RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Published: January 07, 2020
Publisher: Tor.com
Format: eBook
Pages: 208
“Sometimes heroism is pressing on when the endings is already pre-ordained.”
Synopsis:
When Jack left Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister—whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice—back to their home on the Moors.
But death in their adopted world isn’t always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.
Eleanor West’s “No Quests” rule is about to be broken.
Again.
Thoughts:
It’s very rare for me to start a series when it just came out and read the installment in the same year that it was released, but that is The Wayward Children Series for me. Ever since I read the first book, I was captured by the idea that there is not only one magical world but many. And in this series, we get to meet different characters who have stumbled upon a magical door and are waiting for it to show up again. Just with that premise, I am hooked. But as the series goes on, the appeal of the story was not as I first hoped it would be.
I don’t love each book in this series but I don’t hate it as well. It was entertaining and I was really captivated by the different worlds that we get to visit in each book. However, the plot is what really felt off for me. It was good, in a way, because the author has managed to tell an adventure to different worlds in less than 200 pages. Yet I always feel like there is something missing and that is what I felt towards this fifth book. But unlike the other books, I can pin-point as to what puts me off with this book, and that is the characters.
This is the third book where we follow Jack and Jill’s story in the Moors but each time their character feels different from each book. I really enjoyed Down Among Sticks and Bones; I like their character arcs in that book. But in this fifth installment, I did not like Jack as a character. She was annoying for someone who needs help, a bit arrogant too. And even though the character herself is trying to justify her attitude, I still find it annoying.
Plot-wise though, I think this book is better than the other books. The conflict in the story was well-built and the adventure would keep you turning the pages. There are also some sad moments, especially if you are attached to these characters. However, there is a part in the book where they have to make a deal and the deal was too simple that it lost the momentum and atmosphere of the whole scene for me. Other than that, I was satisfied with how the story goes, except for the Epilogue. I just wished that we get to see what happens to the kids who go back to the school rather than a scene where it is kinda obvious that it would happen.
All-in-all, the story was okay. But I am contemplating if I will still continue on with this series. This will be a good read for those who want to read something short and entertaining. Do check out this series if you haven’t read any of the books yet. It might be a hit and miss because that seems to be the case for some, but maybe you will like it more than most of us.
That is all for this review. Until next time!
Maria❤
A Daughter of Parchment and Paper 