The Children

by Melissa Albert

An intoxicating, haunting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.

Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.

In one, she lives in the wooded shadow of her family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of her mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where her magical adventures have made her a household name. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and her older brother are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the lichen-clotted woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.

Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s creative genius?

Wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, The Children whispers to you from the hallway outside your bedroom, lights flickering as you turn the pages of a book that didn't seem so scary a moment ago. It's a story for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found it cast in a darker light, the line separating magic and memory blurring as the gap widens between the authors we imagined and the people they turn out to be.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Adult, Gothic, Mystery, Thriller

416 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 2, 2026

About the author

Melissa Albert is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of the Hazel Wood series and Our Crooked Hearts, and a former bookseller and founder of the Barnes & Noble Teen Blog. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and included in the New York Times’ list of Notable Children’s Books. She enjoys swimming pool tourism, genre mashups, and living in Brooklyn with her hilarious husband and magnificently goofy son.

Okay, now I will stop talking about myself in the third person. I try to reply to all messages and questions, so please reach out, or come find me on Twitter (@mimi_albert) or Instagram (@melissaalbertauthor)! (But please note: I don't accept GR friend requests anymore because of Amazon's related review policy.)

Reviews

[Melissa]

Goodreads giveaway!

[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

i can’t wait to still be recommending this book to people when I’m 80 years old

[Erin Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I… I… just preorder this book!!!!

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been out of the publishing world long enough that reading this way early felt really special—mostly because it's fucking great.

[Celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

when was the last time i read a book that made me feel like a kid, again?

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The time we like the best of all is when the shadows creepy crawl,
One after another.
When the golden sun sinks down in the west,
And the tired birdie flies home to its nest,
And we're left alone with mother.”

I've been a fan of Melissa Albert’s work for a while now and reading The Children was pure delight!

The Children is centered around a dysfunctional family complete with hedonistic parents and neglected children who live in a creepy farmhouse. Filled with magical realism and paranormal elements, the book centers on the powerful bond between siblings and overcoming a traumatic childhood.

Atmospheric and told with a sense of foreboding, The Children pulled me in from the start and kept my attention throughout. The story made me nostalgic for the children’s fantasy series I read growing up (The Chronicles of Narnia and The Time Quintet) and I loved the haunted house setting.

The Children by Melissa Albert will be available on June 2. Many thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the gifted copy!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Were you a child who loved to read? Were you obsessed with series like Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia & then conflicted by the authors real world actions or comments? Have you ever felt disillusioned by the realities of adulthood & longed for the magic those books created? If so you should plan to read this as soon as it releases!

Just an incredibly meaty book. There’s so much thematically to pull apart. The characters are beautifully crafted. Best of all the writing is profoundly evocative. The scenes set in the MCs childhood are lethargic, hazy, with constant danger floating beneath.

I found myself thrust back into my own childhood. Visiting my grandparents in Vermont involved picking blackberries in the woods, sitting in the hollow whispering to fairies, lying in the sun reading Harry Potter. As an adult those memories feel like they’re from a place I can never return to, Albert doesn’t just acknowledge that loss she also questions if any adult should return to that world.

This is a book I’ll definitely be rereading (rare for me). It’d be a great book club read . I just can’t recommend it enough!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good luck to the rest of the books on my 2026 TBR 🐝

WOW. This was eerie, intimate, and impossible to put down.

Before I read this, I saw many reviews with the word "haunting," and The Children is just that.

The writing is gorgeous and a little unsettling, with a dreamlike quality that's done so well. It feels like something is always lurking just beneath the surface, and I was completely hooked from the start.

I don't even know what to say about the story; I lived Guin's childhood with her through the pages. Melissa Albert takes you on an adventure and then brings you back and ties the story together, again and again.

Absolutely LOVED this one.

[Madison Runser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sucked into this book right from the start, it’s the best kind of magical realism! The writing style is great; the characters are interesting, the scenes are painted beautifully, and the story unfolds seamlessly through the dual timelines. The whole book was tense, unsettling, and kept me guessing. Definitely recommend!

Also I’m IN LOVE with the cover!

[Dakota Bossard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A haunting family epic that will stick with me the rest of my life. Underneath the lyrical writing and vivid storytelling lies an examination of the power of memory, the ghosts of our upbringings, and the role art plays in our lives. Mark you calendars for June 2026!!

[talia ♡]

novels exploring myth, memory, and legacy through gothic narratives about fictional writers are literally my goddamn kryptonite and why i love starling house and the thirteenth tale so much.

melissa albert, you absolute monarch. i will love you forever.

[Karyn Silverman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a mesmerizing, horrifying, dark and gorgeous thing this is.

[Riley]

Kind of f*cked me up a little — think dark and twisted fairytale for adults.

