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In the end of Every Heart is a Doorway Jack Wolcott stepped through the portal door back to the Moors - to resume her place as an apprentice to a mad scientist in a world straight out of black-and-white vampire movie - holding the lifeless body of her sister Jill who had committed quite a few ruthless murders while trying to claw her way back to her adopted father / vampire. Jack killed Jill, but there always was a knowledge that back in the Moors Jill can be resurrected (think the combination of lightning and mad scientists).

“He could have loved her in that moment, had loved her when she’d pulled the scissors free and used them to cut a hole in the wall of the world. She’d called her door out of nothingness, out of sororicide and hope, and she’d carried her sister’s body through it, into the bleeding light of a crimson moon.�

And now their story picks up, and Jack is back, and this time she needs to kill Jill - permanently. And she needs help.

“Finally, Sumi leaned over and patted Jack on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll still love you after you kill your sister.�
“How delightful for me,� said Jack, and urged the horses on.�

And so we enter the world of the Moors, where all these abound � “Indoor lightning storms, resurrected girls, and giant, bloody moons were terrifying enough without throwing in headless corpses, vampire lords, and something called a “Drowned God.�

I’ve only read a couple of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children books, and really the only one you need to make sense of this one is the first one, Every Heart a Doorway where we were introduced to the children unwillingly returned to the world of their birth after having spent a few years in the other worlds where they actually belong. That was the book in which Jack Wolcott was a real standout for me, and I was pretty happy to spend a few more pages with her and her perfectly pragmatic rationality and monstrous coldness under which lies just enough vulnerability to make her crawl her way into your heart (figuratively, luckily � because I’m sure Jack the mad scientist can find a literal way to do so).

“I’m told the public house nearest the docks serves excellent chowder that practically never contains human flesh. I’m also told that ‘practically never� is not the same as ‘never,� and it’s better not to gamble with such things. Anyone hungry?�

I haven’t read the prequel to Jack and Jill’s story - Down Among the Sticks and Bones - so for me it was the first time seeing the Moors - the blood-read giant Moon, the village and the vampire castle, and the mad scientist windmill/laboratory.

It’s a story with a somber feel, befitting the dark moodiness of the Moors, rarely disturbed even by the odd and often annoying humor coming from Sumi, the girl from Candyland. The ultimate goal of the quest is killing Jack’s twin sister, and it pays to never forget that. Bleak is the mood here, even if it gets eventually diluted by the reversal of some sacrifices and nothing deviating from Jack’s plan � and yes, it would have been more impactful if there have been more consequences to go along with the supposedly harsh nature of this world. But in the world where resurrection is basically an afternoon science experiment some choices might do not have as many dreadful consequences as McGuire would make you think at the start.

“Apparently, the rest of you go around raising the dead when you don’t have anything better to do. It’s a miracle we have any graveyards left.�

So yes, I wish it had been darker and bleaker (and perhaps with a more complexity to its too-convenient resolution) to fit the mood of the setting � and yet despite that I loved Jack. I loved her pragmatic ruthlessness and her quiet knowledge that she’s indeed a monster, but “a good one�, and her willingness to face the consequences of her decisions since she faces her battles clear-eyed. And I appreciated how tightly strung she is, and how she’s hiding intense vulnerability under tough fierceness.

—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�
Harness that lightning, Jack. The Moors need you, you wonderful self-proclaimed good monster.

3.5 stars, rounding up.
—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�

My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: /review/show...