come Tumbling Down is the second of the Wayward Children sequels—the third and fifth book of this series are sequels, while the second and fourth are prequels—and this one again follows Jack and Jill. This book begins when Jack mysteriously appears back at the home and asks for the help of the wayward children to help her take back her land.
Jack has been my favorite character of this series basically since the beginning, and the development she got here was so wonderful. At this point, we've seen all of her backstory out of order; it's nice to see where she progresses from the point she was at at the end of the first book, when I first got invested in her. Every book, I feel like I learn more about her and become more invested in her, and I love seeing the continuation. Also, is really fun.
Usually, these novellas thrive of off themes, and this is no exception: here, we focus on bodily autonomy, redemption, identity, and when death is the right choice. I enjoyed seeing the culmination to the conflict between the siblings: Down Among the Sticks and Bones never felt like the end of this story, and seeing more is intensely interesting.
These worlds are so eerie, and yet so enticing. Though your rational brain tells you you don’t want to interact, you’re engrossed at the same time, caught up in the politics and the expanse of this world. Between the vampire castle, and the sea kingdom, and the mad scientist dwelling, you see the danger… but you see the desire, too. You see where each character fits in their world, and long for that sense of belonging, too.
As I've read through more of these books, I find that I keep getting more invested in the arc of this home and the characters. There are so many side characters in this novella series now that have appeared in several of the novels, as pov characters or not, and it's just fun seeing how they all grow and change. They're all so distinct, and I'm rooting for all of them in different ways. If you read the first book of this and thought it was good but not great, I would highly recommend continuing on, because that's how I felt as well. This series as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Basically: friendship ended with Down Among the Sticks and Bones this is my favorite Wayward Children book now
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The pattern has stayed and this is a direct sequel to
Beneath the Sugar Sky which means I GET MORE KADE IN MY LIFE OKAY!!!
also this just says "the fifth installment" not the LAST installment so we have hope for more stories
AND HELLO LOVELY COVER -
In the end of Every Heart is a Doorway Jack Wolcott stepped through the portal door back to the Moors - to resume her place as an apprentice to a mad scientist in a world straight out of black-and-white vampire movie - holding the lifeless body of her sister Jill who had committed quite a few ruthless murders while trying to claw her way back to her adopted father / vampire. Jack killed Jill, but there always was a knowledge that back in the Moors Jill can be resurrected (think the combination of lightning and mad scientists).
“He could have loved her in that moment, had loved her when she’d pulled the scissors free and used them to cut a hole in the wall of the world. She’d called her door out of nothingness, out of sororicide and hope, and she’d carried her sister’s body through it, into the bleeding light of a crimson moon.”
And now their story picks up, and Jack is back, and this time she needs to kill Jill - permanently. And she needs help.
“Finally, Sumi leaned over and patted Jack on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll still love you after you kill your sister.”
“How delightful for me,” said Jack, and urged the horses on.”
And so we enter the world of the Moors, where all these abound — “Indoor lightning storms, resurrected girls, and giant, bloody moons were terrifying enough without throwing in headless corpses, vampire lords, and something called a “Drowned God.”
I’ve only read a couple of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children books, and really the only one you need to make sense of this one is the first one,
Every Heart a Doorway where we were introduced to the children unwillingly returned to the world of their birth after having spent a few years in the other worlds where they actually belong. That was the book in which Jack Wolcott was a real standout for me, and I was pretty happy to spend a few more pages with her and her perfectly pragmatic rationality and monstrous coldness under which lies just enough vulnerability to make her crawl her way into your heart (figuratively, luckily — because I’m sure Jack the mad scientist can find a literal way to do so).“I’m told the public house nearest the docks serves excellent chowder that practically never contains human flesh. I’m also told that ‘practically never’ is not the same as ‘never,’ and it’s better not to gamble with such things. Anyone hungry?”
I haven’t read the prequel to Jack and Jill’s story -
Down Among the Sticks and Bones - so for me it was the first time seeing the Moors - the blood-read giant Moon, the village and the vampire castle, and the mad scientist windmill/laboratory.
