Another enjoyable fantasy read from Seanan McGuire. This series of interlinking novellas are fascinating and full of strange worlds and characters.

This was a great addition to the Wayward Children Series. Jack comes back for help because Jill has done the unforgivable, even for her. Christopher, Cora, Kade and Sumi head with her back to the Moors to be heroes once again.

Really lovely to see Jack again and discover how her story ends. I'm curious about Gideon. I want to know what the consequences will be for Kade and Cora. Also I am worried about Eleanor and what the future of her school will be.

This was by far my favorite in the series! I loved being back in the world of the Moors with all of its gothic darkness. Jack and Jill have been the most interesting characters to follow, so I loved finally seeing the ending (maybe?) to their story arc that has spanned 3 books now. Seanan's writing is just incredible and keeps surprising me in every book just how magical she can write.

I love this novella series! Diverse and witty, with unique and memorable characters. Each novella is wonderfully different, and they all feel like fun little excursions into this endless magical world. Highly recommended.

This is the continuation to Down Among the Sticks and Bones I so desperately needed. Jack and Jill still remain some of my favourite and most memorable characters of this series, so I was delighted that Jack especially had more to say.

It is written very differently from the previous book with Jack. In that one, the narrator was almost a character. This one was much more conventionally told, starting from Jack and Alexis' sudden arrival in her old room which is now Christopher's.

Cora--the mermaid--darts down to find out that everything is okay, followed by Sumi who--as far as Jack had previously known--was killed by Jill so everything was a bit of a surprise for Jack when she woke up in Alexis' arms, which was the way she arrived.

In my review of Down Among the Sticks and Bones, I was quite distressed by the death of a gay character, but this book rewrites that and makes me feel silly that, in a world where science and bringing people back to life is so prevalent, I thought any deaths in that book were permanent. Not to mention, Sumi herself was brought back to life, so it's not only in the Moors that this kind of thing can happen for sure.

God it was an incredible story. I'm already hanging on for the next one in the series, as is usual.

I enjoy how McGuire goes back and forth between individual's stories and stories involving a group from the school.

The story of Jack and Jill continues in this book. Out of five stories, we are on our third of Jack and Jill. Their door leads to such an impossible world, I wonder if we will see them again in two books.

McGuire weaves morality and life lessons into this series for young adults. No few adults should also read these for these lessons.

I look forward to the next book in the series.

I've loved the Wayward Children series ever since I read Every Heart a Doorway so I always look forward to the latest instalment. Seanan McGuire is constantly surprising me with her creativity and she manages it again in Come Tumbling Down. I thought that we'd seen the last of Jack and Jill in Down Among the Sticks and Bones but we quickly discover that their story is not over when this book opens with Jack returning to Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children in desperate need of help from her friends. Things have gone badly wrong in the Moors and Jack had nowhere else to turn to for help so it looks like the students are going to have to break the rules once more to go on another quest.

I don't really want to give any details about the problem Jack needs help with because it's far more fun for you to discover that yourself when reading the story. What I will say is that I enjoyed this second trip into the world she calls home. We get to catch up with some familiar faces but also explore the world far more than we did in our first visit and I found it interesting seeing what both Jack and Jill have been up to since we left them last.

It was great to see Kade, Christopher, Sumi and Cora come together to help Jack, they're totally out of their comfort zone in the Moors but that doesn't stop them doing what needs to be done to keep Jack safe. I can't wait to read all of their stories though, there are so many different worlds we're going to get to explore in this series. These books always leave me wanting more and I can't wait for my next visit with the Wayward Children.

Awesome as always. Especially for fans of mad science. I don't like every Seanan McGuire book (though I am currently reading Middlegame and it's good!) but I do love this series. We all grew up on portal fantasies and these kids are living them.

I think the reaction to this book really depends on where you fall on Down Among the Sticks and Bones. That was never my favorite world to explore and I honestly really just don't like Jack and Jill. I walked away for two months before finally admitting that I needed to finish it or just give it up. I devoured the rest of the book in this series in an afternoon, so this was a weird reaction for me.
Since this is a continuation of the Jack and Jill story, I wasn't sure about this one going into it. I love the Wayward Children series. So many of them have been fantastic, but this didn't do anything for me. I feel like there are so many other worlds that could have been explored instead of returning to this one. Is the writing still descriptive and amazing? Yes. The plot just couldn't hold me. I think people who loved Down Among the Sticks and Bones will be really pleased with this one. It just wasn't a world that I wanted to explore with more depth.

Warning, possible spoilers for the first four books. Be warned.

Despite my absolute dislike for Jack and Jill and the fact that this book is centered on them, this wasn't half bad. I don't think the consequences/price for the HEA-ish ending were nearly steep enough considering we were in the Moors, but it was ok. I also wish that we could see more of the love Jack had for Jill before she did what she had to do. Honestly, I didn't see the love in any of the books they were in, so I felt that the final result would have been better had it occurred in the second book. But then, we wouldn't have this story arc. I would have preferred it that way, but I'm just a reader, not the writer.

