Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Mislaid in Parts Half-Known

"The door wasn’t there because you have any obligations left to these people, or this world. It was there because sometimes people can’t let go of who they thought we were, and so they keep trying to tangle us in nets and drag us back. That doesn’t mean we have to go. Or if we do go, that doesn’t mean we have to stay."

I received a digital Arc from Netgalley and Tor in exchange for an honest review! The quotes are taken from the Arc and are subject to changes!

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known is a direct sequel to Lost in the Moment and Found! It follows Antsy as she settles into Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children following the events of the previous book. Antsy's still struggling with the years that have been stolen from her, as she's not the age she looks like and is scared everyone else will notice. Luckily, she's got new friends on her side, including Cora, Christopher, Kaede and Sumi! I really liked seeing them again and loved how they were looking out for Antsy all this time. She might be able to find the doors - as she's got a knack for finding lost things - and in a school full of people desperate to go back to their worlds, this could cause a lot of problems.

The main theme of the book is breaking the cycle of abuse and hurt! I liked how the author picked Antsy's story back up and had her face the Shop of Lost Things again, including the shopkeeper who stole all these years from her. Anty's adamant that her successor should make an informed choice about whether to open the doors, as they cost time every time you open them. Vineta is still using young children and trying to justify it by saying that she didn't have it any better. There's a big emphasis on being hurt in the past not being an excuse to do the same to someone else. Having suffered doesn't mean you can inflict pain on others - Antsy knows this better than anyone.

"Those travellers learned not only what it meant to be mislaid, but what it meant to become so fundamentally and foundationally unanchored from who they had originally been that they could no longer find their way back to that person."

The novella sadly felt a bit unfocused and all over the place. I much preferred Lost in the Moment and Found and Where the Drowned Girls Go, as they had a clear goal. In the beginning, there was even another antagonist who wanted to use Antsy's powers but they quickly got dropped and their story got wrapped up so quickly in the end. There's also a time skip right in the beginning, as the events of Where the Drowned Girls Go take place, which felt a bit jarring. The actual dinosaur world that's depicted on the cover only gets a small amount of page time and I wish we'd seen a novella completely about it because Stephanie was a great character and her world so interesting. It feels a bit misleading to have the dinosaur on the cover since it's not what the story is about.

I'm also sad that we'll probably never get a novella about Kaede, as the biggest part about his character - facing Prism after it threw him out for being trans - is used here. I liked seeing this conflict about Kaede being forced back into the world that rejected him, but I'm so sad it was barely explored because the story had its focus elsewhere. I wish this had gotten some proper attention and not been thrown into this novella.

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ezwolf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Another book, another forbidden quest.

The first Wayward Children book I read was actually Lost in the Moment and Found where Antsy is introduced, so it was cool to have completed reading the series and then be able to read the next book to be published in the series. This book specifically focuses on generational trauma and breaking the cycle. Antsy is the main focus of this, but I see it with Kade and Eleanor too.

These books never fail to make me feel so hopeful and so sad and so nostalgic all in one go. I think as I continue the series, each book will be followed by the end of Lundy's story. Far more characters have been able to return through their Doors than not, but the fear that the kids who want to go back won't be able to lingers.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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shays's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Disclaimer: I received access to an advance reader’s copy of this title, which will be released on January 9, 2024.

This ninth installment in the Wayward Children series continues Antsy’s adventure from Lost in the Moment and Found, and ties into Cora’ visit to Whitethorn Institute in Where the Drowned Girls Go. In terms of the world-building, it also raises the interesting but so-far unanswered question of what the Doors are doing with the time at that take as payment from those who open them. Thematically, Mislaid in Parts Half-Known is about cycles of trauma, those who perpetuate them, and those who find a way to break them. There is more than one way for a childhood to be taken but Antsy lost hers in so many ways.

Full review: https://shayshortt.com/2023/11/21/mislaid-in-parts-half-known/

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

This is the one with dinosaurs! It's excellent, and if you've been enjoying the series so far you'll love this too. Antsy is trying to make it so no other kids get tricked out of their childhoods by unknowingly paying for too many doors, but this time she has some help from Kade, Sumi, and the others.

For a school where “No Quests” adorns the door, the students at the school for Wayward Children sure do get up to a lot of quests. A core group with a slowly shifting cast has been established as traveling to try and fix things on a semi-regular basis. In MISLAID IN PARTS HALF-KNOWN, some of the kids figure out that Antsy’s gift for finding lost things might let her find their doors... whereupon trouble ensues. Kade, Sumi, Cora, Emily, and Christopher travel with Antsy to try and set things right which were left broken when she fled the Store at the end of LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND. The worldbuilding has been getting more complicated as they learn more about what's happening. Eleanor's assumptions about the students have started having more to do with her desire for Nonsense than their actual experiences, and it's getting to a point where it's affecting the room assignments. This continues several storylines which were begun earlier, creating what feels like an entirely new storyline through recombination of older threads, even though as each piece was something introduced earlier. This far into the series, that’s an excellent feeling, making the adventure feel both fresh and familiar even on a first read-through. A particular problem in the Store is both introduced and resolved, and several more tangles either arise or are addressed. As a story about nexuses and connections, it’s especially nice to reach a point where everything feels so connected to everything else that it’s a complicated tangle to explain the setup, which for me is one of the joys of a long-running series.

MISLAID IN PARTS HALF-KNOWN could partly make sense to someone who starts here, but if such a person wanted to jump in midway without starting at the beginning of the series, LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND (the previous book) would be a much better entry point. That reader would find themselves knowing as much as Antsy does about what’s happening, which is a comprehensible perspective even if it misses earlier portions of the ongoing story. I particularly enjoyed some moments with Kade and Sumi (both separately and together). This felt like an ensemble cast in a way that earlier books didn't, and it's wonderful to be at the point in the series where the focus can smoothly shift between characters as needed.

This entry is great, don't miss it! This series is consistently excellent and I'm eager to read what happens next.

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sarrie's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I don’t stick through with many super long series. Inevitably I find they meander, and with no clear ending in sight I tend to give up. I had that issue with Seanan’s Incryptid series and I think I’ve reached that point with the Wayward Children. This is a direct sequel the previous book, following Antsy when she’s finally at the School, then as she returns to the Store/Nexus to resolve the issues she left hanging.

My biggest gripe with the series as it stands is that we haven’t had any resolution for our initial, what I would call, our main cast since Jack & Jill. Kade, Christopher, and Sumi are following along on quests that revolve around side characters that seem to appear for a purpose and simply disappear (return to their world). This story was exactly that. I am left wondering, what is the point of these last two books? The previous one felt heavy handed with the emotional manipulation and this one felt almost boring.

As I mentioned, we return to Antsy’s world for the bulk of any plot events. The cover depicts Stephanie’s world (who we met in a previous book), and it’s part of the tale very briefly. Sadly that means we see very little of a new world, or setting. We get very little when it comes to greater world or metaplot movement and it felt… dull.

Ultimately I am left wondering, could this have been two chapters in another book? There was little of impact, and what impact we had in the previous book (as the two have to be taken together) was in the end not needed. I’m also beginning to wonder, if going through doors is so common how is it none of these parents or guardians give a damn? Surely someone somewhere besides Eleanor understands. It makes me seriously question the continuity of this world. As a parent even if I didn't quite understand, I would never simply abandon my child in the way nearly every child in this story is abandoned. It boggles my mind.

2 Doors out of 5… meh

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meganpbell's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This ninth novella in Seanan McGuire’s beloved Wayward Children series is as full of fierce wisdom and whimsical quests as ever, following Antsy and friends from Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children through several Doors both familiar and strange, seeking a way to set the Shop Where the Lost Things back in order. The worlds we visit in this installment are so fun and fascinating—and I love how Antsy’s story continues here.

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