It’s a story with a somber feel, befitting the dark moodiness of the Moors, rarely disturbed even by the odd and often annoying humor coming from Sumi, the girl from Candyland. The ultimate goal of the quest is killing Jack’s twin sister, and it pays to never forget that. Bleak is the mood here, even if it gets eventually diluted by the reversal of some sacrifices and nothing deviating from Jack’s plan — and yes, it would have been more impactful if there have been more consequences to go along with the supposedly harsh nature of this world. But in the world where resurrection is basically an afternoon science experiment some choices might do not have as many dreadful consequences as McGuire would make you think at the start.“Apparently, the rest of you go around raising the dead when you don’t have anything better to do. It’s a miracle we have any graveyards left.”
So yes, I wish it had been darker and bleaker (and perhaps with a more complexity to its too-convenient resolution) to fit the mood of the setting — and yet despite that I loved Jack. I loved her pragmatic ruthlessness and her quiet knowledge that she’s indeed a monster, but “a good one”, and her willingness to face the consequences of her decisions since she faces her battles clear-eyed. And I appreciated how tightly strung she is, and how she’s hiding intense vulnerability under tough fierceness.
—————
Harness that lightning, Jack. The Moors need you, you wonderful self-proclaimed good monster.
3.5 stars, rounding up.
—————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... -
I'm giving this 5 stars because it's an excellent series and the only book I could concentrate on the last several days (tried a few). I won't give it less because it's not Seanan McGuire's fault I don't remember what the fuck I just read. Her writing and imagination are as brilliant as ever, my brain just isn't absorbing much at the moment, something I'm sure a lot of you can relate to.
I'll re-read this another time when I can fully enjoy it. I love these characters and this storyline. -
This Review ✍️
Blog 📖
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Every Heart a Doorway ★★★ 1/2
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★ 3/4
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
In an Absent Dream ★★★★
Come Tumbling Down ★★★ 1/2
I think the above quote sums my feelings perfectly! I like this series because it kept bringing new things with each book and it felt magical. Unfortunately, the magic is beginning to dwindle and that could be a bad sign!
I had some expectations for this one because it has been getting better and better with each entry and it always transferred me into the weirdest of places in the smallest of books and I really liked that. The prose is whimsical as usual but I think it has been a while since I read the last book and my tastes have changed immensely in the last year. The writing itself is good and I liked that we were reminded of the previous events and worlds but it became excessive at the price of the new story!
There was always a certain beauty to McGuire’s introduction of a new character and getting to know them with important themes that the books discussed. This book included an OCD rep that I was not very impressed with and no new characters since it is a continuation of book 2 and we already know the characters. The characterization felt a bit forced in this one and I did not relate and like them as much as I did before.
The plot is okay, slow at first and rushed at the ending and could have been more balanced. We visit The Moors again but I was not a very big fan of this world to start with. Maybe that’s part of the problem too. There are higher chances to like it if you love that world!“We can be sad and we can be hurt and we can even be killed, but the world keeps turning, and the things we’re supposed to do keep needing to be done.”
Summary: This was the weakest book in the series so far for me, that does not mean it was a bad book but I know it could have been better! The characters and world building kind of lost their magic, and the plot is repetitive! Hope to be introduced to something new in the next books so that I can continue this series.
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This was a tough book to rate. One moment I was like, “yeah! I’m really enjoying this!” Then the next, I was sorely disinterested, even though a lot was going on. There was a lot of back and forth until, ultimately, it stayed around the 2-star range.
This is the fifth installment in the Wayward Children series, and if it continues to book six, this will probably be my last. The previous book also wasn’t a favorite of mine, but because the second book in this series was so good I’ve pushed forward with this series. Only now, I think it’s time to call it quits.
I don’t feel the same connection to the characters that I did at the beginning of the series, and each story is becoming to feel predictable and repetitive. It might just be me, but that’s how I feel. Perhaps the initial magic of McGuire's worlds wore off and I'm focusing more on the story/writing/characters.
Could be.
But I also realize my low rating might be because I’m slowly moving away from YA, and that’s something you should keep in mind if you "love" YA. I don't. Not so much anymore. Though, overall, I expected a lot more from this. A richer, less predictable story - and a connection to something at minimum, which I didn’t feel. -
I had to jump on this and devour it as soon as possible. I'm sure you other fans of Seanan will understand.
Remember Jack and Jill from Every Heart and Sticks and Bones? This absolutely continues that plotline, and if you wanted to know the fate of that ****ing ***ch Jill after her sister brought her back to life... AGAIN, then you probably shouldn't wait, either.
