Looking For a Good Book

There really is no better fantasy writer currently publishing than Seanan McGuire.

In this fifth volume of the Wayward Children series we return to the Moors and the troubled relationship between twins Jack (Jacqueline) and Jill. When last we saw them, Jill was dead by Jack’s hand.  But death isn’t the absolute end here and Jack is hoping that by returning to the Moors, Jill will be resurrected.  And perhaps more importantly … having now died, she will no longer have the power to turn into a vampire. But Jill has no regrets for her life and she an her adoptive father, a vampire, have come up with a workaround to her situation.

This book, a novella really, is just eerie in tone.  As all the Wayward Children books have been.

One of the things that occurred to me as I started to read this was that it’s not just about McGuire’s incredible writing style.  She’s very poetic and lyrical with her prose, but that poetry draws the reader in, lulling the reader into a false sense of serenity, but what she is writing about with her poetic prose is dark and frightening. It’s an interesting contrast, and I’ve come to realize that it is this – the contrast in writing style with the story that is being told – that appeals to me more so than the story itself.

It is also interesting to note that the true conflict in the book is not so much about restoring Jill’s life or even her vampire ways but rather it’s the conflict of siblings, of twins, and this kind of conflict is in many ways much more relate-able.

This may not be my favorite Seanan McGuire book, but I will gladly read McGuire any time.

Looking for a good book? Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire is the fifth book in the Wayward Children series.  It is not the strongest of the books, but is well worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Come Tumbling Down

author: Seanan McGuire

series: Wayward Children #5

publisher: Tor

ISBN: 0765399318

hardcover, 206 pages