What do you think?
Rate this book
The Children: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 2 Jun 26The haunting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, must contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic
Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.
In one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.
Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s fantasy world?
The Children is wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, and the way our most beloved stories grow up with us. It's for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found its pages cast in a darker light, the line separating magic from reality blurring as we discover the books that once comforted us carry shadows of their own.
Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.
In one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.
Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s fantasy world?
The Children is wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, and the way our most beloved stories grow up with us. It's for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found its pages cast in a darker light, the line separating magic from reality blurring as we discover the books that once comforted us carry shadows of their own.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 2, 2026
19 people are currently reading
14765 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Albert
10 books4,981 followersMelissa Albert is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of the Hazel Wood series and Our Crooked Hearts, and a former bookseller and founder of the Barnes & Noble Teen Blog. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and included in the New York Times’ list of Notable Children’s Books. She enjoys swimming pool tourism, genre mashups, and living in Brooklyn with her hilarious husband and magnificently goofy son.
Okay, now I will stop talking about myself in the third person. I try to reply to all messages and questions, so please reach out, or come find me on Twitter (@mimi_albert) or Instagram (@melissaalbertauthor)! (But please note: I don't accept GR friend requests anymore because of Amazon's related review policy.)
Okay, now I will stop talking about myself in the third person. I try to reply to all messages and questions, so please reach out, or come find me on Twitter (@mimi_albert) or Instagram (@melissaalbertauthor)! (But please note: I don't accept GR friend requests anymore because of Amazon's related review policy.)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
Want to read
November 23, 2025Goodreads giveaway!
November 10, 2025
i can’t wait to still be recommending this book to people when I’m 80 years old
November 17, 2025
I… I… just preorder this book!!!!
September 4, 2025
I've been out of the publishing world long enough that reading this way early felt really special—mostly because it's fucking great.
January 25, 2026
Were you a child who loved to read? Were you obsessed with series like Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia & then conflicted by the authors real world actions or comments? Have you ever felt disillusioned by the realities of adulthood & longed for the magic those books created? If so you should plan to read this as soon as it releases!
Just an incredibly meaty book. There’s so much thematically to pull apart. The characters are beautifully crafted. Best of all the writing is profoundly evocative. The scenes set in the MCs childhood are lethargic, hazy, with constant danger floating beneath.
I found myself thrust back into my own childhood. Visiting my grandparents in Vermont involved picking blackberries in the woods, sitting in the hollow whispering to fairies, lying in the sun reading Harry Potter. As an adult those memories feel like they’re from a place I can never return to, Albert doesn’t just acknowledge that loss she also questions if any adult should return to that world.
This is a book I’ll definitely be rereading (rare for me). It’d be a great book club read . I just can’t recommend it enough!
Just an incredibly meaty book. There’s so much thematically to pull apart. The characters are beautifully crafted. Best of all the writing is profoundly evocative. The scenes set in the MCs childhood are lethargic, hazy, with constant danger floating beneath.
I found myself thrust back into my own childhood. Visiting my grandparents in Vermont involved picking blackberries in the woods, sitting in the hollow whispering to fairies, lying in the sun reading Harry Potter. As an adult those memories feel like they’re from a place I can never return to, Albert doesn’t just acknowledge that loss she also questions if any adult should return to that world.
This is a book I’ll definitely be rereading (rare for me). It’d be a great book club read . I just can’t recommend it enough!
January 21, 2026
I was sucked into this book right from the start, it’s the best kind of magical realism! The writing style is great; the characters are interesting, the scenes are painted beautifully, and the story unfolds seamlessly through the dual timelines. The whole book was tense, unsettling, and kept me guessing. Definitely recommend!
Also I’m IN LOVE with the cover!
Also I’m IN LOVE with the cover!
Want to read
September 17, 2025novels exploring myth, memory, and legacy through gothic narratives about fictional writers are literally my goddamn kryptonite and why i love starling house and the thirteenth tale so much.
melissa albert, you absolute monarch. i will love you forever.
melissa albert, you absolute monarch. i will love you forever.
November 11, 2025
A haunting family epic that will stick with me the rest of my life. Underneath the lyrical writing and vivid storytelling lies an examination of the power of memory, the ghosts of our upbringings, and the role art plays in our lives. Mark you calendars for June 2026!!
October 25, 2025
What a mesmerizing, horrifying, dark and gorgeous thing this is.
February 3, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
Haunting is absolutely the right word to describe this book. Give me a dysfunctional trauma-riddled family with a dark murky past, all day every day. I’m so glad that Melissa Albert has written a book for adults, creating something that is just as atmospheric as her young adult books.
I’m still not sure which timeline I preferred, the memories and the present were both so gripping, and left me with so many questions about where we’d be taken next. Also it’s really rare that a book ends EXACTLY how I want it to, but I got all my wishes with this one.
This is definitely a book I’m going to be thinking about for a long time
Haunting is absolutely the right word to describe this book. Give me a dysfunctional trauma-riddled family with a dark murky past, all day every day. I’m so glad that Melissa Albert has written a book for adults, creating something that is just as atmospheric as her young adult books.
I’m still not sure which timeline I preferred, the memories and the present were both so gripping, and left me with so many questions about where we’d be taken next. Also it’s really rare that a book ends EXACTLY how I want it to, but I got all my wishes with this one.
This is definitely a book I’m going to be thinking about for a long time
Read
November 10, 2025Kind of f*cked me up a little — think dark and twisted fairytale for adults.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you, William Morrow and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.
Guinevere and Ennis Sharpe had two childhood. In one, they lived in their family farmhouse in Vermont, in the other they were the protagonists of their mother world-famous The Ninth City books, facing adventures and discoveries. But their childhood wasn't so magical in the reality. They were often neglected, unferfed, unwashed and free to run in the woods surrounding the house, dealing with family older's friends and other influences. After a fire destroyed everything, leaving them the only survivors, now Guin is coasting on her mother's name, promoting her books, writing a memoir. When her estranged brother, now famous artists, promotes a new art installation, called "Mother". Guin is forced to confront herself with her past, her demons and what happened the night they lost everything and each other.
The Children is another gorgeous, haunting and brilliantly written novel by the fantastic Melissa Albert, who mixes magic realism, dark fairytales and the struggles of growing up, the importance of stories in our lives and how they grew up with us. The story is told by Guin's POV, alternating past and present and mixing them with Ennis' installations, slowly recreating the story of their lives, from living a wild childhood, but unprotected one, in the farmhouse in the woods, to grow up apart and estranged, whose reason we will discover only much later in the book.
Melissa Albert creates a complicated enviroment where Guin and Ennis grow, made of complex adult, struggling with their art and inspirations, friends/supporters/muses, often fixed presences in the lives of the kids, who lived almost abandoned to themselves, mostly Ennis taking care of Guinevere. If the world saw their childhood as enchanted, as Guin often told them, hiding the ugly truth, the reality was far from it.
Magical and enchanting was the house they grew up exploring, discovering quotes, wooden sculptures and creating their own fort and stories in the woods, exploring without adults.
Now grow up, Guin has to deal not only with the memories resurfaced after her brother announced his new installation, but also with being a child of legendary author and this kind of pressure from fans and supporters, while Ennis hid away from all this.
I won't say anything more, but The Children is a spectacular book, mixing horror, fantasy, magic realism, the importance of stories that grow with you, and the shadows these stories can carry, the enchanted world of childhood and the real truth behind it. Guin and Ennis have to face the world of legacy, magic and memories. And make a choice.
