Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

A Spoiler Free Review

I loved Mislaid in Parts Half-Known. I am a big sucker for lore-dumps and this had a lot of lore-dumping in the form of philosophizing about the Doors and how they function. The gang at Eleanor's school learn a bit more about the function through Antsy's explanations and then spend a bunch of time philosophizing throughout their adventure. It's great.

I did enjoy getting to see Antsy coping with her new "age" and being on Earth again. I thought the way she ended up dealing with her personal issues was well done. She's a pretty good character and I hope we see more of her at some point in the future.

Sumi seems to have picked up a lot of wisdom and a penchant for spouting nice-sounding wise-isms. I don't know how else to put that. Not gonna lie, though, a majority of my favorite lines came from Sumi. She resonated with me a lot here.

A lot of the philosophizing about the Doors had to do with the "Be Sure" maxim that is etched into every Door. I thought it was an interesting discussion and it was definitely a good thing for the school gang to meet up with Stephanie and see how well she just fit into her world. I think being able to see someone in their correct time and place *cough*Sumi's out of time-line whack*cough* was helpful to the discussion.

I was also happy for the discussion around adults harming children, which also spoke, at least to me, of how the more "adultier adults" view younger generations. Vineta embodied all that and was told so a couple of times. Just because you suffered, doesn't mean everyone else has to suffer, too; and it doesn't give you the right to go on causing suffering... basically to paraphrase.

Overall, I fell right back into the universe of Wayward Children really easily. It was really like coming home. Seanan McGuire's voice in these is just fantastic. She creates the atmosphere of the different worlds pretty effortlessly. Mislaid in Parts Half-Known definitely tops my list of favorites already this year. So good.

Favorite Lines

"People who can't change aren't really perfect, and no matter how much we love it somewhere, that doesn't mean it's good for us." - Sumi Onishi

"Just because someone hurt you when you were a child, that doesn't make it right for you to hurt anyone else." - Antsy Ricci

"Try to conversion-therapy me into someone I'm not, see if I ever do anything nice for you ever again." - Stephanie

"I found a fruit that tries to run away when you touch it!" chirped Sumi. "Can I have one for a pet?"

"What a fun way to say goodbye," said Cora [Miller], as they began walking after Antsy. "Not ominous at all. Nothing about this is disturbing. I'm having a wonderful time."