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Wayward Children #7
Where the Drowned Girls Go
Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you've already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.
There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again.
It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.
And it isn't as safe.
When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her Home for Wayward Children, she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn't save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster.
She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...
There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again.
It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.
And it isn't as safe.
When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her Home for Wayward Children, she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn't save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster.
She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...
150 pages, Hardcover
First published January 4, 2022
252 people are currently reading
18532 people want to read
About the author
Seanan McGuire
508 books17.1k followersHi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,187 reviews
Want to read
December 28, 2020bruh that title has slayed me in all the good ways bUT WHEN ARE WE GETTING A KADE BOOK
October 24, 2022
once a year i remember this series exists and absolutely lose my mind reading it.
even if the installment ultimately isn't that good.
that's the real joy of a series where all the books are like 112 pages long and follow a different character into (or out of) a different magical world...
even if you hate 11 in a row, you might still like the 12th!
so who really minds that i didn't like this one as much as some others.
these are always like half You Belong amazing representation books and half magic. this was more the first half. which is good and fine but not as exciting as the ones that nail the balance.
i mean, fundamentally this is a series about children who don't quite belong in the world they came from and so they fall into magical ones and then know they CAN belong when they come back, but it doesn't stop at metaphorical, you know?
which is nice and sometimes kind of didactic.
bottom line: more magic, please!
even if the installment ultimately isn't that good.
that's the real joy of a series where all the books are like 112 pages long and follow a different character into (or out of) a different magical world...
even if you hate 11 in a row, you might still like the 12th!
so who really minds that i didn't like this one as much as some others.
these are always like half You Belong amazing representation books and half magic. this was more the first half. which is good and fine but not as exciting as the ones that nail the balance.
i mean, fundamentally this is a series about children who don't quite belong in the world they came from and so they fall into magical ones and then know they CAN belong when they come back, but it doesn't stop at metaphorical, you know?
which is nice and sometimes kind of didactic.
bottom line: more magic, please!
March 16, 2022
ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
1.) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
2.) Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
3.) Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
4.) In an Absent Dream ★★★★★
5.) Come Tumbling Down ★★★
6.) Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★
“A Jack-o'-lantern might be beautiful, but it was still something that had been cut open and hollowed out because someone wanted it to suit their idea of what a pumpkin ought to be.”
I went into this seventh installment without knowing anything, and I’m not entirely sure if that helped or hurt this story. But we get to see the complete opposite of Elenore West’s school in this book, where the children are taught to forget about their doors and learn to assimilate back into society, or else. I still enjoyed this story and the heavy focus on institutionalized learning and heavy biases that society will try to pass down to students. But also how easy it is for power imbalances to result in bullying and abuse (or even just easy brainwashing because adults should always “know best”). And consequently we get to see how differently kids can thrive when they are loved, and respected, and heard, and seen, and have their identities and marginalizations celebrated, while also having their basic needs met.
I just feel like I prefer these novellas when the setting is the portal fantasy, and it shows because I really adored the last book in this series so much more than this one. But I also love a good cameo, and this book for sure delivers on that too! And I am excited to see what comes next!
trigger + content warnings: mention of attempted suicide multiple times, suicidal ideation, anxiety depiction, ptsd depiction, fatphobia, abandonment, brief mention of domestic abuse, brief mention of child abuse, talk of disordered eating, bullying, starvation, loss of a loved one in past.
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1.) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
2.) Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
3.) Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
4.) In an Absent Dream ★★★★★
5.) Come Tumbling Down ★★★
6.) Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★
“A Jack-o'-lantern might be beautiful, but it was still something that had been cut open and hollowed out because someone wanted it to suit their idea of what a pumpkin ought to be.”
I went into this seventh installment without knowing anything, and I’m not entirely sure if that helped or hurt this story. But we get to see the complete opposite of Elenore West’s school in this book, where the children are taught to forget about their doors and learn to assimilate back into society, or else. I still enjoyed this story and the heavy focus on institutionalized learning and heavy biases that society will try to pass down to students. But also how easy it is for power imbalances to result in bullying and abuse (or even just easy brainwashing because adults should always “know best”). And consequently we get to see how differently kids can thrive when they are loved, and respected, and heard, and seen, and have their identities and marginalizations celebrated, while also having their basic needs met.
I just feel like I prefer these novellas when the setting is the portal fantasy, and it shows because I really adored the last book in this series so much more than this one. But I also love a good cameo, and this book for sure delivers on that too! And I am excited to see what comes next!
trigger + content warnings: mention of attempted suicide multiple times, suicidal ideation, anxiety depiction, ptsd depiction, fatphobia, abandonment, brief mention of domestic abuse, brief mention of child abuse, talk of disordered eating, bullying, starvation, loss of a loved one in past.
Blog | Instagram | Youtube | Ko-fi | Spotify | Twitch
April 9, 2024
Don't have much to say other than this series is fantastic and I love it lots and lots
CW: fatphobia, bullying, suicidal ideation
CW: fatphobia, bullying, suicidal ideation
October 29, 2023
Sometimes breaking out of the same old formula for the stories does you good and makes my attention to the series that seemed to run its course for me snap back a bit. After book 1, all of the Wayward Children stories that I’ve read (I skipped a couple early on) seemed to follow the same formula - take a kid who for one reason or another does not fit into this world, put her through a magical door into another world that oddly fits her and makes her feel at home instead of conforming to whatever the idea of normalcy is in our world, and then eject them from that world in a flash of heartbreak. One of these stories I loved, but after two more I got a bit tired of it.
Here instead of that we get one of the characters from the previous stories try a different school for “wayward children” in *our* world, and it is a school aimed at embracing conformity through rules and individuality destruction, and full of typical standard bullies and evil teachers and stifling rules and everything that seems to be a bit cartoonishly exaggerated). But hey, at least it’s something different from the other stories in this series, and I got a bit excited.
Well, it kinda maybe almost worked. I mean, Seanan McGuire definitely got the storytelling chops. She’s good at making the narrative flow and throws quotable passages left and right.
But - you know there’s a “but” coming, right? - but I got reminded that I may just be too old for the way she tells these stories. Maybe they are becoming more middle grade or very young adult as they go, or maybe McGuire so sincerely wants to get her message of acceptance across that these stories start steering clear of nuances and rely more and more on very sincere earnestness and messaging that I get a bit of visceral recoil at times. Heavy-handedness can sour even the best intentions, and that reminded me of my lackluster response to the previous novella in this very long series. (In that, the formula has not changed).
