Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire, another installment in this series of fantastical kids and doorways that makes you never want to put the book down.

The continuing story of Jack and Jill
It’s no secret that I love the “Wayward Children” series—the engaging storytelling, the fabulous play on fantasy tropes, and the fascinating characters—all trying to keep it together when they ‘re not where they think they should be. Portal children. In this latest edition Jack and Jill’s story comes to a head as Jack returns to the school to seek aide in saving her realm from Jill and her vampire Master. The gothic atmosphere of the Moors is wonderfully creepy and the questing students (including Kade, Christopher, and Cora) have their work cut out for them. It’s a lovely addition to the series.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received a copy of this young adult fantasy novella eArc from NetGalley in exchange for me honest musings.  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 . . .

Title: come tumbling down

Author: Seanan McGuire

Publisher: Tor.com

Publication Date: TOMORROW!! (hardback/ebook)

ISBN: 978-0765399311

Source: NetGalley

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. 

Her friends honestly don't really know how to handle the weaknesses that Jack is going through.  Each reacts in their own way - with logic, with confusion, with harshness, etc.  Through all mean to give love and support.  Just because all the wayward children have experienced problems, doesn't mean that they know how to fix Jack or her circumstances.  Jack really has to help herself.  But knowing that friends got yer back and support or push when needed can really make all the difference.  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.

I found this to be a bit more of an intellectual read then some of the others (book four wins so far) but I still loved it.  I will certainly be readin' the next book when it comes out.  There be rumors of three more in the pipelines.  I sure hope so.  ARRR!!

Check out what me crew had to say (click the links for their full reviews):

Matey Tammy @ books,bones,&buffy - "McGuire also uses this series as a way to focus on certain themes, like identity and belonging and finding one’s place in the world. In this book, Jack’s OCD is explored, and even though I don’t want to give away one of the big story twists, I will say that Jack has a reason she’s having a lot of trouble with her illness. But in McGuire’s world, issues like mental illness and gender identity are simply a part of life, and I love the way she incorporates these elements so seamlessly into her stories."

Goodreads has this to say about the novel (with spoilers removed):

The fifth installment in Seanan McGuire's award-winning, bestselling Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister . . . back to their home on the Moors.

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.

To visit the author's website go to:

Seanan McGuire - Author

To buy the book go to:

come tumbling down - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

Previous Log Entries for this Author

every heart a doorway – book 1 (Captain's Log - Young Adult Fantasy)

down among the sticks and bones – book 2 (Captain's Log - Young Adult Fantasy)

beneath the sugar sky – book 3 (Captain's Log - Young Adult Fantasy)

in an absent dream – book 4 (Captain's Log - Young Adult Fantasy)

into the drowning deep (On the Horizon - Sci-Fi eArc)

kingdom of needle and bone (Captain’s Log – Sci-Fi)

This story was unlike anything I imagined and everything I ever wanted. The Wayward Children series has been hit or miss with me. The highlights have always been the Moors and Jack’s story.

This story picks up after Sumi’s return, with Jack returning to the school in dire need of help for a brewing war in the Moors. Jack’s character undergoes a drastic change throughout this story as she struggles with her greatest fears and trials. She’s alone in a way she has never been before and has to take down her ultimate villain, which is difficult no matter what she’s done before. Jack’s relationship with Alexis is sweet and touching and really shows you that even in a world of rebirth and undeath, life and love are precious.

The returning cast of characters were great to see. I loved that Christopher and Sumi took a greater role in this story. Sumi seems to have grown so much since Every Heart a Doorway, and seeing how she is both as fluffy as cotton candy and jagged as rock candy’s fits her so well. She’s cute and supportive in her own way when she needs to be and down to earth and serious in a way she’s rarely shown before. She’s more a woman than ever before. Christopher didn’t get much development in this story other than to be scarred by the Moors and shown just how different the darker side of the doorways can be compared to his “dark world,” but he takes an active role whe he has otherwise been passive, and that was a nice change.