Hauntingly beautiful, enchantly written and with complex and well rounded characters, with all their ups and downs, flaws and desires. I loved everything,
Guinevere and Ennis Sharpe had two childhood. In one, they lived in their family farmhouse in Vermont, in the other they were the protagonists of their mother world-famous The Ninth City books, facing adventures and discoveries. But their childhood wasn't so magical in the reality. They were often neglected, unferfed, unwashed and free to run in the woods surrounding the house, dealing with family older's friends and other influences. After a fire destroyed everything, leaving them the only survivors, now Guin is coasting on her mother's name, promoting her books, writing a memoir. When her estranged brother, now famous artists, promotes a new art installation, called "Mother". Guin is forced to confront herself with her past, her demons and what happened the night they lost everything and each other.
The Children is another gorgeous, haunting and brilliantly written novel by the fantastic Melissa Albert, who mixes magic realism, dark fairytales and the struggles of growing up, the importance of stories in our lives and how they grew up with us. The story is told by Guin's POV, alternating past and present and mixing them with Ennis' installations, slowly recreating the story of their lives, from living a wild childhood, but unprotected one, in the farmhouse in the woods, to grow up apart and estranged, whose reason we will discover only much later in the book.
Melissa Albert creates a complicated enviroment where Guin and Ennis grow, made of complex adult, struggling with their art and inspirations, friends/supporters/muses, often fixed presences in the lives of the kids, who lived almost abandoned to themselves, mostly Ennis taking care of Guinevere. If the world saw their childhood as enchanted, as Guin often told them, hiding the ugly truth, the reality was far from it.
Magical and enchanting was the house they grew up exploring, discovering quotes, wooden sculptures and creating their own fort and stories in the woods, exploring without adults.
Now grow up, Guin has to deal not only with the memories resurfaced after her brother announced his new installation, but also with being a child of legendary author and this kind of pressure from fans and supporters, while Ennis hid away from all this.
I won't say anything more, but The Children is a spectacular book, mixing horror, fantasy, magic realism, the importance of stories that grow with you, and the shadows these stories can carry, the enchanted world of childhood and the real truth behind it. Guin and Ennis have to face the world of legacy, magic and memories. And make a choice.
Hauntingly beautiful, enchantly written and with complex and well rounded characters, with all their ups and downs, flaws and desires. I loved everything,
November 25, 2025
Melissa Albert is one of those authors you pick up low-key expecting her to be just half a shade less brilliant than she once was, that, surely, at some point, she's going to slip and make one single solitary pedantic comment. Well my friends: Not yet.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It took me longer to read this than I thought, it is so much story and time and existence crammed into a tale that I had to take breaks to let it sit in my head and expand the way it needed to. but now I'm done and I will take the night to sleep and then write the whole of my review.
But that final line? HA! Tres Magnifique, chef's kiss, bow down and round of applause.
My thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow and Melissa Albert for the eARC of this book in exchange for a review.
I've followed Melissa Albert's work since her debut novel, The Hazel Wood was released. I remember the book was being promoted everywhere and I pre-ordered my copy ahead of time. The impression that book left on me took a long time to wear off and it made me a fan for life. So when I saw that Albert was releasing a new book called The Children, I knew I needed to add that book to my shelves. While reading this, I had to take time to let it sit in my head, to let it grow and take shape and show me all the things I needed to see that I was missing while reading. There is so much done in this book that I feel like I could read it again and see more things I didn't catch the first time around. On the one hand, this book is beautiful and on the other it is devastating. It's a toss-up every time I think about it. Overall though, I LOVED this book. It made me do research into other children's book muses and their fates and it made me cuddle my littles a bit closer. If a book can do that, it's an impressive piece of work.
The Children focuses on Guinevere Sharpe, the daughter of the late beloved children's book author, Edith Sharpe, well-known for her Ninth City books that used Guin and her brother Ennis as inspiration. Guinevere spent her childhood running around unsupervised, dirty, sometimes starving, and even neglected. In the books her mother wrote, she was the girl everyone wanted to be and wanted to know. The series was left unfinished when Guinevere and Ennis ended up orphaned by a horrible fire at their childhood home. Twenty years later, the siblings are estranged. Ennis is a well-respected artist and Guinevere has taken up the mantle of promoting her mother's books while also getting ready to launch her own memoir. When Ennis decides to open a new show called Mother at the same time as the release for the memoir, it forces Guinevere to reconsider what she remembers about her childhood. Is it truly the idyllic story she's told in her book and how did it all come crashing down in that fiery end?
The first thing this book made me think of was all those Acknowledgements pages I read at the end of every book I pick up. The ones where the author thanks their partner for doing the majority of the work keeping the house running and taking on the bulk of time spent with their kids. And then there's sometimes a line for said kids being thanked for understanding how much it meant that they let the author do their writing and understanding that they needed to let said author/parent do their work alone. After which, I promptly put my phone down, climbed into the playpen and started a game with my kids. Because yeah, this book made me very conscious of how much time I spend with my kids alongside trying to do some writing. As is, this review is being written after midnight when my kids are asleep so I don't feel guilty about not focusing on them. I don't want to ever come close to being the parents in this book, that's for sure. There is a work/life balance and Edith Sharpe definitely did NOT have that nor really a true parenting bone in her body and the examination of that that and the effect it had on her kids is what drives the book. For the authors who mention their families, you know they value the worth of their partner and their kids. I doubt Edith Sharpe even deigned to mention them for thanks. How much is TOO MUCH to sacrifice for your dreams and who else has to sacrifice with you to get you there?
The second thing this book made me do is research the kids I could think of who inspired some of the classic stories that had children going on grand adventures. I'm happy to report that most of them went on to live long happy lives but this book definitely made me feel heartache for Guinevere and Ennis and the effect the Ninth City books had on their existence. The ideas presented in this story were chilling and it has cemented in my head that I will NEVER use my kids as inspiration. I know I'm talking about them now but there will never be any specifics about them mentioned anwhere in my writing. The fact that there are so many scholarly articles devoted to the research of understanding who inspired what and how and why is enough to make my skin crawl and I would hate for that kind of speculation to be turned on my family. Which is where a lot of the focus of THIS book went to with Guin and Ennis. I only cared about these kids and saving them and Albert deserves so much credit for making them feel so real and heartbreaking.
In terms of characters, the book focuses mainly on Guin, her recollections of her childhood and the spiraling effect her brother's new art exhibit is having on the life she has created for herself. I loved child Guinevere but I wasn't sure where I stood with adult Guin until the end of the book. I could understand why she was how she was but a lot of what she did throughout the book made me question her on everything. That ending though, just wow. It made me sit up and want to applaud and it was all because of Guin. Suffice to say, that is one character that packs a punch. I'm glad she got to where she needed to go, anything else said will ruin the effect of that ending so that is where I will leave it.
If you've read Melissa Albert before, this book fits right in with the rest of her work. At first, I thought this was going to be a story focused more on the effects of a neglectful childhood. Then there was a line, an almost throwaway type of thing with Guinevere waving at her mom and then a few sentences later a revelation and it made me sit up and think AHA, there it is, THAT is exactly what I was expecting from Albert's writing. It starts off subtle and then builds, putting more things in that need a second look at, ideas and images that build until they all come together to give you this overarching image of something terrible and wonderful for these characters and their story. The back and forth of the timelines helps with the rhythm, revealing suspenseful tidbits that the reader takes in knowing how Guinevere's childhood ends and then placing that story opposite the journey Guin is taking to finally coming face to face with her brother again after decades apart. It's all masterfully done, with each secret revealed at just the right time in the past and in the present. I loved the tension it created and the effect it had on me.
