Book Review: Where the Drowned Girls Go, The Wayward Children Series Book 7, Seanan McGuire
Fantasy: Where the Drowned Girls Go, The Wayward Children Series Book 7, Seanan McGuire
Cora belongs with the sirens, living under the sea in her watery world. She is, however, of this earth and came back unexpectedly and unwillingly. Finding herself at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, she has made friends and found adventures. Unfortunately she has also attracted the attention of the Drowned Gods, creatures hoping to either capture Cora for themselves or to use her as a conduit into the world she hopes to someday return to.
Unable to sleep, wracked by nightmares, afraid of what might happen, Cora learns there is another school for children who, like her, have gone to other worlds through unexpected doors. Unlike Eleanor West’s school, though, The Whitethorn Institute promises to help children forget their other worlds. They do not keep hope alive that people may find their doors again. They work to shut those doors completely. This is what Cora wants, and she applies for a transfer.
Without giving away spoilers, let’s just say that life at Whitethorn is bad, shutting doors involves more than meets the eye, and Cora learns a lot about herself and the worlds she has experienced.
Seanan McGuire has an amazing imagination and I am overjoyed that she shares her imagination with us readers. Throughout the Wayward Children series, characters come and go, take center stage or move off to the side, perhaps later returning to prominence. The novellas are quick reads but they don’t exit the mind nearly as fast.
McGuire also has extraordinary empathy for people society regards as “other.” Cora is a large young woman. She is athletic, enjoys swimming and running, and eats a healthy diet. Her body chemistry just seems to retain every calorie she consumes and possibly some she just walks by. Other characters in the series are gay, trans, or dealing with mental illness (assuming that “serial killer” is not exactly a healthy personality trait). Essentially, anyone who finds a door to another world has had some kind of problems fitting into this world. At Eleanor West’s home, they find love and acceptance and encouragement to live their authentic lives. Whitethorn has a much different approach, enforcing conformity and breaking spirits. Fortunately, Cora has a spirit that is very hard to break.
I often look for those other doors into worlds that would be more to my liking than the one I’m in. I’m not likely to find one. Fortunately, I have found this series which sees the lonely and alienated as the heroes they are, no matter what world they are in.
Also see by Seanan McGuire —
Book Review: Across the Green Grass Fields, Wayward Children Book 6, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Calculated Risks, InCryptid Book 10, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Imaginary Numbers, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: The Brightest Fell, October Daye series #11, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, Ghost Roads Book 2, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Middlegame, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Night and Silence, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Sparrow Hill Road, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: In an Absent Dream, Wayward Children Book 4, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Angel of the Overpass, The Ghost Roads Book 3, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Dusk or Dawn or Dark or Day, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Where the Drowned Girls Go, The Wayward Children Series Book 7, Seanan McGuire