Book Review: Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children, #7) by Seanan McGuire

Title: Where the Drowned Girls Go

Author: Seanan McGuire

Series: Wayward Children (Book #7)

Number of Pages: 150

Rating: B

Recommended?: B

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    Okay, I enjoyed this, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite Wayward Children book. I’d say it’s better than Beneath the Sugar Sky but probably one of the lower-tier books in the series for me.

 The main character in this one is Cora and she’s suffering trauma from her encounter with the Drowned Gods from a previous book. They keep calling to her and she ends up begging Eleanor West to let her transfer to Whitethorn Academy that seeks to ‘cure’ children of their portals.

     Eleanor really doesn’t want to and tells Cora she’ll be miserable but when Cora threatens to kill herself West reluctantly agrees. Now trapped in a gray dystopian hell, Cora realizes she’s made a huge mistake. Luckily Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children isn’t done with her yet and help comes when she’s least expecting it.

   I’ve never really warmed up to Cora’s character. Yeah, I get it, she’s a mermaid and she’s fat. McGuire goes on and on about how active and athletic she is and how her weight is natural and healthy. As someone who IS fat and is not that active or on a good diet, I feel like she’s a little heavy-handed in critiquing Cora’s fat-shaming.

   No, you shouldn’t fat-shame people but most people who are overweight aren’t in peak health like Cora. I enjoyed the setting of Whitethorn Academy and was pleased to see Regan from Across the Green Grass Fields again. As always, McGuire’s imaginative concepts make for entertaining reading even if the character development can be a little scant.

     Her writing style is engaging and sometimes dryly funny and I always look forward to another book in the series, even though some are definitely better than others. Where the Drowned Girls Go is good, not great but it should definitely be read by fans of the series.