[Lauren Molyneux · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Haunting is absolutely the right word to describe this book. Give me a dysfunctional trauma-riddled family with a dark murky past, all day every day. I’m so glad that Melissa Albert has finally written an adult book, creating something that is just as atmospheric as her young adult books. She’s been holding out on us!

I’m still not sure which timeline I preferred, the memories and the present were both so gripping, and left me with so many questions (in the best way). Also it’s really rare that a book ends EXACTLY how I want it to, but I got all my wishes with this one.

[Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, William Morrow and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Guinevere and Ennis Sharpe had two childhood. In one, they lived in their family farmhouse in Vermont, in the other they were the protagonists of their mother world-famous The Ninth City books, facing adventures and discoveries. But their childhood wasn't so magical in the reality. They were often neglected, unferfed, unwashed and free to run in the woods surrounding the house, dealing with family older's friends and other influences. After a fire destroyed everything, leaving them the only survivors, now Guin is coasting on her mother's name, promoting her books, writing a memoir. When her estranged brother, now famous artists, promotes a new art installation, called "Mother". Guin is forced to confront herself with her past, her demons and what happened the night they lost everything and each other.

The Children is another gorgeous, haunting and brilliantly written novel by the fantastic Melissa Albert, who mixes magic realism, dark fairytales and the struggles of growing up, the importance of stories in our lives and how they grew up with us. The story is told by Guin's POV, alternating past and present and mixing them with Ennis' installations, slowly recreating the story of their lives, from living a wild childhood, but unprotected one, in the farmhouse in the woods, to grow up apart and estranged, whose reason we will discover only much later in the book.
Melissa Albert creates a complicated enviroment where Guin and Ennis grow, made of complex adult, struggling with their art and inspirations, friends/supporters/muses, often fixed presences in the lives of the kids, who lived almost abandoned to themselves, mostly Ennis taking care of Guinevere. If the world saw their childhood as enchanted, as Guin often told them, hiding the ugly truth, the reality was far from it.
Magical and enchanting was the house they grew up exploring, discovering quotes, wooden sculptures and creating their own fort and stories in the woods, exploring without adults.
Now grow up, Guin has to deal not only with the memories resurfaced after her brother announced his new installation, but also with being a child of legendary author and this kind of pressure from fans and supporters, while Ennis hid away from all this.
I won't say anything more, but The Children is a spectacular book, mixing horror, fantasy, magic realism, the importance of stories that grow with you, and the shadows these stories can carry, the enchanted world of childhood and the real truth behind it. Guin and Ennis have to face the world of legacy, magic and memories. And make a choice.

Hauntingly beautiful, enchantly written and with complex and well rounded characters, with all their ups and downs, flaws and desires. I loved everything,

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melissa Albert is one of those authors you pick up low-key expecting her to be just half a shade less brilliant than she once was, that, surely, at some point, she's going to slip and make one single solitary pedantic comment. Well my friends: Not yet.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read that didn't fully live up to my (admittedly very high) expectations. I've enjoyed several of Melissa Albert's books previously and there are a lot of similarities here between them but certain parts didn't land as well as others.
Things I thought were great:
-The atmosphere. So foreboding, so creepy, as though something awful was about to happen at any moment.
-The world of the Ninth City. It did a really good job invoking the creepiness of many of our childhood favorites.
-Generational trauma. Without spoiling too much, this book does an excellent job exploring how our demons are often passed down from parents to children and beyond.

Things I didn't love as much:
-The ultimate answer to WTF is going on was never going to be as good as the tension. The book does an excellent job building tension but when we got to the climax, I was a little surprised at where it went. There were hints throughout the book, but it still felt a little unearned. I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about this one.
-Guin didn't feel as fully formed as an adult to me. She seemed almost a shadow, which I suppose was intentional, but it made it harder to get into her POV.
-Certain characters and plot points seem like they're going to come back in the end but never do. Unless I'm just not seeing how all the pieces add up together.

All-in, a solid read that I tore through in less than a day, although it left me a little unsatisfied in the end.

[Evie Oliva · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me longer to read this than I thought, it is so much story and time and existence crammed into a tale that I had to take breaks to let it sit in my head and expand the way it needed to. but now I'm done and I will take the night to sleep and then write the whole of my review.

But that final line? HA! Tres Magnifique, chef's kiss, bow down and round of applause.

My thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow and Melissa Albert for the eARC of this book in exchange for a review.


