Middlegame

 Middlegame by Seanan McGuire  528 pages  

Summary from Goodreads: Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. 
Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own. Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

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This was my second time through this book and I read it for a book group discussion. I'm mentioning that because I read this book when it first came out, then read Over the Woodward Wall, and then re-read this.  While I still enjoyed this book, I did find that this second time through, I approached it a little differently.  Over the Woodward Wall, in case you're wondering why I'm mentioning that, is quoted in this book. It's written by A. Deborah Baker (a/k/a Seanan McGuire), who is referenced in Middlegame as a character.  So, it's one of those stories-inside-a-story books.

There is a lot of time travel and re-setting of events in this story, which can make it really confusing if you're not reading the print edition and paying attention to the chapter information. Roger and Dodger are connected, which means that they have the ability to do some pretty powerful things. However, they don't always get it right  . . . but they can re-set things and try again. So, if you're not careful, it can get confusing and feel like things are being repeated.

Are the characters likeable? Not always, but they are interesting. I think some readers will especially identify with both of them, though, and maybe Dodger the most. Both are gifted as children, which means there can be pressure from adults and loneliness around other children.  Reed and the main alchemist are pretty flat characters, which is disappointing --- but they aren't the focus of the story, so does it matter that much? What I found interesting is that there are characters in both this book and Over the Woodward Wall that are difficult to get a good hold on. Meaning, it's hard to tell if they are good or bad. Maybe they are amoral, which means they can help other characters, but they can be deceitful. I like stories like that, where you can't always trust that nothing bad will happen to the characters and the story has some twists to it.

Come Tumbling Down

Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5) by Seanan McGuire  206 pages  I read a galley - book is due out January, 2020

When lightning strikes, it can bring unexpected dreams to life. When Jack left the School for Wayward Children, she was carrying the body of her recently murdered sister, passing through the doorway to the Moors, their home. However, death in the Moors isn't as permanent as in other places, and now, the lightning has brought Jack back to the School. However, something is terribly, terribly wrong. Now, Jack must ask her friends to help bring the lightning back, and take them back to the Moors to set things right again. However, that doesn't mean all of them will survive.

In this deliciously creepy story, McGuire brings back one of the more complicated and interesting characters from the Wayward Children stories. Ever practical and deadly serious, Jack isn't without a sense of humor. However, in this story, when she is left with no choice to ask for help, there's no fun and games on this quest back to the Moors.

There's a nice balance of characters in this story. We have Jack, of course, but we also have other characters to give some different perspectives. One of my other favorite characters is Sumi, who can seem very heads-in-the-clouds . . . until she makes a devastatingly real statement. For example, when something awful happens in the book, Sumi makes the observation that "The world doesn't stop spinning because you're sad, and that's good; If it did, people would go around breaking hearts like they were sheets of maple sugar, just to keep the world exactly where it is." (p. 107).  Quite so.

This is one of my favorite series, and selfishly, I hope McGuire doesn't run out of stories any time soon because these books are absolutely fantastic. I have suggested them to readers who enjoy dark fantasy, but also to younger readers who liked the "Miss Peregrine" stories.  These are books for readers who enjoy fantastical and odds-defying characters, and who like an edge of danger to their storytelling.


LibraryReads summary: In this deliciously creepy story, McGuire brings back one of the favorite characters from the Wayward Children story. Filled with danger, viscera and blood, lightning and love, this beautifully written story is for lovers of dark fantasy, extraordinary characters and unlikely heroes.