Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

A Forbidden Quest in Come Tumbling Down

Come Tumbling Down is the fifth novella in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. If you’ve never heard of it, trust me; you’re missing out. Eleanor West is a peculiar woman. She runs a school for Wayward Children – the children who have gone missing and returned home. These children no longer seem to fit in with the real world; she makes a place for them.

These children have found their doorways and been abandoned by them. Each and everyone has found a path to a new and different world. A world that resonates with their souls in the most intimate of ways. It is their home.

Eleanor doesn’t make many rules for these children. But she does have one: no quests. That rule is about to be broken. Jake is back, and she will need her friends’ help if she wants to bring back the balance of the Moors.

This novella is one that I’ve been anxiously waiting for ever since it was announced. No, that’s not quite true. I’ve been looking forward to it since I read the last page of In An Absent Dream. And thus, I couldn’t have been more excited to get my hands on this book. 

Writing

Seanan McGuire has always had a way with words and worlds. And that trend continues in Come Tumbling Down. The introduction to this novella is a dramatic one that grabs your attention right from the start and makes you eager to keep on turning the pages.

We’ve seen the Moors once before (and been told about them another time on top of that), but it is clear that there is still so much to learn about this world. This is a dark and treacherous world. But it is also a world full of rules, which means a balance can be found here.

Seeing this world again through different eyes was fascinating. Just when you think you know everything there is to learn about one of McGuire’s worlds, she proves us wrong. It’s easy to see why Jack felt so at home in this world.

Development

This was a fast-paced tale, with our Wayward Children being forced from one series of events to the next. Given the danger that they’re facing, that’s probably not surprising. Thankfully, this crew has gotten used to traveling through strange and disturbing worlds, so this isn’t as intimidating as it should or could be.

The risks were high in this novella – as we’ve learned that Seanan McGuire isn’t afraid to kill off her characters. We were given reason to fear even in a world like the Moors, where death doesn’t have the same permanency.

That sharp edge made this tale all the more thrilling, especially given what they were up against. And what they hoped to accomplish. Then there’s the reason this quest began in the first place; it’s a personal touch. One with bone-chilling implications. In short, it was exactly what I was hoping for in Jack and Jill’s story.

Conclusion

Come Tumbling Down was a thrilling and fascinating read. I’m not lying to say that I couldn’t read this book fast enough. However, I wish I could read it again for the first time all over again. I feel that way quite a lot with this series, come to think of it.

This was a dark and disturbing tale that fits perfectly with this world and the characters we’ve come to love. It was well worth the read and has left me excited to see what the next set of adventures will contain.

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

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