The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite ongoing book series. I've been lucky enough to have reviewed two of the previous books and now I can add a third to that. I just finished reading my newest book from Net Galley, Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire. This is the Wayward Children book that'll come out next year! What's it about?

When Nancy left the school for Wayward Children, she was Sure and found her Door again. Back to the Hall of the Dead where Nancy could live as a statue. Unfortunately, her peace is ruined when other living statues start to die. Nancy runs back to the school to get help. What's causing the death of the other statues and how can the kids stop it from happening? Its time for another Quest!

Through Garnet and Gold is a school adventure, which is connected to the overall storyline of the series. There is a recap at the beginning of the story and some recap information throughout that was handy for reminding people what happened previously. Even so, this wouldn't be a book that a new reader would want to jump into. You'd want to read previous school adventures (and standalones) first. As a long time reader of the series, I absolutely loved this book.

It was great to see Nancy back and see how her friends reacted to that. I won't give any other spoilers though. There are some big moments is this book that totally surprised me. One moment had me going oh my god. Oh no. That was a twist for sure!

Seanan McGuire is such a great writer. She knows her characters well here and all of them seem very complex and interesting. And the Halls of Dead are such a well-crafted world with a great history to it. Though that could be said of all the different worlds in the Wayward Children series. Each world is so well thought-out and interesting to visit.

Book by book, this series seems to get better and better. Through Gates of Garnet and Gold is the best one yet. If you've loved the series so far, you are absolutely going to be thrilled with this book. I can't wait to see where the series takes us next!

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for providing a digital copy of this book for review. Through Gates of Garnet and Gold will be out on January 6, 2026.

I love this whole series and am glad to get to read the newest installment. It's also great to have Nancy back again! It picks up not too long after the last book, and even though the rules say No Quests, here we go again. We learn some more about the ways of the Doors, and the worlds they lead to. We even learn a bit about Miss Eleanor's Door.
I greatly enjoyed this story and look forward to the next.

I didn’t realize how much I wanted to see Nancy again until we got more of Nancy’s story. I will say things aren’t “resolved” in this book BUT it does a really good job at poking holes in the accepted “fact” that people’s Doors lead them to where they most belong. Kade was a bit disappointing this time, but I can’t wait to get Talia’s story and Christopher and Sumi (and certain other returning faces that mentioning by name would constitute spoilers) really carried things.

While the lack of resolution does leave the book feeling rather incomplete, it is leading us toward a good (and inevitable) nearby ending. It might not be the next book, but I think it’s coming soon…

Also props to Sumi for calling out that what people “need” isn’t always good for them if they’re not also being cared for. She’s annoying but she always has the most poignant observations.