The first novel in a new series.
The synopsis describes the setting of MIDDLEGAME as "a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities". McGuire does a great job building this world, and bringing it to life on the page.
An interesting and well-written opening novel, populated with interesting and well-drawn characters. As a first novel, the ending was a little bit disappointing, but it's clear there is more to come. I haven't read many of McGuire's works (there are so many!), but I'm looking forward to reading the next in this series.

Rating: 2.5 I love how Seanan McGuire writes. She has a way with words and imagery but I just can never get totally on board with her plots. I wanted to love this but ended up skimming the last hundred pages or so. It felt like such a long book. Also pass on the audiobook not worth it!
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Probably my least fave from this author and I am definitely the camp of the black sheep for this particular book. Creative and weird and utterly different from anything she’s tried before. The characterization just wasn’t there for this sci-fi that explores alchemy as the middle ground between science and magic.

This was definitely very good, no doubt about it, but I think I liked the idea of it far more than I liked the execution. The idea, at its core, is just so, so very cool! It's all about alchemy and incarnating ideas into human bodies and trying to control the universe. It's awesome! Very confusing at first, but not so much that I couldn't follow along, and things (mostly) make sense at the end, even if some ideas remain rather abstract.

I just am not sure that I am a fan of which parts of the story were prioritized: Roger and Dodger's lives. There was just so much time spent on them growing up and getting to know one another and this book is so long. And I completely understand the purpose of giving the siblings time to grow close and develop their bond, which was really one of the best things about the book, but the narrative definitely dragged at times. This was especially noticeable in the last 80%, where the pacing was just utterly bizarre and things took way, way too long to happen.

But! It is still Very Cool! I loved learning so much about alchemy. I loved these characters, especially Erin. I enjoyed the big, abstract ideas and the time travel (even when it was confusing as hell). The writing is beautiful. The story unfolds expertly, like a slowly-blooming flower. It is definitely a very weird and strange book and I completely see why it's been nominated for a Hugo.

As much as I loved all the other books I've read by McGuire, I couldn't finish this one.  It was just too disjointed and scattered for me to make sense of it, so I couldn't become invested in the story or characters.

Seanan McGuire is a prolific writer of SFF and her work is consistently amazing. The author herself has called this her masterpiece, and I agree (even though comparing her work is hard as it's  all great). Ambitious, thought-provoking, and engaging on both the emotional and intellectual level, you don't want to miss this one. Middlegame thoroughly deserved its nomination for the Best Novel Hugo. It may not have won the trophy, but reading this is its own reward.

3.5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for a review copy!

What a bizarre read, and one that I don't think I can properly summarize without some level of confusion either by me or for you. However, I do think this will be a book that on some level is going to be a hard sell for most. It's not a bad read, it's just...confusing in an odd way that makes sense once you understand the shape of it but it's hard to really see that shape until you've made your way into the meat of the story itself. It reads a bit like a children's fable, fittingly like a slightly more logical Wizard of Oz and Wonderland, and like those stories, there is an edge to it that makes it something else entirely. 
I seriously love the ideas that were at play here, and I love the complicated way that McGuire chose to express those ideas. It does make it hard to approach, hard to sink into, but the end result is something that stands out as completely unique. The only book I can think of that has some grain of similarity in terms of actual storyline and scope is The Library at Mount Char. 

I'm definitely curious to see where this story leads us, and what more McGuire has to share about this version of our world she has given us.

This was still a good read, but I really am sad I didn't end up loving it more. 


Trigger and Content Warnings for very descriptive gore, many scenes with blood depiction, murder, death, drug use, seizures, cutting, attempted suicide, overdosing, natural disasters (earthquakes), and loss of loved ones.