The atmosphere of this book was the best element, second to Jack. The Moors have always been my favorite world with the mash-up of Dracula and Frankenstein, but we got to see more of it wit( the inclusion of the Lovecraftian Drowned Gods. Genuinely this was one of the highlights of the book and showcases the extraordinary talents of Seanan McGuire in world building where three massively different yet similar classics have merged together to birth a world so full of carnage, mystique, and beauty.

The plot was solid. It wasn’t any5ing groundbreaking or special. It didn’t need to be anything more than a good story and closure for the reader on Jack and Jill’s tale. It was a satisfying ending with its own morbidly sweet happily ever after.

Thanks to Tor and to my dear friend Caroline for the galley! The opinions herein are my own and may not reflect the views of the publisher, author, or distributor.

I’m in love with this series.

We get backstory, and we get adventure. We get character growth, and we get terrible backsliding. It’s funny, I wasn’t fond of Sumi in the first book, but now that we’ve gotten to know her, I think she’s great. And her interactions with everyone else are top notch.

One thing I adore about the way these are written is how simple but full they are. We have a lot of story, but we have prose that gets us from Point A to Point B without fluff. I don’t know what else to say besides I think everyone should get the chance to read these.

I just hope we get more on Christopher, and mostly, more on Eleanor’s story!

Terror twins Jack and Jill return (mostly Jack) to Eleanor West's school, in this latest installment of the Wayward Children series. Kade, Sumi, and Cora all play a part as well., and the stakes are high, especially for Jack. To tell more would give away too much , but this is definitely a worthwhile read for fans of this little alternate world!

No one who is familiar with this series will be surprised to hear that this is another stellar installment. When we last saw twins Jack and Jill, Jack was returning to the Moors with her sister's dead body. As "Come Tumbling Down" begins, Jack returns to the school looking for help. The resurrected Jill has attacked everything that Jack loves, and Jack is close to breaking. Despite Eleanor West's injunction against question, the students of course set out to help Jack save her world.

Wayward Children books are always short, but packed full of plot and character. We get to see more of Kade, Christsopher, Sumi, and Cora, and we also get to see Jack dealing with things further from her comfort zone then she's ever had to deal with before. The Moors are dark, creepy, and full of traps and teeth. If you like traditional monster horror (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.) then this is the portal world for you. There are a few times during the story where I was afraid for various characters, but just trust Seanan McGuire to get all of her characters through the plot in a way that is both satisfying and respectful. This continues to be a great series and I hope that it keeps going for a long time.

(Warning for body horror and gore.)

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children

No Solicitations

No Visitors

No Quests

Come Tumbling Down is the continuation of the story of Jack and Jill. Chronologically, this is after the events of books 1 - 3, and long after the events of Lundy’s story in In An Absent Dream. Christopher, late of the skeleton-filled Día de Muertos-esque world of Mariposa, is lounging in his basement room at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children when lightning starts flashing. Not outside, mind you, but in the middle of the room. Lightening starts striking the basement floor like crazy, prompting Cora (the unwillingly bipedal mermaid late of an underwater world whom we met in Beneath the Sugar Sky) to come running down to see what the commotion is all about. Once the lightning stops and they can see again, Cora and Christopher are amazed to see a door. A door that is all lightning and oak, something very reminiscent of the previous occupants of Christopher’s room: the twins, Jack and Jill Wolcott, residents of the Hammer Horror wicked-logical world of The Moors. As Christopher and Cora wonder at what they should do, the door opens and two young women emerge: one tall and broad, the other...Jill.

Except it’s not Jill.

It's Jack, in Jill's body.

What the what?

It will never cease to amaze me how some writers can fit so much story into so few words. None of the Wayward Children books exceed 250 pages, and yet every single one feels epic - more epic than some books twice, or even thrice their length. With just a few sentences, McGuire can create an entire mythology. How - how does one do that? Better yet, how do you do that well? Because McGuire does it very, very, very well. Asking for a friend who may or may not be a failed writer who spends their spare time reviewing books by real writers on the internet.

Seriously, together, all five Wayward Children books are (well, according to their Goodreads page counts) 929 pages, an average of 185.8 pages per book. The shortest is only 173 pages (Every Heart a Doorway) and the longest 208 (Come Tumbling Down).

