Come Tumbling Down

The bookest of the Wayward Children so far, this follows Jack and Jill in the aftermath of Jack killing Jill in the first book (and Jill getting better...) McGuire clearly loves Jack and Jill the most out of all of her characters, and it shows here: the characters are more developed and more nuanced than any of the others by this, their third appearance. (Unrelatedly, do boys ever get to be protagonists for McGuire? Kade and Christopher also put in their third appearances and still are flimsy setting material.) Taking a diverse cast into the monotone, horrific setting that is the Moors provides some dark humor and also some depth to what otherwise starts to feel bland in its darkness.

I liked that we actually got a narrative arc and I finally felt like I had a full story, both plot-wise and emotionally, of Jack and Jill. This was the first novella that actually felt satisfying. On the flip side, I don't actually enjoy Jack, Jill or the moors, so ups and downs. (I know, right? I don't actually like the sardonic female scientist character? Oh yeah, because she's a monster.) But overall, as a canon, the books are stronger than they are individually.

This book went by very fast, and of course, it doesn't have that many pages but I never felt it like this with books in this series before. It felt for the first time like the story was really rushing through things. 

I also don't love Cora as a character. One of the things that were great about these books was that all these kids are crazy because of the worlds they came from, but Cora takes that away somehow. She isn't insane because of the world she came from she just misses the feeling and all that, without the whole scarred by the things you have seen aspect which makes it feel wrong, she doesn't fit in with the stories. I hope the next books don't focus on Cora that much because I really dislike her character. 

I received a copy of this from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for my open and honest review.

Come Tumbling Down, Seanan Mcguire's fifth installment in the Wayward Children series follows the adventures of the delightfully macabre and grisly Wolcott twins. Jack, the mad scientist, sufferer of OCD, and generally quirky misanthrope and Jill, jacks twin, cruel, beautiful, and wants nothing more than to become a vampire. Jack returns to the school via a door made of lightning, literally carrying her love in her arms. Jack is trapped in the body of Jill, and although Jill is virtually identical to Jack physically, Jill has done horrible things that have soiled her very essence. Jack is a sufferer of OCD and desperately needs her body back to salvage her sanity. She requests the aid of former classmates in a quest, disobeying the no quest rule, to get something of great her body back from Jill and save Jill, even if it means saving her from herself.

The Moors, the twin's world they have come to love, is a place of darkness, monsters, mad science, and unforgiving fierce creatures. It is a place where gods are drowned, the moon has power, and lightning fuels the world, and it is a place where Jack feels most like herself and a home where she wants to stay. But first, Jack and friends Kade, Sumi, Cristopher, and Cora must help Jack stay sane and save this dark and macabre world. But, who knows who the monsters are? The line between good and evil or Monster and savior can be blurry. It depends entirely on which side you are standing.

“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. They'd make it out like it was a good thing, a few crying children in exchange for a peace that never falters or fades. 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.”
― Seanan McGuire, Come Tumbling Down

Again, McGuire delights and intrigues with the darkly rich world she has created in the Wayward Children series. Each installment has a message or a sort of idea that can be gleaned from the pages without it coming off as preachy. In this installment, McGuire touches on the sense of self and not being at home in one's own body. Where your body on the outside does not necessarily match who you are on the inside. It is an important message, and McGuire treats the subject delicately and with immense care.

McGuire has written another beautiful and meaningful story with Come Tumbling Down. It will delight, and maybe shock a bit. And, when you get done reading it, you might think twice about who is a monster, and who is not.

If you would like to read more of my reviews or various other bookish things please come by my blog
at https://beforewegoblog.com/

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Come Tumbling Down

Welcome back to The Moors my fellow readers. Where lightning holds power and the dead come back to life. Jill has stolen Jacks' body in her obsession to become a vampire. And the OCD Wolcott twin now stuck in Jill's body is slowly going insane. Unless Jack can reclaim her body, she will die her final death. It's time for the wayward children to embark on another quest.

Seanan McGuire has added even more diversity into her series by including characters that use their own form of ASL. I love how each new book adds to the inclusive cast of characters. Wayward Children encompasses people from all walks of life. And as you immerse yourself in this fantastical series, you also see how the various worlds accept people for who they are.

We all know the Moors to be dark and foreboding. But the cast of characters that find themselves questing in this Frankenstein inspired world are unique. How can you not laugh at Sumi's nonsense logic in a logical world? And how about Cora's innocent and wary attitude when approaching anything new? Combine that with Kade's leadership and dedication, alongside Christopher's familiarity with the undead in his world of Mariposa. I couldn't help but laugh at their antics as they compared the Moors to their versions of weird versus normal.

Come Tumbling Down was another terrific addition to the Wayward Children series. I love the intense dark fantasy undertones, and the imagination that goes into each of these worlds. The ties of friendship or rivalry that bind all these children together are so craftily written. I never want this series to end.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—

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

Wayward Children

“This is terrible . . . I mean we knew it was going to be trouble . . . but this is bonus terrible. This is the awful sprinkles on the sundae of doom.”

“A little knowledge never hurt anybody,” said Sumi.

“Perhaps not. But a great deal of knowledge can do a great deal of harm, and I'm long past the point of having only a little knowledge.”

Sumi was Sumi. Spending time with her was like trying to form a close personal relationship with a cloud of butterflies. Pretty—dazzling, even—but not exactly companionable. And some of the butterflies had knives, and that was where the metaphor collapsed.

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 like it when you smiled. Something about the way she'd wrapped her horror move 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.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

I feel kind of bad giving such a low rating, but this book just wasn't it. It was like everything was happening so fast, but at the same time nothing happened. Idk if that makes sense, but I guess there just wasn't a real plot, and everything was very surface level. I really want to love this series (I mean, I'm 5 books in), but I just haven't really been into any of the installments. This one was, in my opinion, the worst so far. In the other books, I was at least excited to learn about the worlds and the magic systems, but this time we didn't get that, because we we're back in a world we already know. Without that aspect, this book ends up being just a rushed, very disappointing fairytale.

A fitting end for certain characters. I freely admit I find the Moors more depressing than fantastical - though Lundy's market remains my least favourite world - but so far as the THREE times we've encountered the characters Jack and Jil this is definitely my favourite. I appreciate the quest books that allow various classmates to go on adventures, but this one kind of felt more like a group tagging along to witness the tragedy of Jack's relationship with her sister reframed as the result of her confirmed choices. Yay?

3.5
I feel weird about this installment in the series. I loved the first two books, was iffy on the third, and didn't like the fourth at all. This one was...weird. It reminded me a lot of Beneath the Sugar Sky in the quest/plot-heavy aspect. I didn't love it in that one and I didn't in this one either. I think in the quest stories the length of the novels work against them. I wanted more time and development with Jack and Jill, Jill especially. I'm not sure in what way, but the ending felt rushed and left something to be desired. That being said, I loved being back with these characters, Jack was a horrific delight, Jack and Alexis's relationship was so cute and gay and I'm in love with it. I thought Jack's OCD was really well done. Overall, I liked it, but Down Among the Sticks and Bones will always be my favorite.