Review: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #5)

Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5)
Seanan McGuire
Published: Jan. 7, 2020 (Tor)
Purchase at: Amazon
Review Source: Purchased

Reviewed by: Amy

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will reference previous events in the series. If you haven’t yet started, check out VBC’s review of Every Heart a Doorway.

Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke her crown and Jill came tumbling after.

When last we saw twins Jack and Jill at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, Jack had killed her sister after Jill had murdered a fellow student. Jack was taking Jill back through their Doorway to the Moors—where death isn’t necessarily quite so lasting.

But their story has yet another chapter, as Jack is once again brought back to Eleanor West’s in a storm of lightning very fitting for a mad scientist. Jack needs the help of her fellow students in order to keep order within the Moors where monsters dwell and the red Moon oversees all, and if Jill has her way it will all Come Tumbling Down. They’re about to throw that whole “No Quests” rule right out the window.

Come Tumbling Down is another quest entry in the series much like the lovely confection that is Beneath the Sugar Sky which, for me, means that it moves at a quicker pace than I’ve found the prequel stories tend to be more languorous. After all, we’ve already learned Jack and Jill’s history and saw their previous future, so it’s only valid that we would get the ending as well.

I think my review of In An Absent Dream stated that the series pivots around the first book of the series Every Heart a Doorway, but I’d like to amend that slightly by saying that each book revolves around Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children School—like a way station as they wait for their doors to open once again—but the stories pivot around and have been so influenced, at least up to this point, by Jack and Jill. Without the events that transpired (because of Jill) in Every Heart we wouldn’t have necessarily needed, or gotten, the backstory in Sticks and Stones, and there would have been no quest in Sugar Sky.

I feel like it’s rightful that there’s a finality to their story. Come Tumbling Down definitely provides that, for now. I say for now because really Seanan McGuire could turn all of this on its head in the next book. But it feels pretty final while also showcasing some of our students who have yet to get their own stories told such as Kade, Christopher, and Cora—I’d include the every delightful Sumi, but she already knows where her story is going so she just gets to be along for the sugar-coated sweet ride.

You can’t go wrong with the Wayward Children series ever. Although the past books have been pretty good standalones and technically this one could work too, this time around it’s more beneficial to have all the details behind the Wolcott twins.

 Sexual Content: Kissing