Title: Come Tumbling Down
Series: Wayward Children #5
Author: Seanan McGuire
Genre: Portal Fantasy
Trigger Warnings: Blood, death, gore, vomit, drowning (mention), falling, being stuck by lightning
Spoiler Warning: This book is fifth in a series and this review does contain spoilers of previous books.
Back Cover:
When Jack left Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister–whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice–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.
Review:
This is the third book to have Jack and Jill as characters and the second one to take us to the Moors, the world Jack and Jill ended up in. This time, Jack comes back to Eleanor West’s school to ask for help after Jill steals her body and threatens to destroy the entire world of the Moors.
All the characters here are ones we’ve seen before – Kade and Christopher, who were part of the orignal group from Every Heart a Doorway; Cora, who we met in Beneath the Sugar Sky; Jack, obviously; and Alexis, Jack’s girlfriend, who we met in Down Among the Sticks and Bones. As this book is super short, there’s not a lot of character development, but here’s some brief thoughts:
- Kade: A good character, and I wish he got more page time. Definitely deserves his own book.
- Christopher: Also good. I like him a lot and would not object if he got his own book, too.
- Cora: Surprisingly unlikeable in this book. Played off as weak, and came across as very hostile when meeting Jack and Alexis, which made me like her less since I really like Jack.
- Jack: A great character. One of the best in the series, I think. A mad scientist with OCD but so in love with Alexis, even if her way of showing affection is different from “normal.”
- Alexis: A minor character, but a good fit for Jack in the romance department. No strong feelings about her.
For the plot on the back cover being “help Jack fix what went wrong in the Moors,” that takes a surprisingly short time. A full 50% of the book is actually at the school, where Jack explains exactly what happens. Once they get to the Moors, there’s some mad science and emotions and gathering allies, and only the last scene really involves actually setting it right. I didn’t actually mind that much, though, because there were actually some good emotional moments and I also got to see some different areas of the Moors, which was cool.
This book is several degrees darker and bloodier than the previous installments. Even the mood is a lot darker, a lot of it because of how close Jack is to losing her grip on sanity. But it was still really good. I’ve heard rumors that there will be more books in this series, and I hope so! There’s so many more of Eleanor West’s students that deserve their own stories. (*cough*Kade*cough*)
Bluejay Reads 