I had some hemming and hawing about how much I enjoyed the first half of this book plot-wise simply because parts of it felt a little too recap-y for me. BUT I totally enjoy McGuire's writing and the Wayward characters, so I never was bored reading it! I loved seeing the power balances of the Moors and hearing about how this particular world is maintained, and I'm very happy with the ending (even if it was a tad bit rushed). It's a long wait for the 6th book, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for a Kade or Cora novel next! ( )

I found this book disappointing. There was no reason for Kade to tag along since he quite literally did nothing. I thought everyone was acting out of character. Sumi was annoying and downright mean. Jack lost her unique charm. We didn’t even learn anything more about the Moors. It felt like this book wasn’t needed and it didn’t add anything to the series. ( )

Sometimes, in an effort to do the conventionally right thing, we end up doing the universally wrong thing and try to tell ourselves pretty lies to feel better.

Once upon a time a practical monster killed her pretty monster sister to save everyone.

At the end of EVERY HEART A DOORWAY Jack stabbed her sister Jill, before fleeing through the Door to the place she gratefully called home. Unlike every other student at the school, Jack had not been exiled from her Door because whatever powers govern these things thought she was not CERTAIN enough (Jack is never not certain of her actions). Jack was exiled in a bid of familial love for her monstrous, murderous twin to keep her safe.

Three times Jack protected and saved her sister, and three times that LOVE proved fatal for others.

Along for this Quest that is not a Quest (just as before with Rini in BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY) are Christopher, Cora, Sumi and Kade.

However our intrepid Wayward Children have all, in some way or another, found themselves at crossroads they didn't wish to be at. Christopher who misses Mariposa more and more with every breath he takes, finds Jack's return disquieting for the new array of traits she kept buried before. Kade is afraid of the future, as his Aunt fades a little more each day and the responsibilities of helping other children with misplaced Doors falls on his uncertain shoulders. Cora finds everyone's easy acceptance of the horrors Jack brings to them unfathomable and longs for the Trenches she understands.

And Sumi is...Sumi. Practical in her own way and just as much a Monster as Jack, just in a cotton candy package wrapping.

We meet Alexis once more and she's as perfectly matched for Jack as she was before her second death in DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES. She's exactly what Jack needs, and shows her own fierceness when Kade asks one too many pointed questions he had no business asking.

Gideon is a new child who found his Door before Jack found her way to the Moors and who finds himself the object of Sumi's interest.

This is filled with romance and adventure and heart break and happy ends. Everyone finds themselves changed when they go to the Moors and only the Monsters are really able to survive. ( )

Jack & Jill, the Moors, Christopher, Kade, Cora, Sumi...what more could we want from a book? ( )

The bookest of the Wayward Children so far, this follows Jack and Jill in the aftermath of Jack killing Jill in the first book (and Jill getting better...) McGuire clearly loves Jack and Jill the most out of all of her characters, and it shows here: the characters are more developed and more nuanced than any of the others by this, their third appearance. (Unrelatedly, do boys ever get to be protagonists for McGuire? Kade and Christopher also put in their third appearances and still are flimsy setting material.) Taking a diverse cast into the monotone, horrific setting that is the Moors provides some dark humor and also some depth to what otherwise starts to feel bland in its darkness.

I liked that we actually got a narrative arc and I finally felt like I had a full story, both plot-wise and emotionally, of Jack and Jill. This was the first novella that actually felt satisfying. On the flip side, I don't actually enjoy Jack, Jill or the moors, so ups and downs. (I know, right? I don't actually like the sardonic female scientist character? Oh yeah, because she's a monster.) But overall, as a canon, the books are stronger than they are individually. ( )