One last parting thought, I hope Albert seriosuly considers writing a Ninth City book. I've seen it happen before, after all, Albert did write Tales from The Hinterland that was meant to be a book seen in The Hazel Wood. I'm just saying, if Albert is getting ready to give readers The Ninth City, I will gladly read it.
Rating on my scale? 10 STARS. This book made me re-examine a lot of things, favorite childhood stories, their inspirations and their creators. It's everything I thought it was going to be and then just that much more because of the place it left me with that ending. I'll read this again when I receive my hardcover for my shelves. Read this book if you have ever wondered about the other side of the characters you knew as kids and who they'd be if they could grow up.
But that final line? HA! Tres Magnifique, chef's kiss, bow down and round of applause.
My thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow and Melissa Albert for the eARC of this book in exchange for a review.
I've followed Melissa Albert's work since her debut novel, The Hazel Wood was released. I remember the book was being promoted everywhere and I pre-ordered my copy ahead of time. The impression that book left on me took a long time to wear off and it made me a fan for life. So when I saw that Albert was releasing a new book called The Children, I knew I needed to add that book to my shelves. While reading this, I had to take time to let it sit in my head, to let it grow and take shape and show me all the things I needed to see that I was missing while reading. There is so much done in this book that I feel like I could read it again and see more things I didn't catch the first time around. On the one hand, this book is beautiful and on the other it is devastating. It's a toss-up every time I think about it. Overall though, I LOVED this book. It made me do research into other children's book muses and their fates and it made me cuddle my littles a bit closer. If a book can do that, it's an impressive piece of work.
The Children focuses on Guinevere Sharpe, the daughter of the late beloved children's book author, Edith Sharpe, well-known for her Ninth City books that used Guin and her brother Ennis as inspiration. Guinevere spent her childhood running around unsupervised, dirty, sometimes starving, and even neglected. In the books her mother wrote, she was the girl everyone wanted to be and wanted to know. The series was left unfinished when Guinevere and Ennis ended up orphaned by a horrible fire at their childhood home. Twenty years later, the siblings are estranged. Ennis is a well-respected artist and Guinevere has taken up the mantle of promoting her mother's books while also getting ready to launch her own memoir. When Ennis decides to open a new show called Mother at the same time as the release for the memoir, it forces Guinevere to reconsider what she remembers about her childhood. Is it truly the idyllic story she's told in her book and how did it all come crashing down in that fiery end?
The first thing this book made me think of was all those Acknowledgements pages I read at the end of every book I pick up. The ones where the author thanks their partner for doing the majority of the work keeping the house running and taking on the bulk of time spent with their kids. And then there's sometimes a line for said kids being thanked for understanding how much it meant that they let the author do their writing and understanding that they needed to let said author/parent do their work alone. After which, I promptly put my phone down, climbed into the playpen and started a game with my kids. Because yeah, this book made me very conscious of how much time I spend with my kids alongside trying to do some writing. As is, this review is being written after midnight when my kids are asleep so I don't feel guilty about not focusing on them. I don't want to ever come close to being the parents in this book, that's for sure. There is a work/life balance and Edith Sharpe definitely did NOT have that nor really a true parenting bone in her body and the examination of that that and the effect it had on her kids is what drives the book. For the authors who mention their families, you know they value the worth of their partner and their kids. I doubt Edith Sharpe even deigned to mention them for thanks. How much is TOO MUCH to sacrifice for your dreams and who else has to sacrifice with you to get you there?
The second thing this book made me do is research the kids I could think of who inspired some of the classic stories that had children going on grand adventures. I'm happy to report that most of them went on to live long happy lives but this book definitely made me feel heartache for Guinevere and Ennis and the effect the Ninth City books had on their existence. The ideas presented in this story were chilling and it has cemented in my head that I will NEVER use my kids as inspiration. I know I'm talking about them now but there will never be any specifics about them mentioned anwhere in my writing. The fact that there are so many scholarly articles devoted to the research of understanding who inspired what and how and why is enough to make my skin crawl and I would hate for that kind of speculation to be turned on my family. Which is where a lot of the focus of THIS book went to with Guin and Ennis. I only cared about these kids and saving them and Albert deserves so much credit for making them feel so real and heartbreaking.
In terms of characters, the book focuses mainly on Guin, her recollections of her childhood and the spiraling effect her brother's new art exhibit is having on the life she has created for herself. I loved child Guinevere but I wasn't sure where I stood with adult Guin until the end of the book. I could understand why she was how she was but a lot of what she did throughout the book made me question her on everything. That ending though, just wow. It made me sit up and want to applaud and it was all because of Guin. Suffice to say, that is one character that packs a punch. I'm glad she got to where she needed to go, anything else said will ruin the effect of that ending so that is where I will leave it.
If you've read Melissa Albert before, this book fits right in with the rest of her work. At first, I thought this was going to be a story focused more on the effects of a neglectful childhood. Then there was a line, an almost throwaway type of thing with Guinevere waving at her mom and then a few sentences later a revelation and it made me sit up and think AHA, there it is, THAT is exactly what I was expecting from Albert's writing. It starts off subtle and then builds, putting more things in that need a second look at, ideas and images that build until they all come together to give you this overarching image of something terrible and wonderful for these characters and their story. The back and forth of the timelines helps with the rhythm, revealing suspenseful tidbits that the reader takes in knowing how Guinevere's childhood ends and then placing that story opposite the journey Guin is taking to finally coming face to face with her brother again after decades apart. It's all masterfully done, with each secret revealed at just the right time in the past and in the present. I loved the tension it created and the effect it had on me.
One last parting thought, I hope Albert seriosuly considers writing a Ninth City book. I've seen it happen before, after all, Albert did write Tales from The Hinterland that was meant to be a book seen in The Hazel Wood. I'm just saying, if Albert is getting ready to give readers The Ninth City, I will gladly read it.
Rating on my scale? 10 STARS. This book made me re-examine a lot of things, favorite childhood stories, their inspirations and their creators. It's everything I thought it was going to be and then just that much more because of the place it left me with that ending. I'll read this again when I receive my hardcover for my shelves. Read this book if you have ever wondered about the other side of the characters you knew as kids and who they'd be if they could grow up.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Messy, toxic family drama but make it gothic fairytale? INJECT THIS INTO MY VEINS.
The Sharpe family is famous: The parents' marriage was a Hollywood scandal, the children immortalized in the world's most popular book series. But beneath the sheen and spectacle of fame is something darker that Guin is desperate to forget.
Guin's estranged artist brother reveals a new exhibit based on their childhood at the worst time, right when Guin is trying to shill a memoir that's more wishful thinking than fact. She must confront memories and mysteries about her parents' untimely death and who is responsible for their demise. (A hefty task given the Sharpe family does not possess a single shred of sanity.)
Not sure if there's a likeable character to be found in this book, but I could not have cared less. I lost myself in the atmosphere and blend of memory and discovery. The haunted house vibes and sibling. dynamics were a knock out.
The Sharpe family is famous: The parents' marriage was a Hollywood scandal, the children immortalized in the world's most popular book series. But beneath the sheen and spectacle of fame is something darker that Guin is desperate to forget.
Guin's estranged artist brother reveals a new exhibit based on their childhood at the worst time, right when Guin is trying to shill a memoir that's more wishful thinking than fact. She must confront memories and mysteries about her parents' untimely death and who is responsible for their demise. (A hefty task given the Sharpe family does not possess a single shred of sanity.)
Not sure if there's a likeable character to be found in this book, but I could not have cared less. I lost myself in the atmosphere and blend of memory and discovery. The haunted house vibes and sibling. dynamics were a knock out.
