NetGalley Review: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire
Hey all, Sam here.
After all of the snow that was dumped on us a couple weeks ago and the absolute frigid temperatures the following few days, our schedules and life got a little topsy-turvy.
Basically when David and I got home after our shift on Saturday a couple weeks ago (which ended at 2 am Sunday, so we got home around 3am due to caution because of road conditions), we discovered that something had busted inside our tankless water heater and water was gushing out in the basement. On top of that our furnace was failing and our house was at a very chilly 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
The furnace issue got resolved fairly quickly, but we had so many issues getting plumbers, even emergency plumbers, to return our calls. For nearly two weeks we only had running water in one bathroom, and it was cold water…so it made it extremely difficult to do things like dishes or cooking or bathing. We are so thankful to our friends who let us come to their homes for laundry and hot showers.
Needless to say, it made it difficult to focus on blogging or writing, even though I was doing plenty of reading to escape from reality. So, although I’ve read like 20 books in January, I haven’t reviewed any of them….until now. I have plenty to catch up on, so let’s see if I can get into a normal blogging routine starting now.
Speaking of, let’s go ahead and jump into today’s review.
My Thoughts
Dinosaurs and portals, and a girl who can find both in the latest book in the Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning series.
Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children.
When her fellow students realize that Antsy’s talent for finding absolutely anything may extend to doors, she’s forced to flee in the company of a small group of friends, looking for a way back to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go to be sure that Vineta and Hudson are keeping their promise.
Along the way, temptations are dangled, decisions are reinforced, and a departure to a world populated by dinosaurs brings untold dangers and one or two other surprises!
A story that reminds us that finding what you want doesn’t always mean finding what you need.
Rating: 5 stars
This was my first completed read of 2024, and as with the rest of the series, I flew through it. This novella was released into the world on January 9th, although I read it on the 1st. Honestly, I probably could have read it sooner, because it was sitting on my e-reader for a little while, but I wanted to wait until closer to release day, especially knowing that it doesn’t take long to read a novella.
Anyway, this is the 9th installment in the Wayward Children series, and while most of them can basically be read in any order, I recommend reading them in publication order. That being said, this one makes the most sense if you’ve at least read the previous novella, Lost in the Moment and Found. I read and reviewed that one last year, so you can check out my thoughts for it as well.
I’m glad we got Antsy as our main character for two stories in a row. I love how connected she is to all of the Doors and the journey of finding things that she goes on through both of them.
Honestly I’ve really enjoyed the way McGuire sets up this series in a non-linear way. Some of the novellas are set in the past and introduce us to characters and show how they get to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, while other novellas are set in the “present” and we get to see several of these characters interacting with each other at the school.
With any of the “present” novellas, we could get little hints into other characters’ adventures or pasts…which could indicate another story already released or one that might be written and released in the future. That’s honestly why there’s a certain freedom in reading order…although again, even saying that, I still think reading them in publication order is the way to go.
Anyway, this one definitely lives up to the portal fantasy name, because thanks to Antsy’s ability to locate Doors, we get to visit a few different places, and once again there is a journey of learning, growth, discovery, and adventure. We get to see the dynamics between many of the wayward children, because some have had happier adventures than others, and what they’ve experienced has affected them in different ways. Some we met in story one and their adventure isn’t complete yet.
It’s cool that we get to see them pop up in so many different books and see different snippets on their journeys, although that does sometimes make it difficult to follow because there are just so many characters we’ve met over the course of nine novellas. I’m honestly to the point where I’m going to need to start going back and re-reading over all of these. Which isn’t something I’m upset about. I love McGuire’s ability to weave such an emotional, sometimes harrowing, sometimes whimsical, always fantastical story in such a short number of pages.
While I had read a couple McGuire books before this series, it was Wayward Children that moved her to the level of auto-buy author. Well…Wayward Children and then the Alchemical Journeys books.
If you haven’t read this series yet, the first one is Every Heart a Doorway (which I apparently never reviewed) or you can get a bind-up of the first three called Be Sure.
Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway
Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky
Book 4: In an Absent Dream
Book 5: Come Tumbling Down
Book 6: Across the Green Grass Fields
Book 7: Where the Drowned Girls Go
Book 8: Lost in the Moment and Found
Book 9: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
Book 10: (Untitled but expected in January 2025)
Clearly, I also need to do a re-read so I can review the ones I apparently never reviewed on here. I guess that’ll be a goal for 2024, possibly something I’ll do towards the end of the year. Maybe I’ll do Novella November. Then I’d be refreshed on the Wayward Children series before the next book comes out.
Anyway, that is all from me for today. I know it got a little long there because of my rambling and such, but that’s okay. Tomorrow I’ll be back with my January Wrap-Up, and then Friday will be February’s Writing Prompts for the Weekend Writer series. Hopefully Saturday and Sunday will be more book reviews, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself.
Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
