Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children Book 5)

I’ve been waiting as patiently as possible for my next quest -

“No quests.”

Right. So I’ve been counting the days until I was finally able to spend more quality time with my fellow Waywards and today we went to the Moors! Who’s ‘we’? I travelled with the girl with the “perpetual sugar buzz”, the “Goblin Prince in Waiting”, the girl “with the ocean in her hair”, a mad scientist, the boy with the bone flute and the girl “with the lightning-powered heart”. Travelling by lightning hasn’t been this much fun since I hitched a ride in a Delorean!

Having completed my most anticipated read of 2020 less than a fortnight into the year I now feel like I’ve wandered into a bittersweet limbo. I’m absolutely elated that, after a year of anticipation, my expectations (which were skyscraper looking down on clouds high) didn’t overshadow my enjoyment. I’m proud of myself for savouring the experience, appreciating every sentence rather than bingeing the entire book in one sitting. I’m sad that I can never read this book for the first time ever again. I want to gush to anyone who will listen to me about every sentence I highlighted, every character, plot point, what I hope will happen next, what I fear will happen next … but spoilers.

“But I warn you, this isn’t a tale for the faint of heart. It is a story of murder, and betrayal, and sisterly love turned sour.”

I will tell you though, although this was not her story, Sumi was the standout wayward for me in this book. She somehow kept managing to snag the best lines and I don’t know which one of us this says more about but I understood every piece of Nonsense she uttered. I love that she gets to the heart of the issue and asks the truly important questions, like “Why is the village of scary fish-people where you get your chocolate biscuits?”

One of the first things I tell anyone about me is that ‘Every Heart a Doorway’ is my all time favourite book. I don’t care that I’m an adult; I will be searching for my door for the rest of my life and if you are also seeking admittance to your door, regardless of how different our true worlds look, I will consider you a kindred spirit.

Usually when I read a new addition to a beloved series there’s an anxiety that accompanies me. I’ve often found that the shine of the first book can be smudged when follow up books don’t meet my expectations. I’m aware that the pedestals I place books I love on can be difficult to reach and that’s part of the problem. So you’d think I’d be especially nervous whenever I begin a new ‘Wayward Children’ book but I have absolute faith that my hopes, no matter how seemingly unrealistic they are, are safe with Seanan and she’s never let me down.

“New things are the best kind of magic there is.”

I don’t want this series to ever end. I want to visit every world. I want to secure a room at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children while I wait for my own door to open. So far, none of the worlds I’ve visited with my fellow waywards have been my own, although I’ve caught glimpses of it in several. I fully expect that one day Seanan will write about my world and while I’m reading that story my book will magically transform into my very own door. I’m sure!

If you haven’t already read the first four books of this series, please remedy that ASAP before reading this one. Then you can join me as I begin the interminable wait for January 2021.

Since I highlighted so much of this book that I probably should have just gone ahead and highlighted it all, it’s practically impossible to choose a favourite sentence. This is the one that spoke the loudest to me when I reread all of my highlights:

“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.”

If anyone needs me I’ll be reading the sixth book in the series.

[But it’s not released yet.]

“Hey! Don’t you go getting logical rules on my illogical life plans”

[I’m serious. You must wait for another excruciatingly long year before you are allowed to continue this journey.]

“This is the awful sprinkles on the sundae of doom.”