December 3, 2025
What an epic story. I finished this a couple days ago but wasn’t quite sure what to say yet. I don’t write well enough for a book like this. Such an imaginative story about an eccentric family and their life. It’s full of rich detail that is so intertwined and clever, by the end I was marveling at how so many details fit in together so nicely. Melissa Albert is so good at painting the scene and making her characters real with striking personalities and uniqueness. It’s part literary fiction/romance/mystery/magical realism/horror… It really did not play out as I expected and I love that. At first I did not, but I was just so obsessed with watching it all unfold that by the end I knew it was the only possible ending. I want to read it again to see what breadcrumbs I missed along the way…and I want to read it told from a different perspective just for fun! 😁 I love Melissa Albert’s stories and this one was a knockout.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
Let me start by saying that you’re going to want to add this book to your 2026 TBR stat! I read this during a reading retreat this fall and it was one of the most memorable reading experiences that I’ve had in a long time.
This book was eerie and unsettling in the best way. I thought the fairytale elements in the story were fitting and beautifully woven in. Just like this story, fairytales may appear idyllic on the surface, but the reality beneath that is often much darker and scarier.
Albert’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, so atmospheric and immersive. I felt like I was experiencing the flashbacks with Guin. I wanted to know what happened during their childhood, but at the same time I felt like reading with my hands over my eyes, knowing that the bad thing was surely coming.
I loved the way that Albert explored memory and asked the question: which version of the story is actually the truth. I was also captivated by the complicated family dynamics, particularly the relationship between Guin and her brother, Ennis. As someone with siblings, I know that two siblings growing up in the same household can have very different experiences with the same parents. And I was desperate to know what could have gone so wrong that caused these siblings to be estranged for decades.
This book made me nostalgic for the children's books that shaped my childhood, books such as The Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew. At the same time, Albert explores the relationship between the artist and their audience, and what responsibility the artist may have to both the subjects of their art, as well as the people that consume it.
Back to the writing for a moment because it was just that good. The dialogue is expertly written (which we discovered since we read the book aloud). And certain references were so sharp that I had to marvel at their accuracy.
When I finished this book, I had to just breathe deeply and stare at a wall for a wall (complimentary). I know I won’t be forgetting about these characters anytime soon and I can’t wait for more people to read this haunting and beautifully-written novel.
/////
Let me tell you right now that you’re gonna want to add this book to your 2026 TBR! Full review to come.
Let me start by saying that you’re going to want to add this book to your 2026 TBR stat! I read this during a reading retreat this fall and it was one of the most memorable reading experiences that I’ve had in a long time.
This book was eerie and unsettling in the best way. I thought the fairytale elements in the story were fitting and beautifully woven in. Just like this story, fairytales may appear idyllic on the surface, but the reality beneath that is often much darker and scarier.
Albert’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, so atmospheric and immersive. I felt like I was experiencing the flashbacks with Guin. I wanted to know what happened during their childhood, but at the same time I felt like reading with my hands over my eyes, knowing that the bad thing was surely coming.
I loved the way that Albert explored memory and asked the question: which version of the story is actually the truth. I was also captivated by the complicated family dynamics, particularly the relationship between Guin and her brother, Ennis. As someone with siblings, I know that two siblings growing up in the same household can have very different experiences with the same parents. And I was desperate to know what could have gone so wrong that caused these siblings to be estranged for decades.
This book made me nostalgic for the children's books that shaped my childhood, books such as The Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew. At the same time, Albert explores the relationship between the artist and their audience, and what responsibility the artist may have to both the subjects of their art, as well as the people that consume it.
Back to the writing for a moment because it was just that good. The dialogue is expertly written (which we discovered since we read the book aloud). And certain references were so sharp that I had to marvel at their accuracy.
When I finished this book, I had to just breathe deeply and stare at a wall for a wall (complimentary). I know I won’t be forgetting about these characters anytime soon and I can’t wait for more people to read this haunting and beautifully-written novel.
/////
Let me tell you right now that you’re gonna want to add this book to your 2026 TBR! Full review to come.
October 7, 2025
Ohhhh y’all ain’t even READY!!!
November 15, 2025
This was an interesting read that didn't fully live up to my (admittedly very high) expectations. I've enjoyed several of Melissa Albert's books previously and there are a lot of similarities here between them but certain parts didn't land as well as others.
Things I thought were great:
-The atmosphere. So foreboding, so creepy, as though something awful was about to happen at any moment.
-The world of the Ninth City. It did a really good job invoking the creepiness of many of our childhood favorites.
-Generational trauma. Without spoiling too much, this book does an excellent job exploring how our demons are often passed down from parents to children and beyond.
Things I didn't love as much:
-The ultimate answer to WTF is going on was never going to be as good as the tension. The book does an excellent job building tension but when we got to the climax, I was a little surprised at where it went. There were hints throughout the book, but it still felt a little unearned. I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about this one.
-Guin didn't feel as fully formed as an adult to me. She seemed almost a shadow, which I suppose was intentional, but it made it harder to get into her POV.
-Certain characters and plot points seem like they're going to come back in the end but never do. Unless I'm just not seeing how all the pieces add up together.
All-in, a solid read that I tore through in less than a day, although it left me a little unsatisfied in the end.
Things I thought were great:
-The atmosphere. So foreboding, so creepy, as though something awful was about to happen at any moment.
-The world of the Ninth City. It did a really good job invoking the creepiness of many of our childhood favorites.
-Generational trauma. Without spoiling too much, this book does an excellent job exploring how our demons are often passed down from parents to children and beyond.
Things I didn't love as much:
-The ultimate answer to WTF is going on was never going to be as good as the tension. The book does an excellent job building tension but when we got to the climax, I was a little surprised at where it went. There were hints throughout the book, but it still felt a little unearned. I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about this one.
-Guin didn't feel as fully formed as an adult to me. She seemed almost a shadow, which I suppose was intentional, but it made it harder to get into her POV.
-Certain characters and plot points seem like they're going to come back in the end but never do. Unless I'm just not seeing how all the pieces add up together.
All-in, a solid read that I tore through in less than a day, although it left me a little unsatisfied in the end.
November 11, 2025
The Children is a true fairytale, a dark origin story. It explores the snarled claws of legacy, responsibility in art, yearning for home, and the hungry pit of passion. Thanks to its lush metaphors, the delicate unmaking of childhood myths, and its captivating dual timelines, I couldn’t put this one down.
Guinevere has grown used to the parasocial spotlight. As a child, she and her brother Ennis were the stars of her mother Edith’s famous Ninth City books, from their names and personalities peppered throughout the pages to their likenesses used for the cover art. But the truth of her childhood was messier: hungry, neglected, and a bit feral. And she hasn’t heard from her brother since the deadly fire that took their home and their parents’ lives.
Now an adult, Guin lives off of book royalties and smiles for journalists as she upholds her mother’s legacy. She’s just released a ghostwritten memoir when Ennis announces the title of his next art show: Mother. Though Guin insists that her childhood was idyllic, memories from the past start bubbling up. She has to confront the trauma she’s locked away, all the while yearning for the brother who was once her best friend.
As children, Guinevere and Ennis are exploited to the highest degree. They’re made painfully vulnerable by the people who should be their fiercest guardians. There’s something deeply sinister about writing your real children into the pages of a book, but beyond that even their basic needs were left unmet. Both children live with a deep, keening hunger for attention, affection, and to be seen as a full person. To be acknowledged as humans with needs and desires and talents.
They’re not cared for. They’re not given peace. They just sit with this ravenous, feral desire for home that manifests in different ways over the course of their lives.