What a fun, cold slab of fun this was. :) Want a little lightning? I'm sure it will be willing to rouse you. -
Star Rating: —> 5 Stars
🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟
I LOVE THIS SERIES!!! The Queer rep makes my heart sing & it is just so wonderfully STRANGE & fantastical!!! Nothing I love more than fantasticality !
Another incredible installment ! This one doesn’t quite count as a “standalone” though- I would highly recommend reading Wayward Children Book #1, Every Heart A Doorway, and the Wayward Children Series Book #2 Down Among The Sticks & Bones. To be honest... characters that we met in some of the other books including Book #3 in the series, Beneath the Sugar Sky play a huge part here, and I feel that if you skip these books you are definitely doing yourself a disservice! but only books 1 and 2 are technically a must read for this. They are only novellas after all... so this should not matter too much!
Plus they are some of the best portal writing books, and a clever take on them at that, that I have read in YEARS.
LOOK NO FURTHER FOR YOUR LATEST READS, FOLKS!!!
Also: Be aware- these books have a very sarcastic, sometimes dry (and not in a bad way) sense of humor, which is oftentimes very dark, as the books themselves have an overall darkness... in the best way possible!
Now... get reading!!!!!
5 Stars through and through!
Seanan McGuire has done it again! Woot! :-)
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TO-MOR-ROW PEOPLES!!!!!!!!!!!
Every amazon update has me freakin’ out!
Day Of Release delivery is brilliant. Sigh.
*squeeeeee* -
4.5ish stars.
There are some things you can count on year after year. Death, taxes, and the Patriots making it to the playoffs no matter how hard you root against them. Fortunately, since 2016, there's something inevitable to actually look forward to. These touching, adventurous, bizarre little books have come like clockwork for five years now, with no sign of stopping.
This is the first book in the series that feels like a proper Adventure (breaking the school rule of No Quests), despite book #3
Beneath the Sugar Sky's lackluster attempt. As such, the stakes feel higher than usual. And, as you can imagine, not everyone comes away unscathed.
Secondary characters like Kade and Christopher get more page time, along with Jack, the mad scientist at the center of the story, and Cora, the main character of BtSS. Here's hoping Kade and/or Christopher get a true focus/prequel treatment eventually.
As of 2019, Seanan McGuire said there were five more books under contract (including this one), and I will be on board for whatever else she churns out into this imaginative, eccentric, brilliant universe.
Posted in Mr. Philip's Library -
4.5 stars
Thank you to the publisher who sent me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Honestly I’m a little sad that I didn’t enjoy this as much as the other books. I think my preference leans more toward discovering all the new worlds rather than returning to old ones with the focus on the plot rather than the beautiful descriptions (tldr: if you liked beneath the sugar sky you’ll really like this one) Overall, I still really enjoyed this book and will happily be adding it to my collection come January. -
i relate to jack a lot in this book because i too am clinging to the last vestiges of sanity most of the time
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2020 The Reading Rush day 1: Read the first book you touch.
★★ /5
I liked the idea, but sadly I didn‘t like the story itself. -
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Although occasionally entertaining, Come Tumbling Down struck me as a rather unnecessary and insubstantial addition to the Wayward Children series.“Once a wayward child, always a wayward child.”
Don't get me wrong: Seanan McGuire's writing style is as lush as ever. Her prose, with its use rhythm and repetition, echoes that of fairy-tale, lending a certain allure to her narrative. As with the previous instalments McGuire weaves real issues into her fantastical setting (such as body dysmorphia, gender dysphoria, anxiety, OCD, trauma) however in this case not all of them were seamlessly woven into her story. Some—such as body dysmorphia—were just rushed through and consequently seemed to lack depth.“No one should have to sit and suffer and pretend to be someone they're not because it's easier, or because no one wants to help them fix it.”
The story sadly feels like a rehash of the previous volumes. Part of me doesn't think that we needed another chapter that focused on Jack and Jill...the dynamics between Jack and Miss West’s students—old and new—weren't all that compelling. I wish we could have had more of Christopher or Kade instead. The exchanges between the characters felt repetitive and aimless.
The humour felt forced. Sumi was very much the 'clown' character who eased the tension of a scene by saying something silly/absurd. The quest itself felt unfocused and made Jill into a rather one-sided character.
