Fantasy Novella Review: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

 


Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

Come Tumbling Down is the fifth novella in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, a perennial nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Novella over the past five years (I believe all five of the first novellas were nominated).  I've had mixed feelings about the series - with me being meh towards the first two stories, but really liking books 3 and 4.  

The series features a world in which portal fantasies are real, and children who find themselves uncomfortable with reality find doors to fantasy worlds...only many come back, unable to find their Door again, and find themselves unable to cope and thus wind up at the school known as the Home for Wayward Children.  Every odd numbered book in the series takes place in the present, at the school at least to start, while every even numbered book takes place in the past, showing the portal fantasy world of one particular kid at the school and how it all went wrong.

As the fifth book in the series, Come Tumbling Down returns to the present - but more than that, it's a continuity-laiden sequel to books 1 and 2 of the series as well, with the star of book 2 taking center stage once more.  And well, like the books its a sequel too, it just didn't quite work for me, with the continuity-heavy parts of this novella (with me not having read novellas 1-3 in a long while) falling a bit flat for me.  It's fine, and if you love the series you'll like this, but just wasn't as strong as the prior two stories for me.  

Spoilers for books 1-2 are inevitable below: 

Quick Plot Summary:  When Christopher last saw his friend Jack, Jack had killed her sister Jill (who had been committing a bit of murder) and had taken Jill back through their door to her world, the Moors - to resurrect Jill according to that world's rules.  But when a door of lightening opens up in Jack's former bedroom, now Christopher's, he discovers things have gone horribly wrong: Jack is now stuck in Jill's body, barely conscious, with only a tall mute girl at her side.  

Soon the story comes out: Jill and her Master have taken Jack's body for the sake of turning into a vampire, and the resultant power imbalance threatens to destroy the Moors.  And so Kade, Cora, Sumi and Christopher will have to violate the top rule of Eleanor West's school - No Quests.  But the rule is a rule for a reason, and the dangers of the moors are very real, especially for those like Cora, Kade, Sui and Christopher who are from very different Doors, with very different rules....

Thoughts:  The first two books in this series were more connected than the rest up till now, with book 1 introducing the Eleanor West School, featuring quite prominently Jack and Jill, with Jill has the eventual culprit in the murder mystery plot and Jack killing her at the end, before heading back to her own world through her own door and Book 2 featuring Jack and Jill's backstory in that portal world, one that was outlined in Book 1 but expanded in Book 2.  I felt like the mystery plot didn't work in book 1 and that the expansion of an already known story didn't do much for me in book 2, honestly.   And since then we've had one more adventure in the present day with a group of characters (Cora, Sumi, Christopher) who were really enjoyable in their differences, plus one more past portal world story (with Lundy) that was really strong - both stories that really didn't require much continuity to work, and really nailed the interesting characters and themes of this universe, where portal fantasies are real...but being their hero isn't always a good thing, and is often traumatic for the survivors and rejects of those worlds.  

Come Tumbling Down is however continuity heavy, requiring the reader to remember Books 1-2, especially 2, as we return to that world, except this time joined with our adventuring cast from Book 3.  And it....didn't really work too well for me.  The newness of seeing a new world isn't here, since we've seen the Moors already, and we already know Kade, Cora, and Christopher's issues and seeing how they're affected by the Moors doesn't really add anything to their characters.  Jack's own struggles, as she deals with her OCD being badly exacerbated by being in her sister's body - a body she knows to be unclean and not her own - is far more interesting and well done, but it's not enough to really carry this story.  Again the story is fine, and if you loved books 1-2 this might work better for you, but it's just not a high water mark like books 3-4.  Alas.