This wasn't my favorite Seanan McGuire book, her Wayward Children series is still my favorite.  This title took a bit to get into and I never felt fully invested

This book was phenomenal! I am so grateful to the publisher for providing me with an arc of this! Also a huge thanks to netgalley. This book has it all: well-written characters, astounding world-building, super complex plot and a conclusion that would excite just about any reader. I absolutely recommend everyone pick this up asap! One of my new favorites for sure! It has a twin pairing that works so well together, but at the same time feel so distinct from one another. One of them are exceptionally good at math and could solve the hardest problems you could ever think of, while the other part of the two commands language and you can't do anything else than just fall in love with both of them. The thriller aspects of this are so well done and I honestly were scared and on the edge of my seat for a big chunk of this book. Sooooo good!

One of the best magical realism books, readers will thoroughly enjoy this creepy masterpiece. For fans of Doctor Who, The Magicians, and Joe Hill.

Review:

Ah, I feel so accomplished. This is a book I've been putting off for far too long and ah I finally read this one. The main thing that put me off this book was the fact that no one seemed able to describe the plot and a lot of people said this book was confusing. 

After reading it, I definitely agree that it's hard to describe this book, but that's mostly because you need to spoil like half the book to accurately discuss what's going on. Part of this is because there are a couple of different plot lines that intersect. 

“You can't skip to the end of the story just because you're tired of being in the middle. You'd never survive.”

The book is told in a non-linear structure that allows for some really cool storytelling devices. The book starts at the end of the timeline, where Roger and Dodger have presumably lost something due to Dodger being covered in blood. We then jump back to the past where A. Deborah Baker is finishing up a creation, an Frankenstein's monster analog made up of various donors, tasked with the goal of completing Baker's work. We then jump forward 100 years to where Reed is on the verge of completing Baker's work and aims to split the Doctrine of Ethos and personify it in a set of twins with to goal of ascending to godhood. The book then follows Roger and Dodger throughout their life as the figure out their role in this alchemic quest. Oh, and there are also snippets of Over the Woodward Wall, a book written by Baker with a deeper connection to the overarching narrative. 

“Words can be whispered bullet-quick when no one's looking, and words don't leave blood or bruises behind. Words disappear without a trace. That's what makes them so powerful. That's what makes them so important.
That's what makes them hurt so much.”

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy this book was to consume. I listened to the audiobook and followed along with a digital copy and found myself flying through the story. I purposely took some breaks to make sure I didn't rush through anything and allowed myself to fully consume the story. 

I really liked how the story was spliced between Roger and Dodger growing up and discovering their connections to each other and showing some behind the scenes with Reed. There were some genuinely touching moments and some really sad moments. 

I think my only complaint about this book is that it really dragged in some places. I found myself very aware of how long this book was, especially when I felt like things were supposed to be wrapping up, but I was only like 60% of the way through the book. 

I was pleasantly surprised with how this book ended. It was just open enough to not feel like everything was wrapped in a nice little bow, but still felt like the major points were resolved. 

Final Thoughts:

This was a super fun, compelling story that explored some really dark aspects of alchemy. I was shocked at how downright creepy some chapters got. The amount of control Reed has over the characters allows for some huge stakes and compelling conflicts. Roger and Dodger were both so likable and were really easy protagonists to route for. I really don't have much to say about this book without going into more spoilers, but I also really don't want to spoil this book. I am so excited to get to Over the Woodward Wall now. I am craving Zib and Avery's story and seeing how much of this tale overlaps with Rogers and Dodgers. The lovely people at Tor were kind enough to send me an eARC and I am diving in right away.

This was a fantastic story about family and what it means to make your own decisions. Dodger has become one of my new all time favourite characters without a doubt, I love her with my whole entire heart. The way the timeline was structured keeps you on your toes throughout the story and makes you want to keep learning more about this world. The characters were all delightfully complex and I felt so strongly - whether it was hate or love - for each and every one of them. Seanan McGuire truly is the master of story telling and world building and I can't wait to see what comes next.

