Come Tumbling Down
Ratings137
Average rating3.8
3.5 stars.
The first of the series that felt a little forced and predictable.
2.5 rounded up. I think I liked Lundy so much I had a hard time switching it to something else. Found it hard to connect with this one.
I read Every Heart a Doorway for the first time last year and I wrote a review for it which you can read here. I did a reread of it this year and read the rest of the books that are currently out including the short stories. I read them back to back so they kind of all got scrambled in my brain so I thought I would just write a review on the series as a whole. These books are weird but in the best way. You definitely have to suspend disbelief but if you can do that I guarantee you will have fun with this series. I love how many worlds we get to learn about in this series. Some sound delightful and some no so much. I loved the characters some more than others of course. These are all novella length. For the most part I felt like we got a full story and I wasn't left feeling like I was missing something but at the same time I wanted more from each of the stories. Not because I felt like I was missing something I just wanted to know more about the characters and what happened after the ending of the book. We do get that answer for some of the characters in proceeding books so that was good. I've enjoyed each of the stories equally. I don't think I could pick a favorite but I do have favorite characters some of which I am still waiting on stories for so I hope those are coming. Overall I had fun reading these with Destiny and I can't wait for the next release.
I love this series, but this one isn’t my favorite. I’m not sure I really needed this story. If you really live The Moors, you will love this one. If you like visiting different worlds, this one might not be your favorite, but read it anyway.
I feel kind of bad giving such a low rating, but this book just wasn't it. It was like everything was happening so fast, but at the same time nothing happened. Idk if that makes sense, but I guess there just wasn't a real plot, and everything was very surface level. I really want to love this series (I mean, I'm 5 books in), but I just haven't really been into any of the installments. This one was, in my opinion, the worst so far. In the other books, I was at least excited to learn about the worlds and the magic systems, but this time we didn't get that, because we we're back in a world we already know. Without that aspect, this book ends up being just a rushed, very disappointing fairytale.
This is the first book of the Wayward Children series I'm giving less than 5 stars to. I enjoyed it but I felt that visiting Jack and Jill again was unnecessary. Beautiful writing but...
On paper, this and [b:Down Among the Sticks and Bones 31450908 Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children, #2) Seanan McGuire https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1473685781l/31450908.SX50.jpg 47411892] should be my favorites, as I love spooky stuff so much. But something about them just falls a little flat for me in comparison to the others in the series, and I'm not sure why! I still really like the books, just not as much. Anyway, 3.5 lightning strikes out of 5, rounded up.
I was so excited to return to Jack and the Moors. I was a little let down though, not going to lie. I feel like things were rushed and even if given another 20-30 pages, the ending would've been a lot more impactful.
Liked this a lot! The stories are infinitely more interesting when Jack is in them.
This series is beautifully written, using the conceit of children's fantasy stories, such as the Narnia books, to deeply reflect on how society forces people to conform to set roles - both in class, race, nationality and in gender - and it reflects on the true nature of what it is to be a monster.
This book went by very fast, and of course, it doesn't have that many pages but I never felt it like this with books in this series before. It felt for the first time like the story was really rushing through things.
I also don't love Cora as a character. One of the things that were great about these books was that all these kids are crazy because of the worlds they came from, but Cora takes that away somehow. She isn't insane because of the world she came from she just misses the feeling and all that, without the whole scarred by the things you have seen aspect which makes it feel wrong, she doesn't fit in with the stories. I hope the next books don't focus on Cora that much because I really dislike her character.
This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Come Tumbling Down
Welcome back to The Moors my fellow readers. Where lightning holds power and the dead come back to life. Jill has stolen Jacks' body in her obsession to become a vampire. And the OCD Wolcott twin now stuck in Jill's body is slowly going insane. Unless Jack can reclaim her body, she will die her final death. It's time for the wayward children to embark on another quest.
Seanan McGuire has added even more diversity into her series by including characters that use their own form of ASL. I love how each new book adds to the inclusive cast of characters. Wayward Children encompasses people from all walks of life. And as you immerse yourself in this fantastical series, you also see how the various worlds accept people for who they are.
We all know the Moors to be dark and foreboding. But the cast of characters that find themselves questing in this Frankenstein inspired world are unique. How can you not laugh at Sumi's nonsense logic in a logical world? And how about Cora's innocent and wary attitude when approaching anything new? Combine that with Kade's leadership and dedication, alongside Christopher's familiarity with the undead in his world of Mariposa. I couldn't help but laugh at their antics as they compared the Moors to their versions of weird versus normal.
Come Tumbling Down was another terrific addition to the Wayward Children series. I love the intense dark fantasy undertones, and the imagination that goes into each of these worlds. The ties of friendship or rivalry that bind all these children together are so craftily written. I never want this series to end.
CAWPILE SCORE
C-6
A-6
W-8
P-7
I-7
L-7
E-6
TOTAL-6.71/10
I continue to enjoy Seanan Mcguire's work. However i was not excited to go back to Jack and Jill's Story. I like the continuation of the main timeline, but wished it would have followed a new character like #3. Still a great book
Breaking the no quests rule was absolutely the right thing to do. I think In an Absent Dream is still my favorite of the books, but this one comes close.
Stupid little Jill... :´(
She had already won.
Wayward Children is heartbreaking and at the same time so lovely... Seanan really plays with my emotions as she should be. :´)
I also love “good” bad vampires. Vampires should be psychopathic sadists playing with people just because they can.
Excellent storyline and excellent plot. I found the dialog humorous and interesting. Very dark and disturbing.
The bookest of the Wayward Children so far, this follows Jack and Jill in the aftermath of Jack killing Jill in the first book (and Jill getting better...) McGuire clearly loves Jack and Jill the most out of all of her characters, and it shows here: the characters are more developed and more nuanced than any of the others by this, their third appearance. (Unrelatedly, do boys ever get to be protagonists for McGuire? Kade and Christopher also put in their third appearances and still are flimsy setting material.) Taking a diverse cast into the monotone, horrific setting that is the Moors provides some dark humor and also some depth to what otherwise starts to feel bland in its darkness.
I liked that we actually got a narrative arc and I finally felt like I had a full story, both plot-wise and emotionally, of Jack and Jill. This was the first novella that actually felt satisfying. On the flip side, I don't actually enjoy Jack, Jill or the moors, so ups and downs. (I know, right? I don't actually like the sardonic female scientist character? Oh yeah, because she's a monster.) But overall, as a canon, the books are stronger than they are individually.
I continue to enjoy these but this wasn't the strongest in the series. The stakes seemed oddly low and the payoff unsatisfying. One of the best aspects of the series is the diversity of the cast, and it continues to deliver in that regard; this one includes a trans guy, sign language, a lesbian relationship, and OCD. The setting of gothic romance and the nods to the Cthulhu mythos give the story a certain richness, but the plot proceeds very straightforwardly from point A to B to C with few digressions or diversions (early on, the characters are split up and I was hoping and expecting to have some chapters of their separate adventures, but they are reunited in almost the next breath). Still, it's YA, not everything has to be life-changing, and it's nice to hang out with these characters for another book.
Jack and Jill are both monsters, but how do you unmake a monster? By loving it, man.
Come Tumbling Down wasn't as fulfilling to me as the others. Jill essentially got Azula'd and it sucks? I don't necessarily want justice for Jill, but I want justice for the potential Jill had as a character. I absolutely would have lovedlovedloved to delve more into her headspace and the role of complex trauma, what with the descriptors of the Master as her father (a manipulative/abusive one that isolates her from all other contact and the frog is BOILING TO DEATH, GUYS) and Jill as his BRIDE and him wanting her bODY (i.e., blood).
I know Sticks and Bones was a prequel but so much emphasis was placed on Jack there, too, so it was a little disappointing that this one focused on Jack, too. I mean I get why the author wouldn't want to delve into how creepy and inappropriate the Master was, especially with all the warnings and foreshadowing we got in Sticks and Bones– it doesn't fit in with the tone of the book (it's not horror!!!!) and what was left unsaid about him and Jill's relationship is 100% worse nightmare fuel, but still. Still! I wanted more Jill Walcott. I wanted to see more of her in this instalment and I wanted more for her, too.
Gorgeous prose, as always. A little too expository in the beginning for what I like but I guess it made sense given the circumstances. The actual quest itself felt a little convoluted tbh. As always, I want more of the Moors. Is the system like a compass? If the Mad Scientists are in balance with the lesser vampires, then do the Drowned Gods balance the Werewolves? God, I love the Moors so much.