On the one hand I really love McGuire's writing...but here her storyline and characters lacked depth.There were some clever phrases and some 'aesthetic' character descriptions but they never amounted to anything truly substantial. Pretty words aside, Come Tumbling Down doesn't really add anything new to this series.
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I received a copy of this book from the publisher (Tor.com) in exchange for an honest review.
Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children novellas have quickly become one of my yearly highlights. I love having them to look forward to. I’ve been eagerly anticipating Come Tumbling Down since I read the final page of In An Absent Dream this past January. While I didn’t adore it as much as I have some of the previous installments, Come Tumbling Down is a fast-paced return adventure spanning two of McGuire’s worlds that I’ve come to love in recent years. It was an action-packed read that had me flying through its pages in one sitting.“…the fact that I’ve been damaged doesn’t make me broken…”
I strongly suggest rereading not only Every Heart A Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones before picking up this book, but Beneath the Sugar Sky as well, as characters introduced in that book are key characters in Come Tumbling Down. Due to the fact that so much of this ensemble is comprised of returning characters, some of whom have departed the worlds of the living only to return again, I don’t really feel like I can discuss characters without inadvertently spoiling preceding volumes of the series. So instead, I’ll talk about the worlds.“A tool is only a weapon when it’s held by people who want to use it the wrong way.”
We venture to two main locales here: our world, via Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, which has been the hub shared by all of the stories; and the Moors, the land found by Jack and Jill in the novella dedicated to their adventure, Down Among the Sticks and Bones. We get to see more of this brutally beautiful world that is populated by monsters. Those monsters include those who find their doors in our world and stumble into the Moors, and find themselves finally at home. While Down Among the Sticks and Bones focused mainly on the land grudgingly shared between the vampiric Master and the mad scientist Dr. Bleak, we get to explore more of the Moors in Come Tumbling Down. We are shown the realm of the Drowned Gods, and spend some time in the village populated by their worshippers, as well as meeting the priests and acolytes who live lives consumed by the task of worshiping their cruel deities. We also hear a bit more about the realms of goblins and werewolves and others on the Moors.“The world doesn’t stop spinning because you’re sad, and that’s good; if it did, people would go around breaking hearts like they were sheets of maple sugar, just to keep the world exactly where it is…We can be sad and we can be hurt and we can even be killed, but the world keeps turning, and the things we’re supposed to do keep needing to be done.”
What I found the most fascinating was a breakdown of how each monster is balanced by another in their realm. For instance, every vampiric Master or Mistress is balanced in power by a resident Mad Scientist, and if that balance is broken then the entirety of the Moors is in danger of consuming itself. The thought of maintaining balance being such a crucial piece of the puzzle that is this realm of monsters is kind of baffling. Seriously, can you imagine creatures who inspired the horror stories of our world, Dracula and Victor Frankenstein and the Wolfman and Chulthu, all carefully keeping a series of checks and balances so they don’t overextend their malice and wreck their home? The Moon keeps all of them under her watchful, imposing eye, and ensures that none rise above their place without being pulled back down. We also learn what makes a monster, and what makes a hero, and how closely the two can resemble one another to someone on the other side of things.“Sometimes, after all, that’s what must be said to make a hero: the willingness to keep running even after it becomes clear that the entire exercise is doomed to failure. Sometimes heroism is pressing on when the ending is already preordained.”
Come Tumbling Down, like Beneath the Sugar Sky, is more of an adventure narrative than the other three novellas published thus far in the series. While there is character development and loads of depth regarding identity and struggles with conditions that are often written off by those who don’t suffer from them, these tales of adventure don’t have as much room for beautiful, nearly poetic prose as their slower-paced counterparts. The writing is still absolutely lovely and often profound, but it didn’t resonate quite as strongly with me as Every Heart A Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, and In An Absent Dream. That’s an incredibly subjective opinion, I know, but it’s what’s true for me.“No one should have to sit and suffer and pretend to be someone they’re not because it’s easier, or because no one wants to help them fix it.”