There are dual timelines at play here (and sometimes a third threaded in), and both equally enchanted me, which almost never happens.
The way Melissa Albert has captured childhood is just perfect. Childhood nostalgia is viewed almost as mythmaking. Young emotions rise and shift SO quickly, from serious dangers to fantastical highs. Kids are clever little sponges, and even if they don’t understand everything that passes them by, it seeps into their bones. There’s something rotten in their parents and something haunted about their house, and they know it with childlike absolute certainty.
And then, during adulthood: returning home and seeing the shadows more clearly. Reprocessing snapshots and widening the frame, understanding that there was more darkness than you ever realized.
Sometimes, I saw mirrors in this story. There’s that yawning chasm that erupts when someone tells you they didn’t have a fucked-up childhood, and you can’t help but feel a little baffled. But then there’s the handshake of the eyes - slightly hollow, slightly haunted- when you meet a fellow traveler from a cursed house. When you see how they’ve slotted the pieces of their past into comfortable nooks of their mind, how they’ve woven pain into hungry passion (or shoved it behind the walls of the past).
The writing was both precise and ornate. The metaphors and imagery were creative and evocative; I chewed over every sentence with delight.
I’m always going to leave a piece of myself behind in a generational trauma book, and this one clocked me dead in the eyes. Other themes included legacy, storytelling, parenthood, art, siblinghood, memory, love, and finding home. How much of your past can you confidently recollect? What happens once you rub away the varnish? You yearn to return to wonderland until you see the truth of its glittering corpses.
This sort of made me want to scream into the void, and I loved it.
CW: death, murder, suicide, child abuse, pedophilia, sexual abuse, neglect, fire, infidelity
Follow me on social media for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Guinevere has grown used to the parasocial spotlight. As a child, she and her brother Ennis were the stars of her mother Edith’s famous Ninth City books, from their names and personalities peppered throughout the pages to their likenesses used for the cover art. But the truth of her childhood was messier: hungry, neglected, and a bit feral. And she hasn’t heard from her brother since the deadly fire that took their home and their parents’ lives.
Now an adult, Guin lives off of book royalties and smiles for journalists as she upholds her mother’s legacy. She’s just released a ghostwritten memoir when Ennis announces the title of his next art show: Mother. Though Guin insists that her childhood was idyllic, memories from the past start bubbling up. She has to confront the trauma she’s locked away, all the while yearning for the brother who was once her best friend.
As children, Guinevere and Ennis are exploited to the highest degree. They’re made painfully vulnerable by the people who should be their fiercest guardians. There’s something deeply sinister about writing your real children into the pages of a book, but beyond that even their basic needs were left unmet. Both children live with a deep, keening hunger for attention, affection, and to be seen as a full person. To be acknowledged as humans with needs and desires and talents.
They’re not cared for. They’re not given peace. They just sit with this ravenous, feral desire for home that manifests in different ways over the course of their lives.
There are dual timelines at play here (and sometimes a third threaded in), and both equally enchanted me, which almost never happens.
The way Melissa Albert has captured childhood is just perfect. Childhood nostalgia is viewed almost as mythmaking. Young emotions rise and shift SO quickly, from serious dangers to fantastical highs. Kids are clever little sponges, and even if they don’t understand everything that passes them by, it seeps into their bones. There’s something rotten in their parents and something haunted about their house, and they know it with childlike absolute certainty.
And then, during adulthood: returning home and seeing the shadows more clearly. Reprocessing snapshots and widening the frame, understanding that there was more darkness than you ever realized.
Sometimes, I saw mirrors in this story. There’s that yawning chasm that erupts when someone tells you they didn’t have a fucked-up childhood, and you can’t help but feel a little baffled. But then there’s the handshake of the eyes - slightly hollow, slightly haunted- when you meet a fellow traveler from a cursed house. When you see how they’ve slotted the pieces of their past into comfortable nooks of their mind, how they’ve woven pain into hungry passion (or shoved it behind the walls of the past).
The writing was both precise and ornate. The metaphors and imagery were creative and evocative; I chewed over every sentence with delight.
I’m always going to leave a piece of myself behind in a generational trauma book, and this one clocked me dead in the eyes. Other themes included legacy, storytelling, parenthood, art, siblinghood, memory, love, and finding home. How much of your past can you confidently recollect? What happens once you rub away the varnish? You yearn to return to wonderland until you see the truth of its glittering corpses.
This sort of made me want to scream into the void, and I loved it.
CW: death, murder, suicide, child abuse, pedophilia, sexual abuse, neglect, fire, infidelity
Follow me on social media for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
November 15, 2025
“The children who grew up on these books and reread them later on often say the same thing: These are darker than I remember. Crueler, stranger, more haunted by longing and loss.
All good children’s books are.”
The Children is classic Melissa Albert; a dark, twisted fairy tale overlapping the real world. I was intrigued by the synopsis and thrilled when I received the eARC. But unfortunately, this wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and I’m still trying to make sense of it.
The protagonist of The Children is Guinevere Sharpe, daughter of famous author Edith Sharpe. In the early 2000s, Guinevere and her brother Ennis were immortalized in their mother’s Ninth City books, a dark fantasy series for children that received worldwide acclaim. Readers who grew up on the books assumed the Sharpe siblings were living a magical life like their fictional counterparts, but that belief couldn’t have been further from the truth.
In actuality, the siblings’ childhood was marked by hunger and neglect. They grew up semi-feral, taking to the woods to escape their Vermont farmhouse. They received no formal education during these years, and their parents were too preoccupied with their art and entertaining a revolving door of guests to pay any real attention to the kids.
When their parents died in a house fire, Ennis and Guin were split up and estranged for over two decades. Guin became a ghostwriter while Ennis made a career as an artist, known for his surreal, scandalous exhibitions. His newest installation, titled Mother, is what forces Guinevere to revisit Edith’s legacy and confront the truth behind their parents’ deaths.
Sounds pretty good, right? That’s what I thought. But The Children is bogged down by unnecessary chapters, characters, and plotlines that seem like they’ll be more important than they actually are. While the writing is occasionally lush and alluring, there are many awkward turns of phrase and an overabundance of similes. Guinevere doesn’t feel like a fully formed person, and it takes almost 400 pages to meet Ennis in the present day. And the ARC is 424 pages long.
The reveal at the end was so random and bizarre that it felt like I was suddenly reading a different story. There are a few hints throughout the book but they didn’t come together in a satisfying way. What’s worse is you can tell Albert thought she was so clever for writing it. It was so ridiculous and self-indulgent.
I think my biggest disappointment, though, is that the Ninth City books aren’t real. A portal fantasy about a shapeshifting realm where visitors’ memories are stolen by a mysterious overseer? Now, that sounds interesting. Much more interesting than whatever The Children was trying to be.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.✨ 3.5 STARS
Melissa Albert did exactly what Melissa Albert does best with The Children. Effortlessly builds a dark & twisted atmosphere that feels equal parts fairy & cautionary tale. The Children is steeped in unease from the very first pages, a family tragedy wrapped in nostalgia, rot, and magic that never quite behaves the way you want it to.
Guinevere Sharpe grew up twice: once in the neglected reality of a remote Vermont farmhouse, &+ once inside the pages of her mother’s wildly popular fantasy series, where she &+ her brother Ennis were immortalized.
The Ninth City books made them famous; real life left them hungry, feral, &+ dangerously alone.
After a house fire kills their mother &+ leaves the series unfinished, the truth of their childhood is buried as life takes them separate ways. Years later, when Ennis resurfaces with an inconveniently-timed art installation, the past begins to bleed through. Memories sharpen, rumors darken, &+ the fantasy world that once enchanted millions starts to reveal something rotten at its roots.
