Review: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since this novella only just came out on Tuesday (a few days ago), I’m going to be very careful about any spoilers other than what can easily be inferred from the back of the book description.

McGuire has formed a main clique from the student body at Eleanor’s School For Wayward Children who have been the main characters since the first book (with a few exceptions). Once again we follow the clique as they disregard the No Quests rule. I think this book serves as a satisfying sequel to the main Antsy. It also reveals more about the backstories of Eleanor and Kade that seem to be setting up a final climax. I don’t know if McGuire has stated elsewhere if the series will end at 10 books, but if it does, I expect it will at least hinge on Eleanor’s story. If I had to make predictions, it would probably also involve resolving the story set up when we finally saw the inside of the Whitehorn Institute, but McGuire likes to keep things complex. If you look back over the series, not every protagonist has gotten a happy ending. And even some of the supposed happy endings may be “happiest possible” rather than simply happy - think of the Woolcott Twins.

Getting back to this novella in particular, I think McGuire has skillfully gotten out of the quagmire I assumed she’d created when she introduced Antsy’s powers - including during the Whitehorn Incident. I also like the continued character growth our protagonists have shown. And I continue to love Sumi who is (as the characters commented in this novella) scary AF when she wants to not be silly and can even be perfectly scary and silly at the same time.

This continues to be a near-perfect series and deserves all the accolades heaped upon it.

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