Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

Source: NetGalley – Many thanks to the publisher!
TL;DR: It’s starting to get old, and we genuinely need to return to our main cast.

Plot: Meanders a bit to be honest. Returning to Antsy’s world, with a short stint in Stephanie’s (see cover). It felt very lacking for me.
Characters: Antsy is fine, and we do get bits of our others. Sumi is strong here and Cora gets some love.
Setting: This returns to the Shop/Nexus that Antsy was in in the previous book for most of it. The dinos on the cover are just briefly featured (sad face).
Magic: Same as usual with the Wayward children. A bit more details on the doors, but nothing mind-blowing.

Thoughts:

I don’t stick through with many super long series. Inevitably I find they meander, and with no clear ending in sight I tend to give up. I had that issue with Seanan’s Incryptid series and I think I’ve reached that point with the Wayward Children. This is a direct sequel the previous book, following Antsy when she’s finally at the School, then as she returns to the Store/Nexus to resolve the issues she left hanging.

My biggest gripe with the series as it stands is that we haven’t had any resolution for our initial, what I would call, our main cast since Jack & Jill. Kade, Christopher, and Sumi are following along on quests that revolve around side characters that seem to appear for a purpose and simply disappear (return to their world). This story was exactly that. I am left wondering, what is the point of these last two books? The previous one felt heavy handed with the emotional manipulation and this one felt almost boring.

As I mentioned, we return to Antsy’s world for the bulk of any plot events. The cover depicts Stephanie’s world (who we met in a previous book), and it’s part of the tale very briefly. Sadly that means we see very little of a new world, or setting. We get very little when it comes to greater world or metaplot movement and it felt… dull.

Ultimately I am left wondering, could this have been two chapters in another book? There was little of impact, and what impact we had in the previous book (as the two have to be taken together) was in the end not needed. I’m also beginning to wonder, if going through doors is so common how is it none of these parents or guardians give a damn? Surely someone somewhere besides Eleanor understands. It makes me seriously question the continuity of this world. As a parent even if I didn’t quite understand, I would never simply abandon my child in the way nearly every child in this story is abandoned. It boggles my mind.

2 Doors out of 5… meh