It felt like a book of stark contrasts between obvious “good” and equally obvious “bad”, with extra added explanations for the author’s intentions as though she’s afraid that without spelling it out the message would not be clear. And yet again the climax and resolution are way too easy, to the point where my only reaction was — is this actually all? Where’d the tension go? (And was there any point of even having Regan in this book? Was it just to tie book 6 to the main story? Why did we need all these new characters who are barely sketched instead of either developing one or focusing on making the new evil school look like anything that’s not straight out of a stereotypical story of Evil School (TM)? And the resolution and the names thing felt hastily tacked on to the story.)
Now, she does compensate for that a bit with pretty decent storytelling which kept me reading despite repeated eyerolling (and just for the record, I agree with most of her views expressed here, my issues are with the unsubtle presentation bordering on didacticism). Maybe I’m just too old to properly enjoy McGuire’s lessons about life.
Also, I’m starting to wonder how I feel about the constant theme that certain people are just not made to fit into this world and be happy here. I mean, like it or not - and I may sound like a certain evil character here - it *is* all we got. And it’s not horrible to wish to learn to live in this world (and make it better) rather then just look for that one door — but here it’s presented as a pathology. A school that’s not evil but actually is trying to genuinely help rather than just serving some nefarious plans could have been interesting and would have added some sorely missed nuance.
2.5 stars. I’ll read the next one if it gets another Hugo nod, but I’m selfishly hoping it doesn’t.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
Here instead of that we get one of the characters from the previous stories try a different school for “wayward children” in *our* world, and it is a school aimed at embracing conformity through rules and individuality destruction, and full of typical standard bullies and evil teachers and stifling rules and everything that seems to be a bit cartoonishly exaggerated). But hey, at least it’s something different from the other stories in this series, and I got a bit excited.
Well, it kinda maybe almost worked. I mean, Seanan McGuire definitely got the storytelling chops. She’s good at making the narrative flow and throws quotable passages left and right.
“Sometimes she felt like the world where she’d been born was the most nonsensical of them all. Sure, gravity always worked and clouds didn’t talk, but people told lies big enough to block the sun, and everyone just let them, like it was nothing to revise the story of an entire world to make yourself feel better.”
But - you know there’s a “but” coming, right? - but I got reminded that I may just be too old for the way she tells these stories. Maybe they are becoming more middle grade or very young adult as they go, or maybe McGuire so sincerely wants to get her message of acceptance across that these stories start steering clear of nuances and rely more and more on very sincere earnestness and messaging that I get a bit of visceral recoil at times. Heavy-handedness can sour even the best intentions, and that reminded me of my lackluster response to the previous novella in this very long series. (In that, the formula has not changed).
It felt like a book of stark contrasts between obvious “good” and equally obvious “bad”, with extra added explanations for the author’s intentions as though she’s afraid that without spelling it out the message would not be clear. And yet again the climax and resolution are way too easy, to the point where my only reaction was — is this actually all? Where’d the tension go? (And was there any point of even having Regan in this book? Was it just to tie book 6 to the main story? Why did we need all these new characters who are barely sketched instead of either developing one or focusing on making the new evil school look like anything that’s not straight out of a stereotypical story of Evil School (TM)? And the resolution and the names thing felt hastily tacked on to the story.)
“A jack-o’-lantern might be beautiful, but it was still something that had been cut open and hollowed out because someone wanted it to suit their idea of what a pumpkin ought to be. It wasn’t its own self anymore. Cora couldn’t wait to be a jack-o’-lantern.”
Now, she does compensate for that a bit with pretty decent storytelling which kept me reading despite repeated eyerolling (and just for the record, I agree with most of her views expressed here, my issues are with the unsubtle presentation bordering on didacticism). Maybe I’m just too old to properly enjoy McGuire’s lessons about life.
Also, I’m starting to wonder how I feel about the constant theme that certain people are just not made to fit into this world and be happy here. I mean, like it or not - and I may sound like a certain evil character here - it *is* all we got. And it’s not horrible to wish to learn to live in this world (and make it better) rather then just look for that one door — but here it’s presented as a pathology. A school that’s not evil but actually is trying to genuinely help rather than just serving some nefarious plans could have been interesting and would have added some sorely missed nuance.
2.5 stars. I’ll read the next one if it gets another Hugo nod, but I’m selfishly hoping it doesn’t.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
February 21, 2024
#1 Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
#2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
#3 Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
#4 In An Absent Dream ★★★★★
#5 Come Tumbling Down ★★★★★
#6 Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★★
#7 Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★★
#8 Lost in the Moment and Found ★★★★★
When Eleanor West had decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her Home for Wayward Children, she had known from the beginning that there would be children she couldn't save. Children whose journeys had broken them in ways she was unequipped to handle; children whose parents refused to understand the difference between harming them and healing them. Still, she had looked at her probable losses with open eyes, and decided that the cost was worth it. Still, she had placed the sign in the window, and hoped it would be enough to guide them home, to harbor, to her. No solicitation. No visitors. No quests.
I adore this series with everything in my contented little reader heart, and this newest installment — well, I always want to call each new installment my new favorite in the series, but at this point, I suppose they're all my favorites. That said, Where the Drowned Girls Go focuses on Cora, who we've spent time with before and who I was missing very much, but we also get to meet quite a few new characters and experience an entirely new setting — with a twist. Instead of visiting a new door, we finally get to meet the folks behind Eleanor West's Home's opposite: the Whitethorn Institute.
Where Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children is welcoming and supportive, Whitethorn is uptight, strict, and determined to rip the doors out of the children within its halls, by choice or otherwise. The book starts off with Cora, feeling ruined and broken by her experiences within the Moors, committing herself to Whitethorn in hopes that, if they can separate her from her door, they can separate her from what she found within the Moors, too. While many of the books in this series don't have to be read in a specific order, I will say that you'll definitely want to have already read Beneath the Sugar Sky and Come Tumbling Down before you pick up Where the Drowned Girls Go.
No one was coming to save her. This was how she saved herself.
There is an incredibly small amount that I can say about the plot of this novella, because much of it hinges upon a surprise that I did not see coming and was entirely delighted by. That said, what I can tell you is that this book focuses strongly on bullying/harassment, and how society and the institutions children are placed in are entirely complicit in childhood cruelty. It also touches on strictness placed upon children and the ways that adults often mistake laws for love, much to the detriment of the spirits of those in their care. Time and time again, I'm enraptured by how clearly Seanan understands how common and easy it is for authority figures to hurt children while never even realizing it (as a parent who tries very hard to become more self-aware every single day with my child, this is a topic I'm very grateful for the exploration of in this series).
"I am not your door." After a pause for thought, she added, "But I might be my own."
I love this series, this world, and these characters endlessly. I'm forever grateful for Seanan McGuire's writing and how lovely and eye-opening her social commentary is, just as I'm so thankful for the representation in this series (if you want literal pages of me crying over how wonderful the writing of Cora's fat rep is, see my review of Beneath the Sugar Sky). I already am counting down the days to the 8th piece in this series and can't wait to see what Seanan does next.
✨ Representation: Cora is fat; Sumi is Japanese-American; Kade is a trans boy; multiple other side characters are queer and/or BIPOC
✨ Content warnings for:
All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!
———
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February 5, 2022
Cora is a mermaid with hair the colour of the sea, but above all else she is a hero, and heroes don't just sit by when people are in need. 'No quests' be damned.
Another wonderful addition to this series about children yearning to return through their doors to the places where they felt most at home. I think these books are so popular with old and young alike because Seanan captures the hurt and lost parts in all of us which allows us to connect and fall in love with these endearing characters. Less happens in this book but I loved it regardless.
CW:
Another wonderful addition to this series about children yearning to return through their doors to the places where they felt most at home. I think these books are so popular with old and young alike because Seanan captures the hurt and lost parts in all of us which allows us to connect and fall in love with these endearing characters. Less happens in this book but I loved it regardless.
CW:
January 10, 2022
gorgeous gorgeous girls binge read their most anticipated book of the year in one day and consequently cry about finishing it way too soon
October 17, 2021
There’s another boarding school for wayward children: one where those in charge are determined to make them deny the portal worlds that they once called home. By any means possible.
But Cora is suffering severe trauma from her adventure in the Moors in Come Tumbling Down and decides that the only way to save herself is to transfer to the Whitethorn Institute. Even though Eleanor West advises her earnestly against it…
This new Wayward Children book opens up this series in some interesting ways, and I’m here for it, but it does leave us with some unresolved questions.
Full review to come! Thanks so much to Tor for the ARC!
Initial post: Look what landed on my doorstep today!! And I immediately started reading it, because I have no self-control at all where this series is concerned.
But Cora is suffering severe trauma from her adventure in the Moors in Come Tumbling Down and decides that the only way to save herself is to transfer to the Whitethorn Institute. Even though Eleanor West advises her earnestly against it…
This new Wayward Children book opens up this series in some interesting ways, and I’m here for it, but it does leave us with some unresolved questions.
Full review to come! Thanks so much to Tor for the ARC!
Initial post: Look what landed on my doorstep today!! And I immediately started reading it, because I have no self-control at all where this series is concerned.
March 2, 2022
reading vlog: https://youtu.be/Z_BYyGwGC6Y
After the 6th book, I was scared y'all. I hated Across the Green Grass Fields. But I'm happy to report that this brought back the magic, the wit, the heart ache of being misunderstood and the relief of finally finding a family.
Sumi and Jack are my favorite characters and they both play a part in this book. God BLESS! Cora's story was so sad and really touched me. Kade is once again the hero we don't deserve.
I don't see why the Hawthorne Institute exists and why anyone would be foolish enough to choose to go there but it was a fun story to read.
After the 6th book, I was scared y'all. I hated Across the Green Grass Fields. But I'm happy to report that this brought back the magic, the wit, the heart ache of being misunderstood and the relief of finally finding a family.
Sumi and Jack are my favorite characters and they both play a part in this book. God BLESS! Cora's story was so sad and really touched me. Kade is once again the hero we don't deserve.
I don't see why the Hawthorne Institute exists and why anyone would be foolish enough to choose to go there but it was a fun story to read.
January 5, 2022
The headmaster's voice was gentle, even compassionate. He did care about them, in his way. It was just that his care didn't help them the way he liked to pretend it did. A jack-o'-lantern might be beautiful, but it was still something that had been cut open and hollowed out because someone wanted it to suit their idea of what a pumpkin ought to be. It wasn't its own self anymore.
Cora couldn't wait to be a jack-o'-lantern.
review TK.
March 20, 2022
It's time to say good bye to the Wayward Children series. Though I enjoyed this latest installment more than #6, I didn't feel the magic of the first few books.
That is all.
July 12, 2023
Just a mid level addition to this series. This didn’t have as strong of theming as previous titles and felt like simply an introduction to a potentially larger villain than anything else.
April 25, 2022
4.5ish stars.
The series returns to tiptop shape after a disappointing previous installment. Personally, I prefer following the students we all know and love in their adventures as wayward children, after their portal journeys are over (I could have used a little more Kade and Christopher this time around). The psychology of young adults trying to cope in the real world after having experienced such magical worlds is what makes the series special, and this book explores that from a completely new perspective.
The protagonist, Cora, has never been one of my favorite characters, but I sympathized with her a lot more in this book, even if her heroics were a little unreasonably heroic.
Posted in Mr. Philip's Library
The series returns to tiptop shape after a disappointing previous installment. Personally, I prefer following the students we all know and love in their adventures as wayward children, after their portal journeys are over (I could have used a little more Kade and Christopher this time around). The psychology of young adults trying to cope in the real world after having experienced such magical worlds is what makes the series special, and this book explores that from a completely new perspective.
The protagonist, Cora, has never been one of my favorite characters, but I sympathized with her a lot more in this book, even if her heroics were a little unreasonably heroic.
Posted in Mr. Philip's Library
January 4, 2022
Returning home to Wayward Children is never quite EASY, but it is always WONDERFUL. And in this case, Cora makes a serious decision that takes her to a hellish place.
Of course, in this case, it's not really an adventure to a difficult hell dimension, but it's close. It's the OTHER school. The one that denies other realities and forces the children to fit into its mold. In other words, it's either a school for recalcitrant children or a psycho ward or it's a boarding school. I think it's meant for us to figure out which it is.
I just call it a training ground for our modern reality.
So yeah, I guess it is an adventure to a difficult hell dimension.
The novella is hard, sweet, terrifying, and eventually quite cool. Those reveals...
The series is as strong as ever and a real treat to read.
Of course, in this case, it's not really an adventure to a difficult hell dimension, but it's close. It's the OTHER school. The one that denies other realities and forces the children to fit into its mold. In other words, it's either a school for recalcitrant children or a psycho ward or it's a boarding school. I think it's meant for us to figure out which it is.
I just call it a training ground for our modern reality.
So yeah, I guess it is an adventure to a difficult hell dimension.
The novella is hard, sweet, terrifying, and eventually quite cool. Those reveals...
The series is as strong as ever and a real treat to read.
January 7, 2022
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Every Heart a Doorway ★★★ 1/2
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★ 3/4
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
In an Absent Dream ★★★★
Come Tumbling Down ★★★ 1/2
Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★ 1/2
Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★
First read of 2022!! I hope it is the year I find my door in
This last entry in the Wayward Children series raises the bar once again in this series. I felt the prior two books were a bit redundant and not as good as the rest of the series but this book restored my faith in the series.
The thing that I liked the most about the book is the prose, I read a lot of authors but few have writing styles that stick and McGuire is one of those. The prose is simply eloquent and the story is the right length. Novellas usually don’t satisfy me because of their length but I think it is one of the strong points here.
It is still the same concept, children trying to find their way in the world with magical doors but this book introduces a new school which is an awesome and very realistic concept. The Whitethorn institute is a weird place though specially with its headmaster. The story starts with the usual school and characters and even Eleanor West and then it transitions into the new school. We already know some of the characters but new ones are introduced too and they were well written as usual.
These books tackle important subjects and this book talks about wight, body image and standing up for oneself. I remember that it was done earlier in the series but I think an important subject like this can never be over-done! I think young readers should have the opportunity to read fun books like this one while gaining something out of it which McGuire has been doing in the last 7 books!
It would have been my favorite book in the series with the highest rating but the ending felt a bit rushed to me and incomplete. I think we will get answers in the rest of the series but I wanted from the ending.
Summary: I think fans of the series won’t be disappointed by this. It has the same magical writing, beloved old and new characters. The plot is interesting and the world-building is awesome as usual. This reignited my passion for the series again and I am looking forward to the next book in the series!
“A jack-o’-lantern might be beautiful, but it was still something that had been cut open and hollowed out because someone wanted it to suit their idea of what a pumpkin ought to be. It wasn’t its own self anymore.”
Every Heart a Doorway ★★★ 1/2
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★ 3/4
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
In an Absent Dream ★★★★
Come Tumbling Down ★★★ 1/2
Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★ 1/2
Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★
First read of 2022!! I hope it is the year I find my door in
This last entry in the Wayward Children series raises the bar once again in this series. I felt the prior two books were a bit redundant and not as good as the rest of the series but this book restored my faith in the series.
The thing that I liked the most about the book is the prose, I read a lot of authors but few have writing styles that stick and McGuire is one of those. The prose is simply eloquent and the story is the right length. Novellas usually don’t satisfy me because of their length but I think it is one of the strong points here.
It is still the same concept, children trying to find their way in the world with magical doors but this book introduces a new school which is an awesome and very realistic concept. The Whitethorn institute is a weird place though specially with its headmaster. The story starts with the usual school and characters and even Eleanor West and then it transitions into the new school. We already know some of the characters but new ones are introduced too and they were well written as usual.
These books tackle important subjects and this book talks about wight, body image and standing up for oneself. I remember that it was done earlier in the series but I think an important subject like this can never be over-done! I think young readers should have the opportunity to read fun books like this one while gaining something out of it which McGuire has been doing in the last 7 books!
It would have been my favorite book in the series with the highest rating but the ending felt a bit rushed to me and incomplete. I think we will get answers in the rest of the series but I wanted from the ending.
Summary: I think fans of the series won’t be disappointed by this. It has the same magical writing, beloved old and new characters. The plot is interesting and the world-building is awesome as usual. This reignited my passion for the series again and I am looking forward to the next book in the series!
October 19, 2025
4.5 stars
This was a wonderful addition to the series and honestly one I didn’t know I needed. It answers the question “Well what happens if someone doesn’t like the world they go to?”. The addition to the world felt like unlocking an area on a video game map and I loved it despite how dark it was. Fans of this series will absolutely love this novella and I highly recommend picking it up.
* thank you to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
This was a wonderful addition to the series and honestly one I didn’t know I needed. It answers the question “Well what happens if someone doesn’t like the world they go to?”. The addition to the world felt like unlocking an area on a video game map and I loved it despite how dark it was. Fans of this series will absolutely love this novella and I highly recommend picking it up.
* thank you to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
September 5, 2022
2.5 maybe? Or not? Idk. I read this cuz it was a short read, to get over my reading slump. There wasn’t even a new world in this. I just couldn’t care less for any of the characters. As for my reading slump, this book didn’t help.
March 9, 2024
Not a very long book but it was interesting. I have previously read several books out of this Wayward Children series.
Where the Drowned Girls Go features Cora who is living in the Home for Wayward Children after her return from a journey to another world. Her door to that world is now closed and she does not want to return but feels that some creatures, the Drowned Gods, are reaching out to take her back. Believing that the staff are not helping her fast enough, she transfers to another boarding school which turns out not to be what it seems.
This is a very readable book with strong messages about friendship and its opposite which can lead to bullying and exclusion. The author's imagination is huge, and after some of her tales of journeys I am pretty sure that if one of those doors ever opened to me, I would run very fast in the opposite direction.
I enjoyed the characters and the magic and loved the smart way the girls played the headmaster. Four stars from me.
Where the Drowned Girls Go features Cora who is living in the Home for Wayward Children after her return from a journey to another world. Her door to that world is now closed and she does not want to return but feels that some creatures, the Drowned Gods, are reaching out to take her back. Believing that the staff are not helping her fast enough, she transfers to another boarding school which turns out not to be what it seems.
This is a very readable book with strong messages about friendship and its opposite which can lead to bullying and exclusion. The author's imagination is huge, and after some of her tales of journeys I am pretty sure that if one of those doors ever opened to me, I would run very fast in the opposite direction.
I enjoyed the characters and the magic and loved the smart way the girls played the headmaster. Four stars from me.
November 19, 2021
YES, I love this new direction of the macro plot for the series! Introducing the dark version of the Wayward Home is a great development and I loved getting more with Cora. This also touches on deeper themes with the characteristic thoughtfulness of the series: in this case, fatphobia and the concept of identity (the use of names in this one is particularly great and in the long line of fantasy using names as a part of a magic system). I'm still shipping Cora & Christopher, but I am still waiting for that to materialize
August 9, 2022
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
I'm sad to say that this has been my least favorite installment in the series. The pacing was slow and the writing was very repetitive at times. It didn't help that Cora has never been my favorite, so I wasn't very invested in her character. It was cool to explore the darker ramifications of coming back from your door and see how another school handles things though. I'll be curious to see what Seanan McGuire decides to explore next in the series.
I'm sad to say that this has been my least favorite installment in the series. The pacing was slow and the writing was very repetitive at times. It didn't help that Cora has never been my favorite, so I wasn't very invested in her character. It was cool to explore the darker ramifications of coming back from your door and see how another school handles things though. I'll be curious to see what Seanan McGuire decides to explore next in the series.
January 4, 2022
Thanks to Netgalley and Tordotcom/Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I love this series! I really don't know how the author has all these amazing stories in her head from all of her different series and the ability to get them into words so well. I wish I had 10% of her talent!
Anyways, on to the story. Cora has gone through her door and back again, and then through other doors and back again on quests, and now she's in trouble. The Drowned Gods of the Moors have their eye on her, and want her for their own. And she's scared. So she makes a decision. It's time for a change - and she's decided to go to...that other school... the one Eleanor West tries very hard to be different from... The Whitethorn Institute is a very different place. They are rigid and structured and any talk of quests or other worlds is strictly forbidden. It's a rehab facility and a prison, basically. So Cora must figure out whether or not she wants a normal life or to accept her place in another world and fight against the Drowned Gods. The problem is... her new school isn't quite welcoming to the idea that she gets a choice.
I loved some revisited characters in this one, and I really enjoyed the new setting and new characters. The new school felt very realized and detailed, without spending too much time with overly long description.
Pick up this series, but start at the beginning. The beginning might just be YOUR door.
I love this series! I really don't know how the author has all these amazing stories in her head from all of her different series and the ability to get them into words so well. I wish I had 10% of her talent!
Anyways, on to the story. Cora has gone through her door and back again, and then through other doors and back again on quests, and now she's in trouble. The Drowned Gods of the Moors have their eye on her, and want her for their own. And she's scared. So she makes a decision. It's time for a change - and she's decided to go to...that other school... the one Eleanor West tries very hard to be different from... The Whitethorn Institute is a very different place. They are rigid and structured and any talk of quests or other worlds is strictly forbidden. It's a rehab facility and a prison, basically. So Cora must figure out whether or not she wants a normal life or to accept her place in another world and fight against the Drowned Gods. The problem is... her new school isn't quite welcoming to the idea that she gets a choice.
I loved some revisited characters in this one, and I really enjoyed the new setting and new characters. The new school felt very realized and detailed, without spending too much time with overly long description.
Pick up this series, but start at the beginning. The beginning might just be YOUR door.
June 9, 2022
So, I am developing more of a mixed relationship with Seanan McGuire. I have, for the most part, absolutely loved her October Daye series. It's got action and magic and hybridization. It's, if not perfect, at least absolutely great. However, I only made it through about the first three or four books of the "InCryptid" series before I gave up. I abandoned it because life is too short for me to read a book series following a group of powerless humans having "silly" interactions with talking mice.
Even with my love of the October Daye series, I find myself increasingly annoyed with Seanan McGuire as a person. The way she --an openly bisexual writer-- handles sexual orientation is counter-productive, from my point of view as a gay reader. She keeps making all, or nearly all, her characters bisexual by default, based upon some bullshit theory of "open-mindedness." That might sound appealing to a bi person, but for someone born with absolutely no desire to ever date a woman, it gives me flashbacks of people trying to convince me in high school that I should be more open-minded to conversion therapy. This is bad messaging for the queer community. We're better off belting out "Born this Way."
But if I set aside all that baggage for the author, I must say that I adore the Wayward Children series. It takes a great premise ("Whatever happens to all those kids who walk through magic doorways, have adventures, and then come home?"), and then holds your interest each time a new magical world is teased.
Up until now, we have watched a group of children having adventures based out of Eleanor's school. All the many children who walked through magic doors and came back --often magically changed from their experience-- sort of wallow together. They all want to find their magic door again, but the majority do not; so it's sort of a bittersweet and wistful setting for all these teens.
Cora is the protagonist of this particular installment, where in previous novels she tagged along with the group and acted as the voice of reason. She was the one to provide the amusing bit of practicality, reminding everyone that swimming in a sea of soda is going to give them all yeast infections. In this regard, Cora is one of my favorite characters in the series.
The world Cora considers home is one in which she was transformed into a mermaid. It wasn't a perfectly happy world, because there was fighting and killing and sea monsters, but it was the perfect world for Cora. However, in a previous book in this series Cora visited a different world ("The Moors"), and there she was harassed by The Drowned Gods. Her experience was so traumatic that she is now afraid of submerging underwater, even though she normally loves the water.
So, she transferred to a sister school. The kind we had heard about previously, but never seen, designed for children who hated their experiences in other worlds and want to try to forget about them.
I did not care for the descriptions of the school itself. Not just because of the unpleasant sense of cringe, but just because I felt like I had seen it all before in many other films and TV shows about boarding schools. Children being berated for not making their bed correctly. Children berated for daring to ask questions or daydream. Students snapping at each other and bullying with the tacit approval of the headmaster. All of this is shit I have seen before and heard of before, and it all felt so distinctly British even though this particular story is not meant to be set in England, so far as I know.
Still, Cora's personal journey is satisfying. Along the way we have a couple more familiar faces I wasn't expecting. Sumi plays a larger role than one might have expected. And then we got Regan from the previous Wayward Children novel. Regan's story was an entirely stand-alone story about her time in the Hooflands, and we never saw Regan go to any particular home for wayward children afterward. Now, we are given to understand that instead of joining the main cast, she went to this Godawful place.
Wayward Children novels are always too short. They are not always perfect. I will say that I just love most of what Seanan McGuire does here. The twins Jack and Jill were overexposed; and their prequel novel "Down Among the Sticks and Bones" was entirely unnecessary, because the entire plot of it had already been summarized in an earlier novel.
Lundy's prequel novel was also not particularly satisfying, and not just because we knew going into it that Lundy was going to be cursed with reverse aging, and then murdered by Jill. Her world just wasn't that great. How many people want to read about a magical world obsessed with commerce, and where the most magical thing that can happen to you is that you turn into a bird? And also that one magical thing is a bad thing that you're trying to overcome?
But this one, with an admirable protagonist? And a blessed shortage of Jack & Jill twins? And no attempt to couch itself as a prequel? This, I can get behind. This is where Wayward Children hits its stride.
However, going back to the topic of Seanan McGuire baggage? I get the impression her parents did a number on her. I'm gathering that she probably channeled more of herself into "Jack" than any other character. Jack & Jill had a pretty one-note childhood that was hammered home for readers over and over again: that their parents were selfish people who shouldn't have ever had children, and then they forced weird gender roles on their kids. Then with this novel, other bad parents are mentioned some more, and there is more of a theme about parents forcing their expectations upon children.
Is this whole series just going to be some sort of talk-therapy for the author? What the fuck is her relationship with her parents? I love my parents. They annoy me sometimes, especially when they try to tell me how to raise my son, but the problems with our relationship have nothing to do with "expectations." Seanan McGuire is acting as if this particular relationship dynamic is so pervasive, when I have to stop and wonder if I can even relate to it.
Even with my love of the October Daye series, I find myself increasingly annoyed with Seanan McGuire as a person. The way she --an openly bisexual writer-- handles sexual orientation is counter-productive, from my point of view as a gay reader. She keeps making all, or nearly all, her characters bisexual by default, based upon some bullshit theory of "open-mindedness." That might sound appealing to a bi person, but for someone born with absolutely no desire to ever date a woman, it gives me flashbacks of people trying to convince me in high school that I should be more open-minded to conversion therapy. This is bad messaging for the queer community. We're better off belting out "Born this Way."
But if I set aside all that baggage for the author, I must say that I adore the Wayward Children series. It takes a great premise ("Whatever happens to all those kids who walk through magic doorways, have adventures, and then come home?"), and then holds your interest each time a new magical world is teased.
Up until now, we have watched a group of children having adventures based out of Eleanor's school. All the many children who walked through magic doors and came back --often magically changed from their experience-- sort of wallow together. They all want to find their magic door again, but the majority do not; so it's sort of a bittersweet and wistful setting for all these teens.
Cora is the protagonist of this particular installment, where in previous novels she tagged along with the group and acted as the voice of reason. She was the one to provide the amusing bit of practicality, reminding everyone that swimming in a sea of soda is going to give them all yeast infections. In this regard, Cora is one of my favorite characters in the series.
The world Cora considers home is one in which she was transformed into a mermaid. It wasn't a perfectly happy world, because there was fighting and killing and sea monsters, but it was the perfect world for Cora. However, in a previous book in this series Cora visited a different world ("The Moors"), and there she was harassed by The Drowned Gods. Her experience was so traumatic that she is now afraid of submerging underwater, even though she normally loves the water.
So, she transferred to a sister school. The kind we had heard about previously, but never seen, designed for children who hated their experiences in other worlds and want to try to forget about them.
I did not care for the descriptions of the school itself. Not just because of the unpleasant sense of cringe, but just because I felt like I had seen it all before in many other films and TV shows about boarding schools. Children being berated for not making their bed correctly. Children berated for daring to ask questions or daydream. Students snapping at each other and bullying with the tacit approval of the headmaster. All of this is shit I have seen before and heard of before, and it all felt so distinctly British even though this particular story is not meant to be set in England, so far as I know.
Still, Cora's personal journey is satisfying. Along the way we have a couple more familiar faces I wasn't expecting. Sumi plays a larger role than one might have expected. And then we got Regan from the previous Wayward Children novel. Regan's story was an entirely stand-alone story about her time in the Hooflands, and we never saw Regan go to any particular home for wayward children afterward. Now, we are given to understand that instead of joining the main cast, she went to this Godawful place.
Wayward Children novels are always too short. They are not always perfect. I will say that I just love most of what Seanan McGuire does here. The twins Jack and Jill were overexposed; and their prequel novel "Down Among the Sticks and Bones" was entirely unnecessary, because the entire plot of it had already been summarized in an earlier novel.
Lundy's prequel novel was also not particularly satisfying, and not just because we knew going into it that Lundy was going to be cursed with reverse aging, and then murdered by Jill. Her world just wasn't that great. How many people want to read about a magical world obsessed with commerce, and where the most magical thing that can happen to you is that you turn into a bird? And also that one magical thing is a bad thing that you're trying to overcome?
But this one, with an admirable protagonist? And a blessed shortage of Jack & Jill twins? And no attempt to couch itself as a prequel? This, I can get behind. This is where Wayward Children hits its stride.
However, going back to the topic of Seanan McGuire baggage? I get the impression her parents did a number on her. I'm gathering that she probably channeled more of herself into "Jack" than any other character. Jack & Jill had a pretty one-note childhood that was hammered home for readers over and over again: that their parents were selfish people who shouldn't have ever had children, and then they forced weird gender roles on their kids. Then with this novel, other bad parents are mentioned some more, and there is more of a theme about parents forcing their expectations upon children.
Is this whole series just going to be some sort of talk-therapy for the author? What the fuck is her relationship with her parents? I love my parents. They annoy me sometimes, especially when they try to tell me how to raise my son, but the problems with our relationship have nothing to do with "expectations." Seanan McGuire is acting as if this particular relationship dynamic is so pervasive, when I have to stop and wonder if I can even relate to it.
January 4, 2022
Cora is a girl who has been at Miss Eleanor's School for Wayward Children for a while. She's been on adventures in previous volumes so we already know a little bit about her and the world she traveled to when her door found her.
Cora is a mermaid. Thus, she loves water and everything water-related (she also needs to keep wet all day). Only, not anymore. Because something happened to her in the moors (one of the afore-mentioned previous adventures) that attracted the Drowned Gods to her and now they won't let go of Cora resulting in nightmares and worse.
Cora therefore decides to try something different. She asks to be transferred to a different school that is run VERY differently to Miss Eleanor's: the Whitethorn Institute. As put it: the place is a vampire.
And my bookgods, that school was as awful as I had expected. I mean, bad enough how kids generally treat Cora because she's overweight, but the matrons and headmaster were sooo creepy and cruel! It was a very small consolation that they actually do mean well and think they actually know what the children need considering the terrible and mean things they did to "help". Despite the headmaster's tale having been heartbreaking, that's just no excuse. Just like there is no excuse for the infuriating dainty, nameless girl enjoying being cruel to Cora. Urgh!
It broke my heart to see that Regan from book #6 had ended up here and what she had had to endure.
Thank goodness Cora's friends haven't given up on her. I LOVED how comes to the rescue and teaches that terrible girl some manners (I really hate bullies so that was one of the key moments for me ). Not to mention how cunning and observant she was and how she continued so save the day, by telling the teachers what is what for example. I whooped more than once.
But Cora herself was great as well. How she dealt with the Drowned Gods, confronting her own demons so to speak, how she found some inner peace and started interacting with others was a nice bit of growth.
As usual, this book was full of choices and full of important lessons about compassion and doing the right thing - and about looking at the world from different angles, not allowing for just one worldview.
It has become my ritual to read the next volume in this series at the beginning of each reading year and I can definitely say that I missed these worlds and the beautiful, whimsical yet profound writing style. This latest volume was no different and felt like balm on my soul.
Cora is a mermaid. Thus, she loves water and everything water-related (she also needs to keep wet all day). Only, not anymore. Because something happened to her in the moors (one of the afore-mentioned previous adventures) that attracted the Drowned Gods to her and now they won't let go of Cora resulting in nightmares and worse.
Cora therefore decides to try something different. She asks to be transferred to a different school that is run VERY differently to Miss Eleanor's: the Whitethorn Institute. As put it: the place is a vampire.
And my bookgods, that school was as awful as I had expected. I mean, bad enough how kids generally treat Cora because she's overweight, but the matrons and headmaster were sooo creepy and cruel! It was a very small consolation that they actually do mean well and think they actually know what the children need considering the terrible and mean things they did to "help". Despite the headmaster's tale having been heartbreaking, that's just no excuse. Just like there is no excuse for the infuriating dainty, nameless girl enjoying being cruel to Cora. Urgh!
It broke my heart to see that Regan from book #6 had ended up here and what she had had to endure.
Thank goodness Cora's friends haven't given up on her. I LOVED how comes to the rescue and teaches that terrible girl some manners (I really hate bullies so that was one of the key moments for me ). Not to mention how cunning and observant she was and how she continued so save the day, by telling the teachers what is what for example. I whooped more than once.
But Cora herself was great as well. How she dealt with the Drowned Gods, confronting her own demons so to speak, how she found some inner peace and started interacting with others was a nice bit of growth.
As usual, this book was full of choices and full of important lessons about compassion and doing the right thing - and about looking at the world from different angles, not allowing for just one worldview.
It has become my ritual to read the next volume in this series at the beginning of each reading year and I can definitely say that I missed these worlds and the beautiful, whimsical yet profound writing style. This latest volume was no different and felt like balm on my soul.
January 30, 2022
January 25:
Let the record reflect that upon reread I’m still ridiculously in love with this story.
September 24:
Y’all are gonna love this one!
After loving the first 6 books does it surprise anyone at this point that I’d love the 7th one?
There are soooo many quotable lines in this particular novel. We’re finding ourselves, coping with trauma, and holy shit dealing with some massive fatphobia this round so go in gently.
Cora was a real joy to read about in Come Tumbling Down but here we get so much more of her. I went through it every time someone insulted her about her weight cuz even now people still shit on others about their weight. It was difficult to read at times.
Overall this one definitely continues the streak of the odd numbers being an on going tale, so don’t read it on its own. I highly recommend all the books in this series.
Let the record reflect that upon reread I’m still ridiculously in love with this story.
September 24:
Y’all are gonna love this one!
After loving the first 6 books does it surprise anyone at this point that I’d love the 7th one?
There are soooo many quotable lines in this particular novel. We’re finding ourselves, coping with trauma, and holy shit dealing with some massive fatphobia this round so go in gently.
Cora was a real joy to read about in Come Tumbling Down but here we get so much more of her. I went through it every time someone insulted her about her weight cuz even now people still shit on others about their weight. It was difficult to read at times.
Overall this one definitely continues the streak of the odd numbers being an on going tale, so don’t read it on its own. I highly recommend all the books in this series.
January 23, 2022
I absolutely love this series so of course I had to devour this one as soon as I brought it home (shhh I know I have a problem). Reading these books I always have to wonder what my door would have been like. This one focuses on Cora as she struggles with ignoring the Drowned Gods’ calls and settle back into life at school with her friends. Determined that forgetting will be the only possible way to free herself she goes to the other school for children like her - the school that doesn’t reminisce on their doors but force children to forget there are other worlds at all. Cora knows instantly she’s made a mistake but the Whitehorn Institute is a prison for children like them.
March 21, 2023
This is a Young Adult Fantasy, and this is the 7th book in the Wayward Children series. I have read and reviewed the other books in this series, but I do not think you need to read the other books in the series before reading this book. There is a couple things that bother me about this book. I did not love the fat stuff in this book, and the character to me was just ok. The ending was fill of action, and I loved how the ending unfolded. I really wanted more action though out the book and not just at the end. I did love I got some characters for the other books in this book.
January 5, 2022
This is easily my favourite in the series in what feels like a long long time. Since book one, really. And I couldn't tell you what specifically about this seventh instalment did what the previous five couldn't. I really have no idea.
Maybe it was finally having a story that featured this other school? The very anti-thesis of the Home for Wayward Children? Maybe it was Cora? Maybe it was all of it.
I'll admit, I had forgotten most of what preceded this book which was a bit of a problem initially as so much depends on knowing what Cora experienced since returning from her Door. But it is more or less glossed over and hinted at, I just wish I had a better understanding. Regardless, though, the point is less what came before and what Cora wants of her future; mostly, to have one. Which brings her to ask for a transfer to Whitethorn. If only she really knew what she was asking for..
"This place hurts people. It makes them crawl into their own hearts to be safe, and then turns those hearts against them."
Again, I really did love pretty much everything about this one. I'm even almost tempted to round up on it. I don't imagine we'll see a continuation of this particular plot/cliffhanger in book eight, as they seem to switch off, but I can't wait to reunite with these characters and see how they might come back and save those still at Whitethorn. If they do.. who knows!
This has been a strange series for me. One I love in concept but not always in execution; and my relationship with this author, particularly under this penname, has been fraught with this kind of pattern. But it's books like this one, it's remembering she's also Mira Grant, that keep me coming back and refusing to throw in the towel. And I'm so glad for that.
3.5 stars
** I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
Maybe it was finally having a story that featured this other school? The very anti-thesis of the Home for Wayward Children? Maybe it was Cora? Maybe it was all of it.
I'll admit, I had forgotten most of what preceded this book which was a bit of a problem initially as so much depends on knowing what Cora experienced since returning from her Door. But it is more or less glossed over and hinted at, I just wish I had a better understanding. Regardless, though, the point is less what came before and what Cora wants of her future; mostly, to have one. Which brings her to ask for a transfer to Whitethorn. If only she really knew what she was asking for..
"This place hurts people. It makes them crawl into their own hearts to be safe, and then turns those hearts against them."
Again, I really did love pretty much everything about this one. I'm even almost tempted to round up on it. I don't imagine we'll see a continuation of this particular plot/cliffhanger in book eight, as they seem to switch off, but I can't wait to reunite with these characters and see how they might come back and save those still at Whitethorn. If they do.. who knows!
This has been a strange series for me. One I love in concept but not always in execution; and my relationship with this author, particularly under this penname, has been fraught with this kind of pattern. But it's books like this one, it's remembering she's also Mira Grant, that keep me coming back and refusing to throw in the towel. And I'm so glad for that.
