"Come Tumbling Down" by Seanan McGuire

 This is the fifth book of the Wayward Children series (others can be found on this blog, the first, second, third, and fourth are all here). I was really pleased that this book is a return to previous characters that I love, while I was frustrated about its length primarily. I felt that this was the first book in the series that really suffered from being a novella and could have used up many more pages.

The book starts with Christopher in his room after the events of Beneath a Sugar Sky when lightning strikes the floor. And keeps striking. A door appears and Alexis, carrying Jack, emerges. Cora, Sumi, and Kade are all there by that point. Sumi wakes Jack up and it's revealed that Jack was forced to body swap with Jill so that Jill can become a vampire in Jack's body (which has never died). Jack is slowly falling apart being in Jill's body, so they all head to the Moors to attack the vampires before that can happen. Once there, Cora is called into the sea and disappears. The others head to the church of the Drowned God to ask for help. Kade falls on the way, but Cora then reappears with Kade, speaks for the Drowned God, and then recovers. They head to the castle, body swap Jack back into her body, and kill Jill. Then the others head back to the school.

Alright well, first of all I saw that this was another book about Jack and Jill and I sure was pleased that it wasn't another stand alone. Having Christopher, Cora, Sumi, and Kade all there helped a lot to lighten the mood of the Moors. And they were happy to be reunited with Jack which was cute.

Beyond that though, there wasn't a lot dedicated to this quest. Cora mysteriously returns with Kade, so there didn't seem to be a point in all that. We could have at least gotten something from Kade or Cora's point of view for that time. And Jack does worry about killing her sister, but there isn't anything to speak to her mental status after this. It seems like a done deal from the beginning. Everything in general from the Moors onward just felt rushed, like we could take our time and talk to these characters more. Since the book is primarily about this quest, I would want some details about it.

Anyways, still love this series, I hope that there's more books continuing this story specifically rather than one offs. I can't wait for the next one.