A review by bookish_leslie
The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

My rating scale, for reference:

  • 1 Star: Hated it
  • 1.5 Stars: Really didn't like it
  • 2 Stars: Didn't like it
  • 3 Stars: Meh
  • 4 Stars: Liked it
  • 4.5 Stars: Really liked it
  • 5 Stars: Loved it

This book was a bit of a slow burn, but the adventure and mystery kept me engaged and interested all the way to the end. I enjoyed the alternating timelines, as it really enhanced the sense of mystery for me, but I also sometimes found myself getting frustrated with it because I just wanted to know what was happening already! Alternating back and forth made it a little harder to keep track of each narrative, and also meant that both timelines reached their conclusions simultaneously, so the ending felt quite rushed and out of pace with the rest of the book. Cryptic in parts, too, with reveals that didn’t really make a lot of sense. I wish it had been better fleshed out, and that I wasn’t left with so many lingering questions.

But the last few lines of the epilogue gave me goosebumps and made me tear up (in a good way):

“Someone calls her name, every syllable beloved: Jadelynne.

Jay takes a moment before she turns to see a woman walking down the road toward her, half-familiar, lifting a hand to Jay, her whole face open with joy. And Jadelynne Carr drops everything she's holding and she's running, running back into the arms of her best friend.” (pg. 371)

I didn’t really understand this greeting between the friends, since their friendship had already started to fracture a bit when they were still in high school and then by this point they hadn’t spoken for 19 years, but given their earlier closeness, it was still touching to see them reunited with so much joy.


Otherwise, I enjoyed the author’s writing style, as well as the way she employed both plot and character. There was enough happening for me to be interested, but not at the sacrifice of some character depth. I can't say I loved all of the characters, but they were more than just flat and one-dimensional. I especially loved the undercurrent of magic that the author wove throughout this book - it was just enough to add something special without feeling too heavy-handed - and it was probably my favourite part. I’m always a sucker for magical realism and portal fiction, even if this was only portal-adjacent at best, and I loved the creativity baked into the individual magic of the houses. There was a dark tone that traveled throughout the narrative, as well, but oddly this book still felt very hopeful.

At its heart, I'd say this was a book about friendship, community, and how/where we find belonging. It was a book that explored class, choices and consequences, the pain felt when we outgrow or want different things from life than the people we love, and about noticing and appreciating what’s right in front of us.  And, of course, it was a book about following adventure and magic. I really enjoyed it.
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