I really want to see Christopher's and Cora's story. At least now that Jack and Jill's story seems to be wrapped up, I can hope for more on my particular favorite characters. Well, favorite after Nancy, but we already saw her story, such as it was, so no more of her I suspect.

Sumi was Sumi and she helped to keep the story on track I think. Her moments of clarity were welcome. I guess the situation was so absurd, it took someone from an absurd world to be able to understand it.

Kade was good, but none of the characters really had a chance to shine. Jill is so one-note, it wasn't hard to see her personality, but the others? They were all under stress, I get it, but they were all pretty rude to one another. I didn't appreciate that. Rude to Eleanor too, which I think is rather terrible, considering her loss of Lundy and her almost desperation in holding it all together to keep the school going for just a little longer for the kids who need her and the school.

One huge positive was the love story between Jack and Alexis. So sweet! Kind of unbalanced re: Alexis needed Jack to keep her alive, but it didn't seem to be a case of Stockholm Syndrome, it was love. So that was good.

Oh, my biggest beef was how everyone called Jack the bigger "monster" of the two sisters. And she agreed. I don't. She did what she HAD to do, what she was FORCED to do. She HATED having to do it, but she DID it, as a true hero should. And yet SHE was a bigger monster than her sister, who revealed in torture, murder and wanting to be an evil vampire with an evil vampire's victims, etc. A friend of mine and I discussed this and she raised the point that Jill was insane, she only did what was best for Jill. How do you call an insane person a monster? That word doesn't hurt them. I may have missed the point, but I don't think one is termed a monster to hurt them, it's to warn others. And yes, insane can be monstrous. It would depend on the actions of the person. Also, Jill knew what she was doing was wrong and she didn't care. I don't think she was insane. I think she just gave into evil. Which is it's own type of insanity, yes, but she knew what she was doing was wrong, she was doing everything against her sister as revenge.

And yet Jack was the bigger monster. Actually, I think Jack WAS the bigger monster when she didn't take care of Jill in the second book or the first, before the murders or at least after the first one. After she did what she had to do, I think she was no longer a monster. She was a hero.

Anywho, that's my two-cent take on it. Not my fav of the books, but it does give one a lot to chew on. 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 because I didn't agree with the idea that Jack was the worse monster, that the cost didn't seem to equal the reward and I'm irked that this only had Cora and Christopher as side-bars. A good continuation of the series and I will definitely be reading the rest as they come out.

As always, excellent diversity and almost poetry in the prose it's so beautiful.

My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I have always loved these books with reservations (wonderful worlds, sometimes pedantic writing), but this is officially the first where I didn't really... Care? I kept putting it down and hesitating to pick it back up. We'll see how the next one hits me though! I'm not done with this series yet!

Seanan McGuire’s YA/Adult crossover series, Wayward Children, returns to the land of the Moors in COME TUMBLING DOWN. The last Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children saw of twins Jack and Jill was Jack carrying Jill’s dead body through the door to the Moors to bring her back to life. Now, Christopher was minding his own business and daydreaming of his skeleton girl when the portal suddenly opens again. Jill’s body comes out...but Jack’s mind is in it. After stopping to let Eleanor know of their new quest, Christopher, Jack, Cora, Sumi, Kade, and Alexis (Jack’s love) head back to the Moors to get Jack back in her own body and stop whatever scheme Jill is up to.

The Wayward Children installments do so many things well, and my favorites are the voice and worldbuilding. From the first page, McGuire puts the reader right back into the world of Eleanor West’s school with characters you can’t forget. I am forever in awe of the amazing creation of this portal fantasy series and each unique world the characters traveled to. From Jack and Jill’s backstory book, DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES, we got a good look at what the Moors were like in general (sort of a Frankenstien meets Dracula gothic landscape). In COME TUMBLING DOWN, we get a deeper look into what maintains balance in the Moors and what happens when that balance is threatened. I truly believe McGuire could write 30 books in this series, and there would still be a plethora of worlds and their functions to explore.

This is the first book we’ve had of Christopher, Jack, Alexis, Sumi, Kade, and Cora all together. Most knew each other from their various stays at Eleanor’s school, but others are brand new to the full gang. Christopher continues to be compelling, and I hope we get his backstory book someday. Cora is still missing her home among mermaids and wants nothing more than to go back. Sumi is, as always, Sumi, ready to adventure and have as much nonsensical fun as possible. I love the way these characters play off each other and work together.

As with every Wayward Children book, I finished this story both in adoration of a new favorite book and terribly sad over the close of another Wayward Children adventure.

While this wasn't my favorite entry in the series, I still felt it in the same deep way all of the books have resonated with me, and it kept me company on a day I wasn't feeling well.

