Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Were the characters a little flat? Was it the fact we were revisiting a world we’ve been to before and a lot of the time spent of describing the ambience of the Moors repetitive? Possibly a little of both. Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones it's both a standalone delight and a treat for longtime fans of the series. Though in having said that, I did enjoy the pacing to appreciate the world… it’s got me at a stand-off as to what was missing for me. The fifth book in Seanan McGuire's multi-award-winning Wayward Children series brings back old favorites for new adventures. I have always said I’m not that big into fantasy anymore, so maybe my interest is wanning? Plus the first half of the novella fell a little flat for me, for an already established universe and characters, we should be able to jump into the fray much quicker. Though overall, I just didn’t get into it as much as I had previously in the series. The characters are fun, diverse, and wonderful so too is Seanan McGuire’s writing style – it’s melodic and suits the fantasy genre. While it had elements of a story – and introduced objectives that were resolved at the end after our protagonists faced many obstacles… on its own, there was so much missing context that a reader would have had to completed the previous sequels to fully appreciate ‘ Come Tumbling Down.’ I guess were getting close to the series concluding, so the individual stories following different characters have to end it’s time to interact, and solve overarching storylines.

(Jan.I felt this novella was definitely ‘serialised’ in this instalment.

Series devotees will not want to miss this standalone addition, and anyone who appreciates off-the-beaten-path adventures will be swept away. McGuire conjures a distinctive, remarkable world to nurture Regan’s moving coming-of-age. When the time comes for her to step away from the herd to fulfill her destiny, she is joined by others who surprise her with their humanity, and she learns the truth of the Hooflands’ history. Though at first Regan is eager to return home to her parents, years pass swiftly in the Hooflands, and Regan loses her desire to leave as she finds new confidence and widens her worldview. She learns that her arrival heralds enormous change in this world, as has the arrival of every human who’s stumbled upon the Hooflands before her. On the other side, she finds the Hooflands, a world of magical equines, where she is met by a centaur and adopted into a herd. At age 11, she discovers an unusual doorway in the woods that warns her to “be sure” before entering. Horse-obsessed Regan Lewis spends her childhood struggling to “thread the needle of normalcy” after her best friend shames her for being intersex. Hugo and Nebula award–winner McGuire pulls off another hit with her sixth Wayward Children fantasy (after Come Tumbling Down).

Come tumbling down seanan mcguire