A Dance with Dragons is 1,125 pages long, by the way. Left unchecked, writers can and will go on and on and on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. That you can cram so much detail and backstory into only 200 pages while maintaining a good balance between “tell not show” and “show not tell” writing is phenomenal. And Seanan McGuire has managed it five times!

I can only ever dream of someday being that good.

There is a downside to these books being so short, though: all of the action feels a bit rushed - if you’re someone who likes to have a metric ton of detail during action sequences, you may be a little disappointed. I, on the other hand, as someone with a tendency to go on and on and on and on forever and ever and ever and ever am just dumbstruck at how anyone can write anything so awesome in less than 400 pages.

My only real complaint regarding Come Tumbling Down is that we’ve gotten so much Jack and Jill in the Wayward Children books, and yet we still don’t know much about Christopher and his adventures in Mariposa, and his Skeleton Girl. Or Kade and his adventures with the Goblins or Cora and her time as a mermaid. Maybe they’ll be the focus of subsequent books? *fingers crossed.* In all, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll love Come Tumbling Down. If you’re not a fan of the series...what are you doing? Go read Every Heart a Doorway. Now!

*ARC received from Netgalley in return for an honest review*

This series is something that is near and dear to my heart. I have loved every book that has come out. While this is no exception it felt a little disappointing. Maybe because I just had re-read In An Absent Dream where Lundy's story is so fresh and wonderful. The Moors is nothing quite like it and, sadly, we don't get much talk about this wonderful land besides the obvious notations. Still, it was a fun adventure romp that ended on a note that felt like it gave closure to Jack and Jill's story.

4.5 Jack and Jill's story continues in this beautifully written fantasy novella. Vengence and love are the main themes of this book in this series of lost children waiting for their doorways to call them back home. It was read in the blink of an eye, it goes so fast. And I continue to appreciate the diversity that Ms McGuire weaves into her stories.

The School for Wayward Children has a rule: No quests. When Jack returns to ask her friends to help with a looming disaster in the Moors, that rule is about to be broken. Again.

A worthy continuation of a wonderful series.

Please don't let this be the end of the series!

I love how these books are set in the same (or similar) worlds, with characters from one book appearing in another. There are times when that can get confusing, but the worlds the children find through their doors are equally confusing so it all works. Here we revisit Jack and Jill, and their world, with Kade, Cora, Sumi and Christopher tagging along. Can they overcome the challenge Jill poses and maintain the balance in that world? Will they return to the world of Eleanor West's school, or will they be stuck with Jack and Jill and the Doctor and the Master forever?

eARC provided by publisher.

Jack and Jill are back!

I really love this novella series. It's just such a perfect way of using a concept. Each book has slightly different worlds, adventures or character combinations but they're all tied together by the School for Wayward Children. 

I'm always excited to see who's the central focus of each book, and I've got some stories I'm still hoping to see more of (Kade or Christopher, please?) but this was one I knew I'd enjoy. Jack and Jill might be my favourites and I really think this book rounds out their story nicely. I'm a sucker for Gothic atmospheres and Frankenstein-feels so I loved seeing the world of the Moors in Down Among the Sticks and Bones and I was thrilled to be heading back there again.

And! This time we get to see some of the other protagonists react to the brutality and bleakness of the Moors. It's fascinating to see how the other children fit in in relation to what "their doorway world" is like. For example, where Christopher and Jack are alike and where they differ.

I love the world-building, the idea of power balances and counter-weights in this world and the way vampires, scientists and other monsters come into play and conflict with one another. Come Tumbling Down is fast-paced and full of action but doesn't skimp on character-driven moments and reflection. The writing is both beautiful and beautifully eerie, perfectly complimenting the world the story takes place in.

The whole series is incredibly strong, but I think this just might be my favourite so far.

Very, very good. And I want more and more and more.

The Wayward Children series continues with Jack coming back through a door to the school. She is not herself and she receipts other students to help her resolve things. ARC from NetGalley.

Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire, is the fifth in the Wayward Children series—a series that I have loved from the very first book. In the universe McGuire created, doorways between worlds open for children to step through. The doors take them to worlds of skeletons, mermaids, animated candy, strange rules, goblins, reanimating lightning, and adventure. Above all, the doorways open to a world that, for all its dangers, feels like home to children who don’t feel right in their skin, with their parents, in our world. In this outing, Jack Wolcott returns from the Moors—the place she calls home—with a terrible mission ahead of her. Her monstrous sister, Jill, has stolen Jack’s body and Jack wants it back.

Jack and Jill are recurring characters in the series. Although most of the books can stand alone, Jack and Jill have unfinished business from previous books, when Jill did a terrible thing to get back to the Moors. Even though the twins made it back, there would have to be a reckoning. Jill wants to be a vampire, like her adopted father. But, because she has already died once, she can’t do it…without Jack’s body. We learn all this in the first few pages of the novel. As things usually do, this extraordinary revelation leads to a quest that requires endurance, sacrifice, and the assurance that one is doing the right thing.

What I love about the Wayward Children series is the variety of worlds McGuire has created. No two are alike, though they might share similarities. (One character gets along very well with Jack because neither of them are afraid of bones, but that’s because this character spent time in a world that reminds me of the underworld in Coco.) I half wish that I had a doorway I could step through into a world of adventure that matches my heart’s desires. Since I am a total chicken, I know that I wouldn’t be able to handle the peril that every single one of these has in common. That McGuire can come up with worlds made of candy or connected by spider webs or that featured matched pairs of vampires and mad scientists. I am well and truly hooked on this series.

Like the other stories in the Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down starts with a bang and ramps up to an incredible conclusion. It races along its 200 pages. These books are a wonderful way to kill a morning or an afternoon because they take us on an adventure along with the characters, take us to another world and back, all in one sitting. I love these books so much and Come Tumbling Down is an excellent addition to the series.

This was a really great next book in the "Every Heart A Doorway" Series. Come Tumbling Down picks up where Beneath Stick and Stones left off. I really like Jack and I love how diverse the series is.

Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series has been brilliant from start to finish, book to book, and she’s so prolific that I’m running out of ways to encourage people to read it. Would threats work? Read this book or your life will be just so much emptier. There will be a sorrow you’ll only be able to glimpse out of the corner of your eye, an absence, a shadow that will haunt you. You will miss something you never knew you needed. You’ll be sad if you don’t read these books.

Not that you won’t feel a measure of sadness reading the books, too. These novellas have never pulled their punches when it comes to the toll of heroism, and the cruelty of growing up different. But between the bitter challenges are the sweet moments of connection and fulfillment, and the hope that growing up doesn’t have to be awful.

The books alternate between looks at the past of certain people associated with the School for Wayward Children and a central core of characters in the present. Come Tumbling Down is a “present” book, featuring the characters who were introduced in the first volume, Every Heart a Doorway. It begins with Christopher, a young man whose world was made of dancing skeletons and whose true love was a skeleton girl with butterflies beating in her chest. He always shared a certain connection with Jack, a girl from a different death-filled world, but he’s still surprised when she shows back up.

The two major spectrums of the multiverse are between Logic and Nonsense, and the more typical Virtue and Wickedness. But there’s an implied third, a spectrum between Innocence and Morbidity that the children all recognize. Many fear those from “morbid” worlds like Christopher’s skeleton land of Mariposa, even though it’s quite Virtuous. And the Moors may be Wicked, but it’s as much the dead and undead that unnerve others as it is the harsh rules of the world. Christopher and Jack, though their worlds and their temperaments are very different, do form a friendship as a result of being the misfits even among misfits.

Jack and her now-fiancée Alexis arrive back in Christopher’s room through a door of lightning, fleeing a bloody catastrophe on the Moors. Jack’s sister Jill has once again decided that her vampiric consummation is more important than anyone or anything else, and has switched bodies with her twin. This is disastrous for Jack, not just because of her sister’s betrayal but because of her own OCD, which makes living in a vampire-touched, unclean body unbearable. Come Tumbling Down takes mental health and OCD seriously. There are some strong rebuttals to some of the arguments that you can either will yourself or love someone else out of their illness, and some good discussions of the different ways that body dysphoria can affect people. Jack desperately needs help to make it right, and Christopher volunteers along with several others.



