All Praise for McGuire’s ‘Come Tumbling Down’

Seanan McGuire is back at it again!To call her the reigning queen of novellas is to vastly underestimate how good she is at this. Her Imperial Majesty McGuire (put some respek on her name) has been on fire with her “Wayward Children” series, and I am glad to announce that Come Tumbling Down keeps the bonfire blazing.

We Need Daily Doses of This Series This is the fifth installment in the “Wayward Children” series, and I am hooked. My only complaint to this point is I could use a monthly re-up on these stories, which I know is impossible, but they are just that good. McGuire finds ways to pack so much, in such a small space that you don’t walk away from any of these books feeling unsatisfied. I’ve gone over this phenomenon in one of my other reviews of her last book in the series, and I am happy to say there hasn’t been any drop-off in terms of character development, storytelling, pacing, or any of the other pitfalls that you begin to see in other series as they hit their stride. McGuire hasn’t yet stopped “exploring this world,” she hasn’t run out of stories yet, so nothing feels trite, rote, or recycled. We are in book 5, and McGuire is still going strong. The “Wayward Children” series takes place, well, takes place is a strong term, its home base is Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, a boarding school for children who come home from portal fantasy worlds that they’ve been enticed into visiting and can’t readjust to their new/old lives. Ms. Eleanor West’s school ha…