Following Guinevere back into the woods of her childhood felt immersive and unsettling, like being pulled under by a story you half-remember loving. Guinevere is a morally grey, sympathetic, fully realized character: spellbound by her mother’s creation, horrified by it, and still craving answers long after the magic has curdled.
That said, the pacing does falter in the middle. The narrative leans heavily on introspection, and while much of it is effective, some feel repetitive. There were moments where the prose felt a bit overworked — as if every sentence wanted to prove its cleverness — which occasionally pulled me out of the story instead of deeper into it. Still, the payoff ultimately worked for me, and the lingering questions felt intentional rather than incomplete.
The Children is like biting into a ripe apple only to discover a worm beneath the skin — unsettling and impossible to forget once you notice it. It explores how stories reshape memory, how fame distorts love, &+ how the magic we cling to can become the very thing that haunts us.
TRANSPARENCY BLURB:
I was provided this ARC (Advance Reader Copy) from the Author &/or Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I wonder how many fingers Melissa Albert had to part with to write this one!
Melissa Albert did exactly what Melissa Albert does best with The Children. Effortlessly builds a dark & twisted atmosphere that feels equal parts fairy & cautionary tale. The Children is steeped in unease from the very first pages, a family tragedy wrapped in nostalgia, rot, and magic that never quite behaves the way you want it to.
Guinevere Sharpe grew up twice: once in the neglected reality of a remote Vermont farmhouse, &+ once inside the pages of her mother’s wildly popular fantasy series, where she &+ her brother Ennis were immortalized.
The Ninth City books made them famous; real life left them hungry, feral, &+ dangerously alone.
After a house fire kills their mother &+ leaves the series unfinished, the truth of their childhood is buried as life takes them separate ways. Years later, when Ennis resurfaces with an inconveniently-timed art installation, the past begins to bleed through. Memories sharpen, rumors darken, &+ the fantasy world that once enchanted millions starts to reveal something rotten at its roots.
Following Guinevere back into the woods of her childhood felt immersive and unsettling, like being pulled under by a story you half-remember loving. Guinevere is a morally grey, sympathetic, fully realized character: spellbound by her mother’s creation, horrified by it, and still craving answers long after the magic has curdled.
That said, the pacing does falter in the middle. The narrative leans heavily on introspection, and while much of it is effective, some feel repetitive. There were moments where the prose felt a bit overworked — as if every sentence wanted to prove its cleverness — which occasionally pulled me out of the story instead of deeper into it. Still, the payoff ultimately worked for me, and the lingering questions felt intentional rather than incomplete.
The Children is like biting into a ripe apple only to discover a worm beneath the skin — unsettling and impossible to forget once you notice it. It explores how stories reshape memory, how fame distorts love, &+ how the magic we cling to can become the very thing that haunts us.
TRANSPARENCY BLURB:
I was provided this ARC (Advance Reader Copy) from the Author &/or Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I wonder how many fingers Melissa Albert had to part with to write this one!
December 19, 2025
Electronic ARC provided by publisher.
Melissa Albert's first foray into adult fiction is unforgettable. It is a book about artists and stories, about children and adults, about ambition and avarice. It asks what happens when the adults around children don't protect them from the world, and explores the stories that we tell ourselves to protect us from truths that are unacceptable. Like all of Melissa Albert's work The Children is full of shadows and sharp edges, woven through fairy tale prose. The moments of supernatural horror are woven so delicately in to the narrative that you're never quite sure that they are really there or just inventions of a child trying to make sense of the world around her.
This book is narrated by Guin--Guinevere Sharpe--younger child of acclaimed children's fantasy author Edith Sharpe. Edith famously died before completing the sixth and final book of The Ninth City saga, leaving behind millions of hungry fans longing for more of her world. The fact that the children of the Ninth City books were named for and modeled off of her own children, Guin and Ennis, blurs the lines between reality and fiction for the readers as well as for the children themselves. Once each others best friends and only real companions, at the start of this book Guin and Ennis haven't spoken since the fire that consumed their lives when Guin was 11 and Ennis 13. As Guin's carefully constructed adult life begins to crumble she gets closer and closer to unraveling the mysteries of what really happened at the Sharpe farmhouse.
Guin's narrative weaves back and forth from present to past, moving her present forward while slowly revealing the secrets of her childhood. One of the most brilliant aspects of the writing is that the past sections require a lot of reading between the lines in order to figure out what's really going on. Guin was a child at the time, and her child's recollections are not always accurate or complete. What happens to children when they have no-one to protect them? Where might they turn for the love and acceptance that should have come from their parents? The Children is a book mostly set in reality and yet somehow feeling entirely like a dark fairy tale. I can't wait for it to be released so that I can begin recommending it.
Melissa Albert's first foray into adult fiction is unforgettable. It is a book about artists and stories, about children and adults, about ambition and avarice. It asks what happens when the adults around children don't protect them from the world, and explores the stories that we tell ourselves to protect us from truths that are unacceptable. Like all of Melissa Albert's work The Children is full of shadows and sharp edges, woven through fairy tale prose. The moments of supernatural horror are woven so delicately in to the narrative that you're never quite sure that they are really there or just inventions of a child trying to make sense of the world around her.
This book is narrated by Guin--Guinevere Sharpe--younger child of acclaimed children's fantasy author Edith Sharpe. Edith famously died before completing the sixth and final book of The Ninth City saga, leaving behind millions of hungry fans longing for more of her world. The fact that the children of the Ninth City books were named for and modeled off of her own children, Guin and Ennis, blurs the lines between reality and fiction for the readers as well as for the children themselves. Once each others best friends and only real companions, at the start of this book Guin and Ennis haven't spoken since the fire that consumed their lives when Guin was 11 and Ennis 13. As Guin's carefully constructed adult life begins to crumble she gets closer and closer to unraveling the mysteries of what really happened at the Sharpe farmhouse.
Guin's narrative weaves back and forth from present to past, moving her present forward while slowly revealing the secrets of her childhood. One of the most brilliant aspects of the writing is that the past sections require a lot of reading between the lines in order to figure out what's really going on. Guin was a child at the time, and her child's recollections are not always accurate or complete. What happens to children when they have no-one to protect them? Where might they turn for the love and acceptance that should have come from their parents? The Children is a book mostly set in reality and yet somehow feeling entirely like a dark fairy tale. I can't wait for it to be released so that I can begin recommending it.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
2.5⭐️ rounded up to 3⭐️
Received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 as I thought the premise sounded incredibly interesting, unfortunately I just don’t think it was everything I was hoping it would be. I think this one will be a hit for a lot of people though.
What I liked - Some of the writing was incredibly beautiful and evocative. I liked the exploration of childhood memory and how sometimes people can try to blunt some of the trauma they experienced as a survival mechanism. I thought the author had an interesting take on generational trauma (we can see those threads weave themselves through Guin, Edith and Bitsy). I liked how it showed that Ennis realized at a young age he would have to look after his sister because there was no one looking out for them. As frustrating as the characters and story was I did find myself thinking on them after I had finished the book.
What I didn’t like/What didn’t work for me - I love some purple prose but I think there were a lot of similes and metaphors that just felt like they were trying too hard. Guin was not likeable and her relationship with Hank was incredibly frustrating, however I think they were supposed to be. However not only was she not likeable she was just so surface level - she had no personality, she was for all purposes a bucket of nothing. The ending felt unsatisfying, they do not escape their mothers legacy they become it. The “mother” entity felt not fully explained and the fantastical elements didn’t hold up for me. I would have loved a book like the Ninth City, as it some ways that sounds more interesting than what we got.
I also had MAJOR issues with how in some ways their father was treated as this poor tragic figure who had his talent/energy drained from him by his wife. The wife mind you that he pursued when she was a teenager/child and he was a full blown adult. As the story goes on they do showcase some of his faults but I do think he was presented more sympathetically than Edith.
All in all I did not completely love this book but I think it still had some merit, and I liked enough of it that I would easily consider picking up something else from this author.
Received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 as I thought the premise sounded incredibly interesting, unfortunately I just don’t think it was everything I was hoping it would be. I think this one will be a hit for a lot of people though.
What I liked - Some of the writing was incredibly beautiful and evocative. I liked the exploration of childhood memory and how sometimes people can try to blunt some of the trauma they experienced as a survival mechanism. I thought the author had an interesting take on generational trauma (we can see those threads weave themselves through Guin, Edith and Bitsy). I liked how it showed that Ennis realized at a young age he would have to look after his sister because there was no one looking out for them. As frustrating as the characters and story was I did find myself thinking on them after I had finished the book.
What I didn’t like/What didn’t work for me - I love some purple prose but I think there were a lot of similes and metaphors that just felt like they were trying too hard. Guin was not likeable and her relationship with Hank was incredibly frustrating, however I think they were supposed to be. However not only was she not likeable she was just so surface level - she had no personality, she was for all purposes a bucket of nothing. The ending felt unsatisfying, they do not escape their mothers legacy they become it. The “mother” entity felt not fully explained and the fantastical elements didn’t hold up for me. I would have loved a book like the Ninth City, as it some ways that sounds more interesting than what we got.
I also had MAJOR issues with how in some ways their father was treated as this poor tragic figure who had his talent/energy drained from him by his wife. The wife mind you that he pursued when she was a teenager/child and he was a full blown adult. As the story goes on they do showcase some of his faults but I do think he was presented more sympathetically than Edith.
All in all I did not completely love this book but I think it still had some merit, and I liked enough of it that I would easily consider picking up something else from this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*
The Children follows Guinevere Sharpe who is the daughter of the late Edith Sharpe. Edith wrote the Ninth City series which are bestselling books for children. Edith based the characters in the Ninth City series on her own children, Guinevere and Ennis, even going as far as giving the fictional children the same names. Guinevere has written a memoir on her childhood where she grew up on a farmhouse with her brother, mother and actor father. Her parents died in a fire at the farmhouse when Guin was still a child and she lost touch with her brother, Ennis. Ennis is an infamous artist and has announced a new installation called Mother. Guin knows something is going to happen with this new installation and will do anything to stop her life being blown up.
I enjoyed this book and I will be recommending this. This book is told in alternating timelines from when Guin was a child at the farmhouse and from Guin as an adult. I most enjoyed reading the parts of Guin’s childhood. The writing is good on a technical level and I found the story to be interesting. This book is Melissa Albert’s adult debut and I think the author did a good job writing for an adult audience. I liked following Guin and it was easy to empathise with her. Guin and Ennis were neglected as children by their parents and were famous by proxy so in that respect I think this book has some important commentary on child stars. The mystery of what happened at the farmhouse kept me guessing and throughout the book I was intrigued to find out what happened. The reveal fell a little flat for me but I still found it to be interesting. Overall, I had a good time with this and I am going to recommend this. This is a solid four star book for me and I also appreciated what this had to say about children’s books and the darkness that is behind some of the best children’s books.
The Children follows Guinevere Sharpe who is the daughter of the late Edith Sharpe. Edith wrote the Ninth City series which are bestselling books for children. Edith based the characters in the Ninth City series on her own children, Guinevere and Ennis, even going as far as giving the fictional children the same names. Guinevere has written a memoir on her childhood where she grew up on a farmhouse with her brother, mother and actor father. Her parents died in a fire at the farmhouse when Guin was still a child and she lost touch with her brother, Ennis. Ennis is an infamous artist and has announced a new installation called Mother. Guin knows something is going to happen with this new installation and will do anything to stop her life being blown up.
I enjoyed this book and I will be recommending this. This book is told in alternating timelines from when Guin was a child at the farmhouse and from Guin as an adult. I most enjoyed reading the parts of Guin’s childhood. The writing is good on a technical level and I found the story to be interesting. This book is Melissa Albert’s adult debut and I think the author did a good job writing for an adult audience. I liked following Guin and it was easy to empathise with her. Guin and Ennis were neglected as children by their parents and were famous by proxy so in that respect I think this book has some important commentary on child stars. The mystery of what happened at the farmhouse kept me guessing and throughout the book I was intrigued to find out what happened. The reveal fell a little flat for me but I still found it to be interesting. Overall, I had a good time with this and I am going to recommend this. This is a solid four star book for me and I also appreciated what this had to say about children’s books and the darkness that is behind some of the best children’s books.
November 17, 2025
This was such an interesting, atmospheric, creepy, and sometimes, frustrating read. I typically devour everything that Melissa Albert writes, and The Children was no exception. And when I saw that the book was 400+ pages, I was even more excited to jump in!
I became really invested in this book from the start as Guin and Ennis's neglected childhood in a peculiar, something-dark-happening-below-the-surface farmhouse in Vermont unfolded. The vibe was unsettling throughout--you know something is off and wrong, but aside from little hints along the way, you don't know exactly how it's wrong or what is making it wrong.
There are chapters in the present and chapters in the past, all through Guin's eyes. There were unsettling details that I thought would turn into bigger things, but they just stayed small, weird things. In fact, this book is full of small, weird things. And then, in the last 30 pages, there is the big weird thing that doesn't exactly tie everything up in a big bow, but is enough of a satisfying conclusion to make the story worthwhile.
The frustration stems from my desire for the small, weird things to go somewhere. I wanted a book that made much more of those unsettling moments and gave more details about what was happening all along, back when I was reading about Guin and her brother's childhood. I wanted much more about what was happening to their mother, Edith, back when it was happening. More about their father, Llewellyn. More about that awful, beautiful house. It's strange to want more from a 400+ page book, but I did.
That said, this was a very engaging read, and I loved so much about it. It's a book that I'll probably re-read when it comes out to see if I missed anything and just to experience its dark, creepy magic again.
Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.
I became really invested in this book from the start as Guin and Ennis's neglected childhood in a peculiar, something-dark-happening-below-the-surface farmhouse in Vermont unfolded. The vibe was unsettling throughout--you know something is off and wrong, but aside from little hints along the way, you don't know exactly how it's wrong or what is making it wrong.
There are chapters in the present and chapters in the past, all through Guin's eyes. There were unsettling details that I thought would turn into bigger things, but they just stayed small, weird things. In fact, this book is full of small, weird things. And then, in the last 30 pages, there is the big weird thing that doesn't exactly tie everything up in a big bow, but is enough of a satisfying conclusion to make the story worthwhile.
The frustration stems from my desire for the small, weird things to go somewhere. I wanted a book that made much more of those unsettling moments and gave more details about what was happening all along, back when I was reading about Guin and her brother's childhood. I wanted much more about what was happening to their mother, Edith, back when it was happening. More about their father, Llewellyn. More about that awful, beautiful house. It's strange to want more from a 400+ page book, but I did.
That said, this was a very engaging read, and I loved so much about it. It's a book that I'll probably re-read when it comes out to see if I missed anything and just to experience its dark, creepy magic again.
Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Yeah...these kids are definitely NOT alright.
The Children is a dark fairytale (or more accurately, a cautionary tale) for adults on ambitions and neglect, and the unseen consequence of nostalgia. It's rich in metaphoric prose and character introspection, with quiet moments of horror woven subtly into the narrative.
