Seasonal Fears is set in the same world as Seanan McGuire’s previous novel, Middlegame. It follows childhood sweethearts Melanie and Harry as they learn the secrets of a hidden world of magic and embark on a dangerous quest for the one thing that can save both their lives and fulfill their destinies: becoming Winter and Summer Incarnate.

As with the previous book, Seasonal Fears is beautifully written and centers around some concepts that can be a little hard to grasp – in this one, it’s humans as the embodiments of seasons – but it has interesting characters and a plot that will keep you entertained. Just be prepared, especially in the beginning, for a lot of conversations that are a little hard to follow, complete with characters commenting that what other people are saying doesn’t make sense. I didn’t like Seasonal Fears as much as Middlegame, but it’s still worth the effort to stick with it.

One thing was very confusing, though. I kept hoping something would explain it, but nope. As far as I can tell it’s just a mistake that made it past the edit. I did read the ARC, though, so maybe it was corrected?

Representation: Latino side character (Literally, that seems to be it. Disappointing, as McGuire is usually better at representation than this.)

Overall it’s a 4-star read, which I’d bump down to 3.5 because of the apparent continuity error and the lack of diversity, but then round back up to 4 because I liked it more than I didn’t.

CW: child abuse and neglect, gore

I requested this book without realizing it was a series. The premise really interested me. As a fantasy reader, I really enjoy unique world building and interesting context. That being said, I was confused about the world in which the series takes place. I don't think it was McGuire's writing, because that was amazing. I think that is more of my preference of books. There is a lot of complexity in the world building and several rules. At times I found myself taking notes to keep it all straight.

The story itself is amazing. I adored Melanie and her love interest Harry. Their adventure together is not an easy one. It's one heck of a ride filled with conflict and violence. The side characters are equally interesting. I was truly absorbed in this book, even though the world confused me. I couldn't put it down.

I was absolutely enamored with Middlegame but this one, I wasn't feeling. There was so much exposition, much of which felt repetitive. I didn't feel connected to the characters the way I did in Middlegame. It was a cool idea, I just didn't love it.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this incredible arc!!!

When I went into reading Middlegame I didn't know the complete synopsis so I don't want to really outline the whole sequel here. However, if the first book blew your mind the way it did mine then I can promise that this masterful piece of fiction/literature/fantasy will do the same.

I have said this before, but Seanan McGuire works on one level... genius level. So when I don't comprehend every specific part of the story, I know it's my tiny brain that is lacking. Lmao 🤣. I can't recommend this enough. It's thought provoking and it will replay itself in your mind for years just like Middlegame. It has the mind blowing intelligence behind each piece along with the compassion and emotion that makes it more than just a smart story. So do yourself a favor, read Middlegame if you haven't already and then pick up this masterpiece as soon as you can. Kick your shoes off, get comfortable and enjoy.

Out May 3rd!

Quite a trip!

Seasonal Fears is the second instalment of the Alchemical Journeys series, and this time we're focusing on Melanie 'Mel' Cosgrove and Harold 'Harry' March. Mel has been living with a heart condition her entire life, but she tries her best to not let it get in the way of her living her life, even though she expected herself to die young. Harry has been her best friend since they were children, and even though he knew that they were on borrowed time, he couldn't help but dream of them having a long life together. But in the span of one moment, their life changed and they're thrust into the alchemical and magical world, called on to compete for the crowns of Winter and Summer, which they have to win... or die.

I *did* read this book without having read the first (I requested this ARC without realizing that it's not a standalone). Whoops. While the Middlegame main cast from the previous book does make an appearance in this book and interacted quite a bit with the Seasonal main cast, their role is small enough and the explanations summarizing who they were are adequate enough that I didn't feel like I had to read the previous book to understand whatever was going on. However, you'll certainly be spoiled about major things that happened in the previous book!

Just like when Harry was seriously confused by all the seasonal rules and the alchemical history, so was I. Harry keeps bringing up his confusion and keeps getting Mel's seasonal guide (Ascendant) Jack to clarify what is going on, so it gets repetitive, but it's justifiable because it reflects his state of mind, and likely the general audience's too, and as time went on, the rules began to set in and make sense.

Since the two of them have had a long time to accept the idea of death and have been together for ages, they're uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of becoming the seasonal monarchs. But are they unique enough to stand as compelling characters with individual goals (separate from their plot goals) and struggles? I would say Melanie fits the bill a bit more than Harry.

Massive spoiler incoming (read it if you dare)! <spoiler>The main issue I have is with Aven, Mel's apparently not-dead twin. The girl is made out to be extremely scary and of equal footing with Mel. She has one goal (courtesy of her 'father' brainwashing her): to be Melanie's equal or parallel in the seasonal competition. Oh, and to kill Harry because *he* is Mel's parallel. While she does commit horrendous acts and her lack of morals is intriguing, the story doesn't seem to devote enough time to her compared to her sister. As such, I don't feel as attached to her as I am to Melanie. This could be a little meta; Aven's perspective is that Mel got everything in the world and she got nothing, and this extends to how much the story focuses on each of them.</spoiler>

Verdict: the story can be confusing, hard to follow, and, perhaps even, slow but it's worth a try.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillian-Tor/Forge for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

While I accidentally read this without realizing it was a sequel, I'm so glad I did and I'll be going back for more. There's some somewhat complicated science here and that can bother me at times, but I didn't care because McGuire is a MASTER storyteller. This is out of my genre and comfort zone, but I can't recommend this enough!

Middlegame is one hell of a novel to follow up, and while this sequel doesn’t quite manage to live up to its predecessor, it’s still an incredible read. Simple but compelling magical worldbuilding, memorable characters and a plot leading to a nail-biting ending combine to make this a fantastic novel. Plus, McGuire certainly knows how to write a terrifying villain …

Seanan McGuire is hit or miss for me but I did love Middlegame, so I was cautiously excited about Seasonal Fears. I ended up loving it too! It has the same magical realism vibe as Middlegame, but with a clear emphasis on the characters, their development, and the relationships between them. I definitely connected to Roger and Dodger from Middlegame a lot more intensely than I did to Melanie and Harry, but loved all 4. My main criticism is that Seasonal Fears skewed a little more strongly in emphasis to the wordl-building and "plot" which doesnt always make sense.

After reading middlegame years ago I knew I had to read the sequel to it. It was such a joyous experience to be able to read about Roger and dodger again and so much fun to read about newly introduced characters. I laughed several times during this book. McGuire has never let me down when it comes to character development and plot. I loved everything about this book. Seasonal fears was for sure the perfect sequel to middlegame. 5/5 stars!

As a public service announcement, just in case you don’t have time to read this whole review:

Seasonal Fears is a “sidequel” of sorts, set in the same alchemical universe as McGuire’s miraculous novel Middlegame, with several returning characters. I finished reading it literally fifteen minutes ago, so I haven’t had much time to ponder, but I think, for me, it’s at least as good as Middlegame, and maybe, just maybe, even better. Ask me again in a couple of weeks, after the overwhelming experience of reading this book has properly settled in.

Melanie and Harry have been inseparable since they were small children, and there’s a reason for that. They were both born (although in Melanie’s case it’s a bit more complicated than that) to be the living embodiment of seasons—Harry the summer and Melanie the winter. Now, after 300 years, the king of winter and the queen of summer have died, and new ones must be chosen to take their place. Without warning, without preparation, this high school football player and cheerleader are thrust into a world they know nothing about, with death for both of them as a possible, even likely outcome.

That’s about all you’re getting from my in terms of plot. I don’t believe in spoilers. What I will tell you is that Seasonal Fears becomes a perilous road trip across America, with heart stopping danger and jaw dropping wonders around every corner.

McGuire is at her very best here, and it’s so much more than just the plot, which hums along like a fine-tuned engine.

As the father of young adults who were teenagers not that many years ago, I can attest to the fact that she understands how teenagers think, and act, and talk. McGuire has proved this again and again, particularly in the Wayward Children novels, and she truly delivers here. Melanie and Harry are living (well, that’s complicated too), breathing (also complicated) characters, filled to bursting with love and hope, but also despair and anger and frustration. The other characters, and most of them are teenagers as well, are just as achingly real.

There’s another thing McGuire is better at than just about anybody. She explains the complex alchemical concepts underpinning Seasonal Fears (and Middlegame before it)—humans as the living embodiment of things like math, language, and the seasons, for instance—in a way that makes it understandable, without dumbing it down, but more importantly without taking away the breathtaking, mind-blowing grandeur of her ideas. That, my friends, is a high wire act.

A couple other thoughts:

1. Sprinkled throughout the novel are excerpts from a children’s book that retell, in children’s fantasy book language, the history and mythology of McGuire’s world. These snippets are so good that, just putting it out there, if McGuire were to write a full-on children’s fantasy, it would be a game-changer, an instant classic.
2. This would make one helluva television series. Please.
3. I’m supposed to be working on a short story with a deadline this weekend, but I just kept reading instead. Those last hundred or so pages are a freight train I was not capable of stopping. So I guess what I’m saying is, it’s not my fault I’m behind.
Seasonal Fears debuts on May 3, 2022. Pre-order it now. Get a few extras for friends and family members. It’s that good.

I love McGuire's Wayward Children series. This new series matches the previous one in beauty, the lyrical prose, the vivid imagery and the relatable characters. The fairy tale like quality is present throughout. Then where does the book lose out? It's the writing. It is repetitive, convoluted, and way too much like the dumping of the actual brain's thought processes. Every paragraph that moves the story forward is followed by 2 that stagnate and make me want to skip the Paras out of the sheer force of not caring. This book is desperately in need of an editor to rearrange the structure and cut down atleast a quarter of it.

Melanie is dying. It is something she has always known about herself, which is why she accepts her father's seemingly simply overprotective ways. Harry is a boy who has it all -- good looks, money, popularity -- except for the fact that his girlfriend has a terminal heart condition. Despite that, Harry and Mel's love for each other could not be stronger....or could it? As strange, deadly things them on a journey together, their bond will be put to the test.

Okay, look. I know my faux-blurb isn't the best but the less you know, the more fun it will be. Also, this is a companion novel to Middlegame and although you do not need to read it to enjoy Seasonal Fears, it will be more enjoyable if you do so.

First of all, let me just say -- there is a lot of explaining going on here. I'd say at least 30% of the book is just events and concepts being explained and then re-explained to the characters, a lot of the time by the same person. Of course, the writing was amazing, so the explanations weren't really anywhere close to unbearable but they were noticeable.

Harry and Mel (as characters) were good characters to follow -- I mean that as in they weren't annoying. Their behaviour was always solidly based within who we saw them as and their reactions never seemed unreasonable. We follow Harry more than we follow Mel, which is a bit of a pity because I found her a little more interesting but Harry is complex and well-written enough to also be a worthwhile investment of narration.

Harry and Mel (as a couple) were wonderful, their relationship was well written and believable. The fact that they're together is not a spoiler but anything else would ruin the fun for you, so.

Now, plot. Well-paced and simple to follow as long as you understand the terminology, and like I said, great pains were taken to make sure that you do understand how this world functions. I don't know if the build-up was quite worth the pay off at the end, some plot lines were resolved quite quickly when we had expected them to take longer but nothing felt rushed.

Middlegame characters do make some reappearances here, which I found delightful. This book takes place about six months from when Middlegame ends and the actions of the characters are shown to have had impact.

Atmospherically, I do not think that Seasonal Fears quite compares to it's predecessor -- it feels... a bit more comical at times? Or maybe a little more light.

Overall, a highly enjoyable read! Great characters, fascinating world, brilliant writing. Some plot lines where resolved a little too fast when compared to the buildup we had had and there was just a dash too much explaining, but those are all minor things to me.

Super fun literary book #2 in the Alchemical Journeys. In book #2 the long lives and reigns of the King of Winter and Queen of Summer end and the fight for the crowns begins - this fight, however is in contemporary times.

Introducing Melanie and Harry - two teens who are about to embark on an adventure of chaos. If you loved the tale of Roger and Dodger, the seasonal themes and the uprooting of power this is a book for you. Like a lot of 2nd entries, there is more world building and lore -adding, sometimes to the detriment of the story. Unlike many other books starring teens, this is not a YA book! Middlegame is a classic must read....If you absolutely loved Middlegame, pick this up immediately and immerse yourself in the world of seasons. #Tor #Tordotcom #NetGalley

Gorgeous sprawling prose with a beautiful plot and characters. McGuire is a powerhouse with poetic, eternal-like plots. Absolutely fantastic read.

In the companion novel to Middlegame, the second book in what is now named the Alchemical Journeys series, McGuire continues to explore themes of duality and balance. Where Middlegame explored the relationship between the personifications of words and numbers, Seasonal Fears follows Melanie and Harry, childhood sweethearts who also happen to be Winter and Summer incarnate.

The novel follows their race to become the Summer King and Winter Queen, with the help of ‘Jack Frost’, a seasonal ascendant who inhabits the body of a twelve-year-old girl. Melanie and Harry are not the only ones looking to take the crown, meaning bloody battles need to be fought with the other seasonal incarnates to claim their thrones. However, thanks to a heart condition Melanie has struggled with her whole life, if she doesn’t ascend to Winter Queen, she’ll die.

(Review to be posted 27th April)

A plodding sequel to Middlegame. This time, instead of two children with special abilities that represent the duality of numbers and language, we follow two teenagers that potentially embody the seasons of Summer and Winter.

Unfortunately, this book is overwrought with dialogue failing to be quippy, characters lacking characterization and long sections spent explaining and re-explaining the surface-level world building ideas. This could have been a picture book in its simplicity (Sunmer=hot, Winter=cold. Opposite and equal forces of nature.)

Another frustrating element was the section breaks- chapters are broken down into Books which begin with multiple epigraph quotes from other people to set the tone. Fair enough. However, some epigraphs used felt lazy - “lost Lenore” is first referenced through dialogue, and the Raven quote from Poe is quoted later. Also, some intros contained entire pages quoting from Along the Saltwise Sea - a book by McGuire published end of last year. What are we doing here?

I’m so glad one of my favourite books of all time gets a sequel, one that is well deserved too. It’s got all the whimsical, confusing mess of the first, but with great exploration into the world.

I loved the expansion of characters and the descriptions.

I definitely struggled to follow this at times, which is why I’m rating it 4 stars - knowing it’s a lot easier to follow the second time through or as an audiobook. I will definitely revisit this in the future.

Seasonal Fears
by Seanan McGuire
Pub Date: May 3, 2022
Tordotcom
Thanks to the author, Tordotcom, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
* Fantasy * Science Fiction
I loved the characterization, complex world-building, and the cliffhanger at the end!
I cannot compare this book with anything! This is outstandingly unique, intelligent, peculiar, one of a kind just like its author’s brilliant mind!
3 years long unbearable waiting is finally over! The second installment of the series blew my mind as I expected!
4 stars

I was not aware Middlegame would have a sequel. This was a pleasant surprise! Full review to come closer to pub date and rating may change.

Well what can I say that will do justice to this impressive follow up to Middlegame ? Such a unique world that the author has given us with the seasons being integral to the story. A race that was both surprising, violent and at times astounding as we meet both new and indeed old characters. The magic in play actually starts to make sense and honestly I did not fully expect that ! I did expect to get behind our intrepid couple who accept a death that most would run screaming away from. I loved the use of side characters as they ( well particularly she ) added much needed humour and snark. This world is wholly unique, this story was gripping and I am definitely not disappointed.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair