Illustrations – Rovina Cai
“I’m always sure.”
I read this book weeks ago and I’ve wanted to gush about it ever since, but life postponed me. Distance between reading a book and writing a review tells you if the book’s glow fades with time, though. If anything, I appreciate this book more now than when I finished it and that’s saying a lot.
Before I ramble about the book, I need to say something about me. It’s my review so I get to do that. When I first started writing book reviews, I fantasised about the future and what outrageously impossible things I might find there.
This book fulfilled a dream that I only shared with one person because I was so certain it wouldn’t happen: that I would be given the opportunity to read a Seanan McGuire book before the publication date. That it happened at all still makes me smile at random moments. That it’s a Wayward Children book, the series that introduced me to Seanan, that’s perfection right there.
“And we’re getting off topic, which is a neat trick when we haven’t managed to get on topic yet.”
I need to find someone in my world who I can get all spoilery with because they’ve read it too. Until then, I need to talk about some takeaways.
Dinosaurs. Yes, there’s a dinosaur on the cover. Yes, you will travel to a world with dinosaurs. No, this is not a dinosaur book.
The story. This is the continuation of Antsy’s story. You met her in Lost in the Moment and Found. If you don’t know Antsy, please introduce yourself to her before reading this book.
In fact, if you haven’t already attended Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, now would be a really good time to binge the series. Some of the Wayward Children books can be read as standalones if you really want to, although I’m not sure why you wouldn’t simply read them all. This really isn’t one of them. It refers to characters, worlds and events that you really had to be there for.
Antsy. A part of me is still a little bit broken from knowing why she ran.
No quests.
Of course there’s a quest! Would you have it any other way?
Doors.
“Every door is a little different, and every world they take us to is very different indeed, but they all ask the same thing of us, and they all break our hearts, in the end.”
I thought I was obsessed before. This book fuelled my need to know everything there is to know about them. I have decided I need a companion book, Door Lore. It will explain the history of Doors, how they work and how different cultures and worlds understand them and tell stories about them. There will be an entry for every world, which will include where it sits on the Nonsense, Logic, Virtue, Wickedness spectrum. It will be encyclopaedic and glorious!
Kade. This is not Kade’s story but I learned more about him and the world behind his Door. I still can’t wait for Kade’s book but don’t want to say goodbye to him either, so I’m trusting Seanan to give us his story when the time is right.
Sumi.
“You have to listen to me. I died, and that means I’m clever now.”
I have loved Sumi since the day we met. Her nonsense was strong in this book, as it usually is, and I adore it and her more every page we spend together.
Harvest. I need to go there!
The ending. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. Even though I probably should have, I was not expecting it. I definitely wasn’t expecting the sneaky ugly cry.
Be sure. The worlds can be sugar sweet or they can drown me. The characters can (and will) break my heart, time and time again. I will always be sure. I will not stop looking until I find my Door.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read this book.
Once Upon a Blurb
Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children.
When her fellow students realise that Antsy’s talent for finding absolutely anything may extend to doors, she’s forced to flee in the company of a small group of friends, looking for a way back to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go to be sure that Vineta and Hudson are keeping their promise.
Along the way, temptations are dangled, decisions are reinforced, and a departure to a world populated by dinosaurs brings untold dangers and one or two other surprises!
A story that reminds us that finding what you want doesn’t always mean finding what you need.
Schizanthus Nerd 