As always, the idea of doors leading misfit children to realms that are their true homes, despite not being the world of their birth, is endlessly enchanting. Coming to understand why beautiful blond twin girls could call a world populated by monsters “home,” because they themselves are monstrous on the inside, is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to insights gained into their children throughout the course of the series. McGuire has also excelled in not only ensuring representation for those who feel like they don’t fit in, but in presenting an incredibly varied cast who demonstrate a plethora of both identities and conditions without allowing those things to be all that defines them. Finding yourself and your place are the most important quests any person can undertake, and that is shown on such a large scale in the Wayward Children novellas. The series is beautifully done, and I will be eagerly awaiting the sixth installment.
All quotations were taken from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change upon publication.
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4.5 stars
Returning to the world of Jack and Jill? Say no more. Wait, also body switching?? SAY NO MORE. What will this writing goddess dream up next. I love this series so much.
Writing: ★★★★★
World: ★★★★★
This installment holding up the series' caliber: ★★★★
I feel like every time I sit down to write a Wayward Children review I say the same things. While that's probably extremely boring to read, I can't really help it. I loved this one too, I'm going to gush about the worldbuilding and its endless possibilities again, and I'm going to fangirl hard over the incredible diversity and deft handling of darker themes. When it's all praise, how can I make it different? The queen slays again for the fifth time in a row.
In this latest installment, Jack pops back into Eleanor's Home for Wayward Children in a very dramatic lightning display. But is it really Jack? Looks an awful lot like Jill. At least, that's what Christopher thinks when she appears right in front of him.
But no—it's Jack after all. She's just been switched into Jill's body. Uh oh.
Turns out Jill's dramatic and deathly exit from our world at the end of Every Heart a Doorway had lasting consequences to her state of being in the Moors. Her vampiric father figure can't make her into one of them with a "formerly dead" body. So Jill takes Jack's instead. They're the same body, right?
Not quite. Jack appears in the home desperate for help, and brings our motley crew of Wayward Children along for the ride with her. The results are never exactly what you'd expect, and yet exactly what you'd think.
I thought this one was another nuanced installment in what is already known as a delicate and consuming series of novellas. Jack and Jill are some of her strongest characters, and the Moors has always been teased for us readers with its horror-movie aesthetic and Frankensteinian/Dracula model. It was fantastic to see that world at work.
One small blemish in the book. Unfortunately for me, Cora was in the ensemble cast and we go inside her head for a portion of it as a POV. I'm very much not a fan of her—she represents some uncomfortable and negative stereotypes for plus-sized girls, which is the one blight in this series as a whole for me personally. (If that sounds like something that would also bother you, skip Cora's book, Beneath the Sugar Sky.)
On to the next one! And may they never stop coming.
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1.) Every Heart A Doorway ★★★★
2.) Down Among The Sticks and Bones ★★★★.5
3.) Beneath The Sugar Sky ★★★★.5
4.) In An Absent Dream ★★★.5
5.) Come Tumbling Down ★★★★
6.) Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★
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“No one should have to sit and suffer and pretend to be someone they’re not because it’s easier, or because no one wants to help them fix it.”
representation: f/f relationship, trans rep, fat rep, Asian rep (Japanese if I remember correctly?), OCD rep.
[trigger warnings are listed at the bottom of this review and may contain spoilers]
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 4 s t a r s *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Not my favourite in the series, but I definitely still really loved it! I loved returning to this world (it's one of my faves we've been to in this series!), and I was so happy to see some of these characters again! Also, highly recommend the audiobook!
trigger warnings: drowning, body horror, gore, lightning, having cancer (in the past).
Thank you so much to NetGalley & Tor for the eARC! -
haha what are you talking about.... I LOVE these books I would never hate on them.......
1.5! 🥰 -
Reading Vlog/Review:
https://youtu.be/wgOrTa2sHBQ
🙌THANK SWEET BB JESUS🙌
I adore this book. Is this better than the first book? Maybe so. I need a reread to solidify.
We have the band back together again and it feels so good. I adore Jack, Sumi & Kade so much. Also, Christopher and Alexis are fantastic. Cora is a bit of a bore but it's fine. Jill is so horrible but so entertaining. I miss Nancy, not gonna lie.
This has so many relevant and important topics brought in in such a whimsical, hilarious and poignant way. The talk of racism, xenophobia, transphobia, queer relationships, OCD, sisterhood, found family, loyalty, murder, and body dysmorphia make this book GOD TIER!!!
I can't wait to reread and annotate. I'm obsessed. I so hope that the 7th book is like this. 🤞🤞
