Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

1 review

bluejayreads's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Cora was in Beneath the Sugar Sky and Come Tumbling Down, but she hasn’t had her own story yet. This one is hers. 

But it’s quite a bit different from the previous books. It’s not about her adventures on the other side of her door and how she was spit back out into our world against her wishes, or about her adventures at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, but rather her attempts to escape from the trauma that those things gave her. It also introduces the Whitethorn Institute, which is an alternate school to Eleanor West’s, and it’s not nearly as nice. 

It turns out, though, than many of the worlds the door lead to are not as nice as the ones our previous protagonists have gone to (if places like the Moors can even be called “nice” – though some mentioned here are worse). The theme of trauma after the magical adventure runs throughout all the Wayward Children books, but it’s especially strong here. No doors are passed through in this book besides the ordinary type, and Cora has to reckon with what happened the last time she went through one. 

I found Cora mildly dislikeable in Come Tumbling Down, but she was very relatable and lovable in this one. I absolutely relate to her frustrations with being fat and other people’s insistence that she chose to be that way and therefore she is lazy/disgusting/morally reprehensible, developing an eating disorder over it and still not losing enough weight to be considered “not fat,” and her attempting to hunch down and be smaller because she feels like she takes up too much space. It’s only mentioned as backstory in a couple spots, but it was so completely relatable. Her attempts to escape from the symptoms of her trauma even if people around her think her solution will also be bad for her was also relatable. Basically if you’re fat and/or traumatized, you’ll probably relate to her. 

The Whitethorn Institute was also interesting, and the complete opposite of Eleanor West’s school. There were interesting characters there (including Regan from Across the Green Grass Fields), several twists about what’s actually going on here, trying to fix traumatized kids by traumatizing them in different ways, and a fascinating look at the more cruel, uncaring side of the doorways and the people that come back through them. It was very dark, it was full of trauma, but it was fascinating. 

The Wayward Children books are always so good. I can’t say this one is perfect, mainly because I think Cora’s trauma was managed a little too fast to be believable, but it’s an enjoyable story in a fascinating world (or rather, a world populated with people who have been to and returned from fascinating worlds). Since this book just came out, I have no idea when they next one will be released or who it will be about (if you’re reading this, Seanan, Kade needs his own book!), but I absolutely want to read it when it is. 
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