I really struggled to connect with this book. The beginning is extremely choppy, with multiple POV switches, timeline switches, and excerpts from real and fictional texts, and I found it hugely got in the way of my investment in the story. I wasn't hugely interested in Reed as a villainous scientist, nor in the twins, who are written like pretentious adults even at 7 years old. I'm a fan of the Wayward Children series, but there you have much tighter pacing and more linear plots, whereas this is clearly intended to be a huge, rambling exploration of themes that shows off the author's intelligence. I felt like I was being condescended to the second I picked up the book, and it put me off. Even though I persevered in the hope that was just a teething issue, I came away feeling like this book is an exercise in showing off rather than entertaining the reader.

DNF at 25%.

4.5 stars. The Up-and-Under stories by A. Deborah Baker are cherished classics of children's literature. Two friends, a strangely complementary boy and girl, set out together on a journey to a dazzling city, where destiny awaits. Along the way, they meet strange characters, some of whom are friends, and help them on their journey. Others seem friendly, but only hinder them. This is a core narrative in other stories too: the road; the city; and the knowledge that awaits you when you get there. But what if the story isn't just a story, but a road-map? What if Baker's innocent series of children's books is actually a manual of secret knowledge? Few people know that A. Deborah Baker wasn't a cosy children's author. She was Asphodel Baker, one of the most brilliant and frustrated alchemists of all time, and the books were the distillation of her knowledge, in a world that slammed all its doors in her face. Now, a hundred years down the road, two children - a strangely complementary boy and girl - are about to embark on their own journey into the unknown. They can succeed, or they can die. Success will mean remaking the world. Sprawling, ambitious, and stuffed with ideas, Seanan McGuire's Middlegame grabs you by the throat and simply doesn't let go for five hundred pages.

You know how some books completely consume you? How they feel palpably real during the time you spend between their covers? How you spend your non-reading moments floating around in a fog, and your reading moments trying to devour the text with your eyes so you can absorb it faster? This was one of those books. I hadn't read anything by Seanan McGuire before (although her Wayward Children series has been on my radar for some time), and Middlegame burst into my brain like an unexpected juggernaut: a tantalising, mind-scrambling blend of fantasy, horror, and timeslip adventure. It draws on the kind of stories that were hardwired into us as children, but this is absolutely not a children's story. It's a tale of the darkness inside each one of us, a story of the raw powers of the universe and the lengths people will go to control them. It's like The Wizard of Oz reimagined by Dennis Wheatley, blended with Frankenstein and Groundhog Day and served with a side order of Stranger Things. It's brilliant and horrifying and I haven't the first idea how I'm going to describe it without getting myself in a tangle.

One story. Roger Middleton has always been shy, but has an unquenchable thirst for language. Books, dictionaries, foreign languages: he absorbs them all. And then, one day, as he sits uncomprehending in front of his maths homework aged seven, a voice pops into his head. A girl: Dodger Cheswich, who lives on the other side of the country, and is as brilliant at maths as Roger is at languages. They are both outcasts, both lacking the essential ease that will allow them to flow along the normal path of life. They're both adopted. And they become friends, helping each other with their homework and having long conversations. How exactly do these conversations happen? Why them, out of all the children in the world? Is it just coincidence that they complement each other so perfectly? Roger and Dodger don't understand, and don't need to. They're seven years old and it's just wonderful to have a best friend all of a sudden. Little do they know that, by making contact, they've drawn the attention of dark forces; for Roger and Dodger are not accidents. They've met before. And they will go on meeting, again and again, until the darkness that watches them reaches out a hand to snatch them back. 