This book truly makes art terrifying. I loved the descriptions of Guinevere and her family on the farm and surrounding woods, the unsettling feeling that something is very wrong, but you can't put words to what that is, exactly.
The pacing does tend to drag with unnecessary chapters and characters that inevitably lead nowhere, which makes much of the story feel aimless. I really wanted more out of the creepy moments depicted at the Farmhouse, but everything is given to us in pieces and written in such a way that I still don't fully understand what was happening, or even the point of certain events/people. Even the end reveal comes off as sudden and completely disjointed from the rest of the book.
While I enjoyed the vivid, fairytale-esque writing and the haunting atmosphere, I don't know if I actually cared for the plot or characters. But I think the ultimate disappointment comes from the fact that The Children is a portal fantasy...without any actual portals or alternate worlds.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher William Morrow, and the author Melissa Albert for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Children is a dark fairytale (or more accurately, a cautionary tale) for adults on ambitions and neglect, and the unseen consequence of nostalgia. It's rich in metaphoric prose and character introspection, with quiet moments of horror woven subtly into the narrative.
This book truly makes art terrifying. I loved the descriptions of Guinevere and her family on the farm and surrounding woods, the unsettling feeling that something is very wrong, but you can't put words to what that is, exactly.
The pacing does tend to drag with unnecessary chapters and characters that inevitably lead nowhere, which makes much of the story feel aimless. I really wanted more out of the creepy moments depicted at the Farmhouse, but everything is given to us in pieces and written in such a way that I still don't fully understand what was happening, or even the point of certain events/people. Even the end reveal comes off as sudden and completely disjointed from the rest of the book.
While I enjoyed the vivid, fairytale-esque writing and the haunting atmosphere, I don't know if I actually cared for the plot or characters. But I think the ultimate disappointment comes from the fact that The Children is a portal fantasy...without any actual portals or alternate worlds.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher William Morrow, and the author Melissa Albert for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I know it's a good book when I stay up to read it. And I stayed up until 1AM to finish this. Sometimes I worry I'm too jaded, too genre-aware, too damn *old* to get swept up in a story, and then I find start a gem like this where my whole day becomes about reading this book and I feel the joy of being a reader again.
I loved the weaving timelines. We know something terrible has happened in the MC's past, and we work towards both the event and her adult understanding of the event in a ruthless build of tension. The way Guin's childhood understanding of magic unfolds first as "well, of course all children see the world as magical, but it was really just adults talking about and doing things she didn't understand" to "Oh, shit no, that was magic" was methodical and gripping and heartbreaking. I also loved her use of language. I could list off examples of turns of phrase and metaphors that took my breath away, but I was so taken the line describing the residents of an elite boarding school: *the boys who moved among it all with the entitled physicality of cattle* that I copied it into my book club discord with a "damn, Melissa" comment.
This book made me think about the way artists can suck dry everyone around them. That the cost of creation can be your relationships, your mental and physical health, even your soul. "Whoever must be a creator always annihilates" (thank you, Nietzsche.) It's not the first book Melissa Albert has written that examines the complex relationship an artist/writer has with their work and the price of making it, but I think it's the most complex and interesting.
Highly recommend.
I loved the weaving timelines. We know something terrible has happened in the MC's past, and we work towards both the event and her adult understanding of the event in a ruthless build of tension. The way Guin's childhood understanding of magic unfolds first as "well, of course all children see the world as magical, but it was really just adults talking about and doing things she didn't understand" to "Oh, shit no, that was magic" was methodical and gripping and heartbreaking. I also loved her use of language. I could list off examples of turns of phrase and metaphors that took my breath away, but I was so taken the line describing the residents of an elite boarding school: *the boys who moved among it all with the entitled physicality of cattle* that I copied it into my book club discord with a "damn, Melissa" comment.
This book made me think about the way artists can suck dry everyone around them. That the cost of creation can be your relationships, your mental and physical health, even your soul. "Whoever must be a creator always annihilates" (thank you, Nietzsche.) It's not the first book Melissa Albert has written that examines the complex relationship an artist/writer has with their work and the price of making it, but I think it's the most complex and interesting.
Highly recommend.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Children is brilliant and deeply unsettling in the way only the best fairy tales are. Fantastical and lyrical on the surface, it hums with something darker underneath—an unease that creeps in slowly and refuses to let go. This was my first novel by Melissa Albert, and it certainly won’t be my last. Her prose is sharp and dreamlike, deceptively beautiful even as it leads you somewhere frightening.
What surprised me most was just how gothic this story feels. The atmosphere is thick with dread and longing, and the familiar shapes of fairy tale logic are twisted into something uncanny and adult. This is not whimsy for whimsy’s sake; it’s myth sharpened into a blade. The world Albert creates feels old, cruel, and inevitable, as though the story has always existed and you’ve merely stumbled into it at the wrong moment.
This is a fairy tale for adults in the truest sense—not the softened Disney versions, but the original Grimm tales, where magic comes at a cost and survival often demands something brutal. Think of stepsisters slicing off their toes to fit the glass slipper—that level of darkness and desperation. The Children lingers long after the final page, leaving you haunted, unsettled, and quietly impressed by how fearless it is.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy to read and review.
What surprised me most was just how gothic this story feels. The atmosphere is thick with dread and longing, and the familiar shapes of fairy tale logic are twisted into something uncanny and adult. This is not whimsy for whimsy’s sake; it’s myth sharpened into a blade. The world Albert creates feels old, cruel, and inevitable, as though the story has always existed and you’ve merely stumbled into it at the wrong moment.
This is a fairy tale for adults in the truest sense—not the softened Disney versions, but the original Grimm tales, where magic comes at a cost and survival often demands something brutal. Think of stepsisters slicing off their toes to fit the glass slipper—that level of darkness and desperation. The Children lingers long after the final page, leaving you haunted, unsettled, and quietly impressed by how fearless it is.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy to read and review.
November 27, 2025
Melissa Albert writes gripping novels that resonate deeply within the soul long after you read the last page and shelve the book. And this story is not different from the others of hers that are lined up on my shelf next to Alix E. Harrow books. Good lyrical writing, myths, memories, gothic feeling to the story telling - yes - Albert is simple a master word-weaving story teller.
While deeply poignant this is also a deeply emotional and touching book that explores the the juxtaposition of our memoires and reality - where the line is and how easily our memories can be influenced and changed. I suppose, that being artistic and coming from a background less than bright I found this book strangely familiar in many ways and yet hauntingly different in so many others.
Let's just say that it took a few days to settle before I could write a review and even know, typing this one - I feel as if I will leave Albert's latest work sorely under stated. Because - it is still echoing in my mind, in my soul, in a whispered moment.
Dark and yet horrifyingly terrific journey into memory, past ghosts, family ties, stories, myths and how life is expressed through art. If you want a book that will leave you both contemplative and slightly unnerved - well, this read is certainly for you.
While deeply poignant this is also a deeply emotional and touching book that explores the the juxtaposition of our memoires and reality - where the line is and how easily our memories can be influenced and changed. I suppose, that being artistic and coming from a background less than bright I found this book strangely familiar in many ways and yet hauntingly different in so many others.
Let's just say that it took a few days to settle before I could write a review and even know, typing this one - I feel as if I will leave Albert's latest work sorely under stated. Because - it is still echoing in my mind, in my soul, in a whispered moment.
Dark and yet horrifyingly terrific journey into memory, past ghosts, family ties, stories, myths and how life is expressed through art. If you want a book that will leave you both contemplative and slightly unnerved - well, this read is certainly for you.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews