A review by librarymouse
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

5.0

At the Tucson festival of books, I recently heard Seanan McGuire use the phrase "load-bearing lesbians" to describe characters who are the only named representation of a given marginalized group, as characters who the author cannot kill. It is my sincere hope that Jack Wolcott and Alexis Chopper are the lesbians behind the coining of the term. I love Jack as a good and vicious monster, and I love Alexis as her tie to humanity. This addition to the Wayward Children series is both a wonderful continuation of the storyline as a whole, and a satisfying end to the tragedy of the Wolcott sisters. While we mostly get Jack's perspective throughout the series, I do find her to be the more sympathetic sister by a longshot. Violent, self-assured, curious, and interesting, she could have been horrifying as the master's daughter, and she is amazing as as Dr. Bleak's. While she, too had the capacity to be everything her sister is, Jill is a monster by the time we meet her, but she is a pitiful one - weak, and devoted to the master who only claimed her when he couldn't have Jack. I have pity for Jill, for who she could have been and what she lost along the way of growing up in the Moors, which is a testament to the skillfulness of McGuire's writing. I really enjoyed the banter between Jack and Sumi. I'm glad she's back and as weird as ever, if not weirder. The addition of fate into her character in the assurance she won't die because her daughter exists and resurrected her, so she will return to her home eventually makes her a more ominous and round figure. I look forward to seeing how Cora's time with the Drowned Gods affects the latter books in the series, if at all. At the end of Come Tumbling Down, she is the only one of the main group who is permanently physically changed by her ordeal. I enjoyed getting to see characters who were heroes in their worlds get to be heroes again to help their friend. Sometimes bending the "No Quests" rule is worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Cannibalism, Pregnancy

Cannibalism tagged for a horse made of composite animals eating a chunk of meat of an unknown origin and for the mention of people who have a penchant for human flesh. No human on human cannibalism happens on page.