I've been singing the praises of Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series ever since reading the first book, Every Heart a Doorway, when it came out in 2016. Every following year since then, McGuire has released a new installment, and I've dutifully read every single one, thinking they were each a gift.⠀
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It's a series that I love. That much is true. But it's also been a series that has been, in retrospect, somewhat hit or miss for me, too.
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This was very much a miss for me. Which is disappointing, seeing as how this book follows Jack and Jill, two of my favorite characters in this series (for my money, Down Among the Stick and Bones, the second installment of the series, and the first that was centered around them, is probably the best out of the whole bunch). ⠀
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Some spoilers for the previous books ahead....⠀
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Come Tumbling Down, the fifth entry in the series, picks up where Every Heart a Doorway left Jack and Jill: with murderous Jill dead at the hands of Jack, who drags her body back to their dark world of the Moors, where she can easily be resurrected. Jack is successful in this regard, only to have her body snatched by her sister, who means to use it — much to Jack's complete chagrin — for Dark Purposes that put the whole of the Moors in cataclysmal danger. After a personal tragedy, Jack is compelled to reach out to her former fellow students at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children and ask for their help in restoring the balance her world demands and that she so desperately craves.⠀
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The premise is intriguing enough, but the payoff ultimately falls short. There are exciting, nerve-wracking stakes that are introduced very suddenly... only to be waved away just as quickly. The writing is still characteristically gorgeous (McGuire's writing has always been the star of the Wayward Children books, after all), but a lot the dialogue feels stilted and forced this time around, the characterization clunky and awkward. There's just a lot here that just didn't click for me, in the end.
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The slightly spotty portrayal was the main thing that felt out of place for me for me, the most egregious example being Sumi, a character who veers totally into tropeish underestimated-ingenue-who-is-also-profound-and-wise territory. How every other character in this story keep thinking of her as just a simple-minded Cloudcuckoolander when her every other declaration is nothing but pure perspicacity is beyond me. It's frustrating.
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If I'm being fastidious, it's only because you are always a little harder on your favorites.⠀
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The way McGuire releases these books is that she alternates between time periods: one book will follow the School story in the present, and the other will follow one of their characters in the past, as they stumble upon their doors and find out what lies on the other side. I've enjoyed the latter books a lot more. They may come from the more traditional portal fantasy mold, but that is a form of storytelling of which I am fond. And besides, knowing what the future holds for many of these characters adds a bittersweet angle to these stories, which I also appreciate. I like my fairy tales fairly full of melodrama.⠀

Do I still think these books are a gift? Yes, of course I do. As previously mentioned: the preeminent star of these stories is Seanan McGuire's own prose, which is as ethereal and rhapsodic as ever, and which makes her less than stellar work shine far brighter than most.⠀
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You are always a little harder on your favorites, but every Wayward book is still an endowment from the world on the other side of the door, and is appreciated as such.

I read all the other books in this series, pre-ordered the kindle book, and I was super excited to read this today. I agreed with where the book was going, and with the conclusion, but I felt like it didn't transition as smoothly as the other parts of the story. The narrator had a very specific tone in "Down Among the Sticks and Bones" that wasn't replicated here. I felt like the book focused too much on the horror of the Moors, and not the contrasting humanity. The mental illness discussion seemed unnecessary - being in the wrong body (literally) could make someone deeply uncomfortable for a variety of psychological or magical reasons.
There were still a number of interesting and poignant moments, but overall, the feel was a little off for me. I'll see how I feel when I re-read it later.

After reading the first few pages of Come Tumbling Down I was optimistic. For two reasons: first, this was not a pre-spoiled story. We meet most of the participants of characters of The Wayward Children series in book 1, Every Heart a Doorway. And when we meet them in that book, their stories have already taken place. When those stories are told in later books of the series, we already know how they are going to end. This doesn't necessarily ruin a story, but it was refreshing to see that the action of Come Tumbling Down continues after all the previous books. Therefore I did not know how the story was going to end.

The second reason for optimism was the reappearance of Jack Wolcott. Jack is a major character of two of the previous books, Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones. I knew her and liked her and was happy to read more of her story.

But jack has changed. The changes occurred in a plausible way -- Jack has been through some stuff since we last saw her, and the brutalization of her character is believable. That doesn't make it enjoyable to read about. Jack. has become violent, demanding, and even more arrogant. One thing that particularly annoyed me (a scientist) was Jack's arrogating to herself the right to pronounce on scientists. For instance,

“Do they not say ‘please’ in mad science land?” asked Christopher, even as he did what she’d asked.