3.5 stars
** I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
July 1, 2025
"We here at the Whitethorn Institute understand that you are going through a difficult period in your lives. Childhood is confusing. Adulthood is even more so. We know that you're fighting against an endless cascade of contradictions. That's why we provide you with a structured environment tailored to help you remember what it means to be a citizen of the world. This world, the only one that should ever matter to you. You are home. It may not feel like it right now, but I promise you, one day, you'll remember all the parts of your life that made it so fulfilling before you were led astray."
The Wayward Children series has become an annual tradition (how are we at 7 already), and while every one of them has hit different, one thing they always promise is at least a temporary escape.
In an Absent Dream is always going to be my favourite, I think, but I enjoyed Where the Drowned Girls Go more than I have the previous couple - though with this series, enjoying less still means really liking the books. But the introduction to the other place for returned portal-door-children was nicely foreboding and unsettling, just as it should be. Previous characters return, new ones are introduced, and while some of the messages aren't exactly subtle, they're ones that sometimes need to be hammered home a bit harder.
Still fully on board with the Wayward Children, and still feeling like one a year just isn't enough!
The Wayward Children series has become an annual tradition (how are we at 7 already), and while every one of them has hit different, one thing they always promise is at least a temporary escape.
In an Absent Dream is always going to be my favourite, I think, but I enjoyed Where the Drowned Girls Go more than I have the previous couple - though with this series, enjoying less still means really liking the books. But the introduction to the other place for returned portal-door-children was nicely foreboding and unsettling, just as it should be. Previous characters return, new ones are introduced, and while some of the messages aren't exactly subtle, they're ones that sometimes need to be hammered home a bit harder.
Still fully on board with the Wayward Children, and still feeling like one a year just isn't enough!
May 26, 2022
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3 ¼ stars
Where the Drowned Girls Go is a relatively compelling if inoffensive addition to the Wayward Children series. Once again Seanan McGuire sticks to the same formula: we have a focus on aesthetics, a fairy-talesque atmosphere, and a story revolving around a girl who is either lonely or made to feel different or insecure about something. Like its predecessors, Where the Drowned Girls Go critiques individuals and institutions that seek to impose conformity on those they deem ‘different’. Here the good/bad binary feels particularly lacking in nuance, and I miss the ambivalence that permeated the first few instalments. Still, McGuire’s prose has is always a delight to read. While here she goes a bit heavy-handed on metaphors involving smiles (we have, to name a few, wan smiles, bland smiles, terrible smiles, terrifying smiles...the list goes on), her hypnotic style is rich with tantalising descriptions and lush imagery. I also appreciate her darker take on fairy tales and magical worlds. As we can see, those who go through magical doors do not always make it ‘home’ unscathed. They carry physical and psychological scars from their time there and struggle to integrate themselves back into 'reality'.
In Where the Drowned Girls Go we are reunited with Cora who we previously followed on a rescue mission to Confection in Beneath the Sugar Sky. She’s haunted by the Trenches, the world she fell into, and fears that she will once more be transported to that world. She believes that at Eleanor’s school she won’t be able to resist the Trenches so she decides to enrol at the Whitethorn Institute. But, she soon discovers, Whitethorn is not kind to ‘wayward children' like her. The school instils fear in its students, punishing those who mention their experiences in other worlds and rewarding those who come to view magical doors as the product of a delusion. Cora is bullied by some of her roommates who make fun of her appearance and such. Eventually, Sumi comes to her rescue and Cora has to decide whether she does want to leave Whitethorn. There are a few moral lessons about friendship, not being mean, or not letting others dictate who you are.
While there were fantastical elements woven into the story and setting this volume lacked that magic spark that made the first few books into such spellbinding reads. I also found Cora to be a meh protagonist. Her defining characteristic seemed to be her body, which wasn’t great. Sumi was a welcome addition to the cast of characters as I found the girls at Whitethorn to be rather samey (which perhaps was intentional). I don’t entirely get why Cora got another book. She was the main character in Beneath the Sugar Sky. Her insecurities etc. were already explored in that book…and this feels like an unnecessary continuation to her arc. Still, I love the aesthetics of this series and the wicked/virtue & nonsense/logical world compass.
Hopefully, the next volume will be about Kade...
3 ¼ stars
Where the Drowned Girls Go is a relatively compelling if inoffensive addition to the Wayward Children series. Once again Seanan McGuire sticks to the same formula: we have a focus on aesthetics, a fairy-talesque atmosphere, and a story revolving around a girl who is either lonely or made to feel different or insecure about something. Like its predecessors, Where the Drowned Girls Go critiques individuals and institutions that seek to impose conformity on those they deem ‘different’. Here the good/bad binary feels particularly lacking in nuance, and I miss the ambivalence that permeated the first few instalments. Still, McGuire’s prose has is always a delight to read. While here she goes a bit heavy-handed on metaphors involving smiles (we have, to name a few, wan smiles, bland smiles, terrible smiles, terrifying smiles...the list goes on), her hypnotic style is rich with tantalising descriptions and lush imagery. I also appreciate her darker take on fairy tales and magical worlds. As we can see, those who go through magical doors do not always make it ‘home’ unscathed. They carry physical and psychological scars from their time there and struggle to integrate themselves back into 'reality'.
In Where the Drowned Girls Go we are reunited with Cora who we previously followed on a rescue mission to Confection in Beneath the Sugar Sky. She’s haunted by the Trenches, the world she fell into, and fears that she will once more be transported to that world. She believes that at Eleanor’s school she won’t be able to resist the Trenches so she decides to enrol at the Whitethorn Institute. But, she soon discovers, Whitethorn is not kind to ‘wayward children' like her. The school instils fear in its students, punishing those who mention their experiences in other worlds and rewarding those who come to view magical doors as the product of a delusion. Cora is bullied by some of her roommates who make fun of her appearance and such. Eventually, Sumi comes to her rescue and Cora has to decide whether she does want to leave Whitethorn. There are a few moral lessons about friendship, not being mean, or not letting others dictate who you are.
While there were fantastical elements woven into the story and setting this volume lacked that magic spark that made the first few books into such spellbinding reads. I also found Cora to be a meh protagonist. Her defining characteristic seemed to be her body, which wasn’t great. Sumi was a welcome addition to the cast of characters as I found the girls at Whitethorn to be rather samey (which perhaps was intentional). I don’t entirely get why Cora got another book. She was the main character in Beneath the Sugar Sky. Her insecurities etc. were already explored in that book…and this feels like an unnecessary continuation to her arc. Still, I love the aesthetics of this series and the wicked/virtue & nonsense/logical world compass.
Hopefully, the next volume will be about Kade...
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