McGuire does such a great job writing multiple truly complex characters, and plays them off each other, their desires and fears, in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way.

At this point I feel like I could review anything McGuire writes with just "read it immediately!"

this series is so great! I love each new installment more and more. I think this one is my new favorite

Probably my least favorite of the series so far, but even so, still really fantastic. My main problem was that the first third or so was just being told what had happened and then the rest picked up and was stuff actually happening. Also, because Jack and Jill have played major parts in two other books and we've been to the Moors before, it lacked the excitement of getting to see a new world, though we did get to see a new part of the Moors. I do really love Jack, but I think Sumi may be my favorite. It's a tough choice.

The fifth book in a wonderful series. Seanan McGuire never disappoints. Jack and Jill get to complete their story in a return to the Moors.

Absolutely loved getting to revisit Jack and Jill and some of the others and seeing what happened next after what had already happened next. This was one of my favorites, for sure, in the series.

In this latest installment of the “Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children” series (the first book of which was the stunning, award-winning Every Heart A Doorway), Jack (of Jack and Jill) returns from the world of the Moors, a lightning-ridden nightmare cross between Frankenstein and Dracula, with an occasional Lovecraftian Drowned God. Only Jack isn’t herself, she’s been placed into Jill’s body, and therein lies the problem, because although the two are identical twins, their personalities could not be more dissimilar. Faced with unacceptable, revolting differences, Jack’s OCD threatens to overwhelm her self-control. Now Jack’s on a mission back to the Moors to regain her own body and save her mentor, Dr. Bleak. Accompanying her are her lover, Alexis, the girl with lightning instead of a heart, and her friends from the school, Kade, Sumi, Christopher, and the mermaid girl, Cora.

Come Tumbling Down is a worthy, brilliant successor to the previous volumes, full of luscious prose, sentences that ring so emotionally true they stop your heart, and immense generosity.

Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children houses children with difficult abilities and interests. Jack, a girl, has killed her murderous sibling, who was resurrected in an alternate reality in another book in the series. Jack is back in the school and things Come Tumbling Down. Chaotic weird and wonderful adventures by Seanan McGuire

Every Heart a Doorway - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Down Among the Sticks and Bones - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beneath the Sugar Sky - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

In An Absent Dream - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We've officially returned to Elenor West's School for Wayward Children and wow this may be my favorite installment in the series yet!

After all, I've come to ask for your help. But I warn you, this isn't a tale for the faint of heart. It is a story of murder, and betrayal, and sisterly love turned sour. 

—>characters<—

Jack - Jack has returned, just not quite herself, from the Moors and requests the help of Kade, Christopher, and Cora to set things right. Queer (unclear if bi or lesbian, in f/f romance), has OCD (depicted on page and identified as such

Alexis - Jack's betrothed that we met in Down Among the Sticks and Bones. Now resurrected twice and ready to help Jack set things right. Plus size, lesbian.

Kade - Second in command, helps Jack on her quest, Goblin prince. Trans-man.

Christopher - Happy to have a friend back, sad friends keep finding their doors. In love with the Skeleton Princess from Mariposa. Cancer survivor, Mexican-American, overall sweetheart.

Cora - Fiesty new(ish) character from the Land Beneath the Lake, former mermaid with blue/green hair. Plus size and cares deeply for her friends.

Sumi - She did die in book one, but was brought back to life in book three because prophecies and such. Japanese, one of the few people that loves and accepts Jack and doesn't find her *that* creepy.

It was, as it so often is, a dark and stormy night ... 

–>plot<–

At the end of Every Heart a Doorway, Jack returns to the Moors with Jill. Jill isn't so keen on not being able to become immortal anymore and tries to right this perceived wrong. Things go from there.

Really, that's all I can say without spoilers.

That being said, I loved the adventure in this book and I loved being able to get more of the Moors, currently, my favorite of the worlds the kids travel too, next to Nancy's underworld. Being able to explore some of the other parts of the Moors was so much fun and really helped this world develop more into the Lovecraftian horror movie it was inspired to be.

I also loved the snark in this book. The characters finding out Jack had a girlfriend or Jack and Kade having an exchange about the "wrong body" made me chuckle and also appreciate McGuire's nuance she's been able to put into her characters. These are short books, yet throughout the series, I feel like I really know these characters, these worlds, their struggles, and AH I WANT MORE.

Also, the discussion of mortality that was touched upon in this book was done so well. Jack needs to do some pretty crappy things and while her friends try to support her by acknowledging the suffering of the few helps the many, Jack is still able to recognize her monstrous deeds and is able to reflect on what that means for her.

Friends don't let friends go into danger alone.

Final Thoughts:

As mentioned before, this is probably my favorite in the series so far. I love how the books are becoming more interconnected and how each book is able to expand on the world and characters just a little bit more. I cannot wait to read more in this series.

Here's to hoping we get more worlds to explore, more characters to fall in love with, and more time to revisit our favorites.