“Not as a rule.” Jack shook her head, pulling the first strap across Dr. Bleak’s massive chest. “When a scientist speaks, it behooves the ordinary soul to listen. We rarely speak without cause.”

This is obnoxious horse-puckey. Scientists ARE ordinary souls, and they often speak without cause. (I'd hate to try to list all the times I've wished I'd kept my mouth shut.)

The story itself was also unsatisfying, mainly because it devolved into to a battle fought according to arbitrary and not particularly relatable or believable rules.

I loved the other books in the series. Love the plots and the chapters in the other books, including Jack. But... This one felt... forced.

It’s hard to believe how much I missed these characters. Admittedly, I’m more of a fan of the self contained stories, like books tow and four, which have a fairy tale quality to them. When all the characters are together, the fairy tale morals tend to become preachy. Just pulled in too many directions. I’m hoping the next book will focus on a single person and their door.

Ahoy there me mateys!  This be the fifth book in the series.  While I try to post no spoilers, if ye keep reading this log then ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .

I say this every time I finish one of these novellas but I seriously could read dozens of books set in the various worlds.  This be the fifth installment and ye have to read every heart a doorway (#1) and down among the sticks and bones (#2) first for this one to make sense.  I actually highly recommend reading this series in publishing order because I feel that the reader gets the best flow that way.  However, books #1, #3, and #4 can technically be read as standalones.  Each to their own.

This installment showcases our end of Jack and Jill's story.  The Moors are in trouble and Jack needs the help of her friends at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children to make things right.  I have to admit that I wasn't expecting more of the twins' story.  I would have been okay with the previous ending of book two.  That said, I still loved reading this one.

Other readers may get something else out of the book but for me, this book was a glimpse into that nebulous transition between child and adult.  In all the other books, ye are following children who are struggling to find sense of self and their place of belonging.  They want to find their way back to their doors.  In this tale, Jack and Jill have previously found their way back to their door and the world in which they belong.  Jack is very clear about who she is and what she wants.  She is on the threshold of adulthood but not quite ready to make the final step.  Until circumstances dictate that she must.

Now to be fair, none of the children in these novellas have good childhoods and all are forced to grow up faster than they would probably want.  They have been heroes and have faced adult problems but they still feel like children.  Jack's circumstances in book five (that involve spoilers) cause her discomfort because she already knows who she is and what her flaws are.  She already understands what the answer to the current problem is and how to accomplish her goal.  To win, she must make a grown-up choice and crossover into adulthood.  She calls on her friends so that she can.

Her friends presence may seem unnecessary for this book when reading until ye look at the underlying issue.  The (spoilerly) circumstances that Jack be in cause Jack's mental state to fray and it is her brain that is her weapon.  Her friends are there to be emotional support and provide a buffer or even a distraction for Jack to keep herself together so she can succeed.  Romantic love isn't enough to help her win because love can distract.  However, the love formed through friendship can save the day.  At least that's what I personally take from this novella. When the journey ends Jack's friends have completed a single quest on the path towards their futures in the name of friendship. Jack finally finds her future and in doing so grows up. Arrr!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for me honest musings.

I am so happy I found this series. I cannot recommend them enough. They have the perfect balance of grim and horrible with wonderful and beautiful.

Another dark and wonderful addition to the wayward children and their stories. Rejoining Jack on the moors the children must battle to save an old friend.

Seanan McGuire's many, many fans are thrilled that she's continuing the Wayward Children series. This installment takes us back to The Moors, where twin sisters Jack and Jill found their homes. Yes, Jill was dead when we last saw her, being carried back through the Doorway by Jack, who killed her. But raising the dead is possible in the Moors, and we learn so much more about how and why and who.

Each of these books has some new revelation about the Doorways, and the various Worlds, and this books does not disappoint in that regard. Among other new aspects of the Worlds, we learn that people can be taken through Doorways into Worlds that are not theirs. And that can be dangerous.