Kade, the Goblin Prince in Waiting and also heir presumptive to the headmistress of the Wayward School, provides a level head and a brave—if broken—heart. Sumi serves as the wise fool of the group. Her Nonsense world of Confection would seem to be at odds with the harsh and logical world of the Moors, but she copes better with uncertainty and confusion than the rest of her classmates. McGuire also uses Sumi as a commentary on the nature of both portal fantasy and storytelling in general, having her speak to the inherent absurdity of getting kids to do your fighting.

Newer student Cora (whose first appearance was in Beneath the Sugar Sky) was a mermaid in her world, but now she has to wear her scales and tail “on the inside.” She has a surprisingly crucial role in widening the world of the Moors, showing us the sea and the Drowned Gods. She also was repeatedly asked to choose between the Moors, which were closer to her ideal undersea home, or the uncertain possibility of getting what she actually wanted, a return to her actual home world. Her tragic inner turmoil was one of the best parts of the book, since compromising between dreams is one of the things they never tell you about growing up.

The counterbalance to the grief and difficulty are the relationships and community of understanding built over the course of the book and the series. The no-longer-quite-children have wonderful (if complicated) friendships, and their mutual support is a balm. And beyond even that is Alexis and Jack’s love, which is so incandescent that it could well be classified as its own strain of lightning.

But grief there is, and a certain amount of monstrousness. Not just in the antagonists, but in the protagonists as well, the people asked to make terrible choices about what parts of themselves and others they will sacrifice for a greater good—or a greater neutral. The Moors is not a good place. The best anyone can hope for is balance. Jack wants to find that balance, but knows that one way or another, she will have to embrace the bitter if she wants to keep hold of the sweet.

There isn’t truly a happily ever after, not only because monsters are the rightful rulers of the Moors, but also because there never are any real endings. Come Tumbling Down is the fifth book of eight; it certainly makes that clear. And that can be terrible, to know that doors may not open and families may never become what you need them to be. But it can also be wonderful, full of magic and love and lightning.

Thank you, Tor.com for gifting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

My rating: 4 stars
Rep: F/F relationship, MC with OCD. LGBTQ+, plus size and POC side characters.

The Wayward Children series is one of my all-time favourites. "Come Tumbling Down" is one of my most anticipated 2020 books and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to read and review it!

I reread book 2, "Down Among the Sticks and Bones", in preparation for this book and I'm so glad I did! I loved going back to the school and reading about all the characters again. I adore each and every one of the characters Seanan McGuire has created, each of them is so distinct and memorable. Kade, in particular, is a big favourite of mine and I can't wait for his story!

The writing style was absolutely stunning, as always. The pacing of this novella was great, it flowed perfectly. Normally, I don't like books that switch perspectives a lot, but everything just flows so well in these books, due to McGuire's writing, that it didn't phase me at all.

One of my favourite parts was Alexis and Jack's relationship. I loved them so much and I can't fault it at all, I'm so glad we had a lot more relationship development in this book. I also loved that we got on page validation that Jack has OCD. While I'm not own voices for this rep and therefore I cannot comment on it, it's rare to see mental illness represented in fantasy books, and so this also made me very happy to see OCD represented.

Jack is such an amazing character. Is she flawed? Yes. But she is one of the most honest, forthright characters I have ever read.

The setting of "The Moors" continues to be a gloomy, dark, scary place. Full of monsters and resurrections. If you like Frankenstein, this is the book for you! This gave me major Frankenstein vibes and I really loved that.

SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH:
The reason I didn't rate this 5 stars is because of the ending. While I wanted Jill to pay for all the harm she caused, I felt like the resolution wasn't what I wanted. And It felt unfair that the Master didn't really get any repercussions of his actions. Because let's be honest, Dr Bleak and the Master shaped Jack and Jill from when they were children into the adults they became. I'm just not sure I loved how this ended, I guess I just wanted a bit more. I think this is definitely a personal preference though!


Overall, I will continue to read this wonderful series, I can't wait for the next book/s!

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.