Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

Synopsis: When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister--whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice--back to their home on the Moors.
But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.

Again.
Review: I love this series way too much. Come Tumbling Down is the latest in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series of novellas. In this book, we are reunited with Jack from Every Heart A Doorway. Jack has managed to make it back to Eleanor's school and has asked her friends for help back in the Moors. I loved Jack and Jill from the first book, and I was delighted to see what happened to them in the Moors. Jack is such a beautiful character. We get to see Jack and Jill as they explore the Moors for the first time in Down Among the Sticks and Bones, but Come Tumbling Down was great because Jack is already familiar with this dark world. She knows how the Moors operate, and what's expected of her. We get to see her really shine as a character, and I'm always a sucker for brilliant girls.


My favorite thing that's brought up in Come Tumbling Down is that all of these kids are "heroes" in their own right. All of these kids get sent to a fantastical world, complete some kind of quest, and are dubbed heroes. But that means different things depending on if you're from a world that thrives on darkness like the Moors, or some place with a lighter atmosphere like Confection. Come Tumbling Down takes the time to consider the idea of heroism and how it might not always be what we are raised to think. That's something I deeply appreciated. The only thing I wish Seanan included more of were more conversations about feeling comfortable in your own body. At the start of this story, Jack isn't in her own body, and she mentions this a little. Kade, being transgender but still having a female body, relates to not feeling like yourself in the body you occupy. I just wish this was a more stable connection between Jack and Kade, because I think a lot of trans people would appreciate it.


Seanan McGuire continues to put out compelling novellas, and makes every world feel unique.


4 howls