Another story. Weary and frustrated, the great alchemist Asphodel Baker has given up trying to prove herself to her colleagues in the Alchemical Congress. They don't take her seriously and are either too blind or too scared to acknowledge her ferocious power. She cannot do any more, but she can create her avenger. From fragments, compounds and ancient knowledge, she forms James Reed: determined, ruthless and immortal, he will carry forward her research and take the final step that Asphodel, for all her brilliance, couldn't complete. Reed, like Asphodel, believes that the Impossible City can be reached by the improbable road, but it can only be accessed when the fundamental powers of the universe are under his control. He can do this by harnessing the Doctrine of Ethos, the force which shapes the world; but the Doctrine must first be incarnated. Reed has already incarnated minor powers - Order, Chaos - but the Doctrine is more challenging. It is too vast to be contained in a single form, so he decides to split it in two - divided between the bodies of twins, one created with a propensity for language, the other for numbers. When brought together, these 'cuckoo children' have the potential to dominate everything - but Reed intends the reins to be in his hand. He has several potential pairs under development. Which will mature first? Hawk-like, Reed watches his projects growing to fruition, with his operative Leigh at his side - inhuman, beautiful, immoral and deadly, and always ready to strike.

It's honestly better just to take a running jump and plunge in at the deep end. As you bob around, trying to orient yourself, you gradually see the story taking shape: myth, esoterica and children's stories come together into a deeply unsettling whole. I didn't understand everything, but it didn't really matter. McGuire convinced me that, even though I didn't get it, there was something worth not getting at the heart of it all. She is a master storyteller, evoking the blood and death that ultimately lies at the heart of all fairy tales, without losing their profound innocence. And there is so much blood here. Unsuccessful experiments are 'recycled'; investors of no further use are 'removed'; and many of the darkest deeds are carried out under the shielding powers of a Hand of Glory. Although this is a fantasy novel, many of its key concepts or motifs are real. The Doctrine of Ethos is a real philosophical concept, created by the Greeks, about the power of music to prepare and influence the mind in certain directions. The Hand of Glory is equally real, if considerably more gruesome. McGuire draws on a whole raft of sources with glee, achieving an effect that's rather like Robert Holdstock's magnificent Mythago Wood: a palimpsest of influences that creates something entirely original and entirely absorbing. It winds tendrils into the dark, ancient places of your mind.

And the cherry on the top of this delicious but sinister cake? It won't be long before we can read A. Deborah Baker's Up-and-Under stories for ourselves (expanded by McGuire from the pieces she wrote for epigraphs in Middlegame). Over the Woodward Wall will be released in October 2020, and I for one can't wait to read it. In the meantime, I'll be moving on to the Wayward Children series, for which I now have high hopes...

This post will be published on my blog on 20 April 2020 at the following link:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/04/20/middlegame-2019-seanan-mcguire

Pretty solid, except for the fact that it was annoying how often Rodger and Dodger kept finding the stupidest reasons to ignore each other (7-year-old Roder I can forgive, and 15-year-old Dodger, MAYBE, but that's it.). The last time it happened I distinctly thought "really? Again?"

I'm not sure why there were so many excerpts from the Up-and-Under series; they didn't really have any thematic resonance with what was going on in the plot, and didn't shed any light on The Impossible City.

But the conclusion was absolutely thrilling.

Middlegame is one of those books that are impossible to describe, and not every person who reads will 'get' it.  But for those special few who sink in and get devoured by the story, it is a magnificent experience. 

McGuire has a knack for creating stories that nobody has told in any variation. Of course, every novel published is unique in their own right, but a lot of the time we are able to compare them to other titles. With Middlegame, I don't think there is a single title you could comp it with. This is the kind of book that your "similar to" titles are similar because of the FEEL of the story, not the story itself.

This is one of the weirdest books I've read. I think I liked it? Especially the first 300 pages. I like Roger and Dodger and the world as far as I could follow it. But the last 200 pages, although still good were very confusing to me. Probably have to reread it sometime.

For a lack of a better term, what a complete mindfuck! The only other books I've read from McGuire are all the books in the Wayward Children series (which I love). This book was very well done but also very confusing. While I overall enjoyed it I think I will need to go back and read it to be able to fully understand it.

I tried to read this ARC MANY times but unfortunately I couldn't stay interested because the plot moves way to slow for my taste