I've followed Melissa Albert's work since her debut novel, The Hazel Wood was released. I remember the book was being promoted everywhere and I pre-ordered my copy ahead of time. The impression that book left on me took a long time to wear off and it made me a fan for life. So when I saw that Albert was releasing a new book called The Children, I knew I needed to add that book to my shelves. While reading this, I had to take time to let it sit in my head, to let it grow and take shape and show me all the things I needed to see that I was missing while reading. There is so much done in this book that I feel like I could read it again and see more things I didn't catch the first time around. On the one hand, this book is beautiful and on the other it is devastating. It's a toss-up every time I think about it. Overall though, I LOVED this book. It made me do research into other children's book muses and their fates and it made me cuddle my littles a bit closer. If a book can do that, it's an impressive piece of work.

The Children focuses on Guinevere Sharpe, the daughter of the late beloved children's book author, Edith Sharpe, well-known for her Ninth City books that used Guin and her brother Ennis as inspiration. Guinevere spent her childhood running around unsupervised, dirty, sometimes starving, and even neglected. In the books her mother wrote, she was the girl everyone wanted to be and wanted to know. The series was left unfinished when Guinevere and Ennis ended up orphaned by a horrible fire at their childhood home. Twenty years later, the siblings are estranged. Ennis is a well-respected artist and Guinevere has taken up the mantle of promoting her mother's books while also getting ready to launch her own memoir. When Ennis decides to open a new show called Mother at the same time as the release for the memoir, it forces Guinevere to reconsider what she remembers about her childhood. Is it truly the idyllic story she's told in her book and how did it all come crashing down in that fiery end?

The first thing this book made me think of was all those Acknowledgements pages I read at the end of every book I pick up. The ones where the author thanks their partner for doing the majority of the work keeping the house running and taking on the bulk of time spent with their kids. And then there's sometimes a line for said kids being thanked for understanding how much it meant that they let the author do their writing and understanding that they needed to let said author/parent do their work alone. After which, I promptly put my phone down, climbed into the playpen and started a game with my kids. Because yeah, this book made me very conscious of how much time I spend with my kids alongside trying to do some writing. As is, this review is being written after midnight when my kids are asleep so I don't feel guilty about not focusing on them. I don't want to ever come close to being the parents in this book, that's for sure. There is a work/life balance and Edith Sharpe definitely did NOT have that nor really a true parenting bone in her body and the examination of that that and the effect it had on her kids is what drives the book. For the authors who mention their families, you know they value the worth of their partner and their kids. I doubt Edith Sharpe even deigned to mention them for thanks. How much is TOO MUCH to sacrifice for your dreams and who else has to sacrifice with you to get you there?

The second thing this book made me do is research the kids I could think of who inspired some of the classic stories that had children going on grand adventures. I'm happy to report that most of them went on to live long happy lives but this book definitely made me feel heartache for Guinevere and Ennis and the effect the Ninth City books had on their existence. The ideas presented in this story were chilling and it has cemented in my head that I will NEVER use my kids as inspiration. I know I'm talking about them now but there will never be any specifics about them mentioned anwhere in my writing. The fact that there are so many scholarly articles devoted to the research of understanding who inspired what and how and why is enough to make my skin crawl and I would hate for that kind of speculation to be turned on my family. Which is where a lot of the focus of THIS book went to with Guin and Ennis. I only cared about these kids and saving them and Albert deserves so much credit for making them feel so real and heartbreaking.

In terms of characters, the book focuses mainly on Guin, her recollections of her childhood and the spiraling effect her brother's new art exhibit is having on the life she has created for herself. I loved child Guinevere but I wasn't sure where I stood with adult Guin until the end of the book. I could understand why she was how she was but a lot of what she did throughout the book made me question her on everything. That ending though, just wow. It made me sit up and want to applaud and it was all because of Guin. Suffice to say, that is one character that packs a punch. I'm glad she got to where she needed to go, anything else said will ruin the effect of that ending so that is where I will leave it.

If you've read Melissa Albert before, this book fits right in with the rest of her work. At first, I thought this was going to be a story focused more on the effects of a neglectful childhood. Then there was a line, an almost throwaway type of thing with Guinevere waving at her mom and then a few sentences later a revelation and it made me sit up and think AHA, there it is, THAT is exactly what I was expecting from Albert's writing. It starts off subtle and then builds, putting more things in that need a second look at, ideas and images that build until they all come together to give you this overarching image of something terrible and wonderful for these characters and their story. The back and forth of the timelines helps with the rhythm, revealing suspenseful tidbits that the reader takes in knowing how Guinevere's childhood ends and then placing that story opposite the journey Guin is taking to finally coming face to face with her brother again after decades apart. It's all masterfully done, with each secret revealed at just the right time in the past and in the present. I loved the tension it created and the effect it had on me.

One last parting thought, I hope Albert seriosuly considers writing a Ninth City book. I've seen it happen before, after all, Albert did write Tales from The Hinterland that was meant to be a book seen in The Hazel Wood. I'm just saying, if Albert is getting ready to give readers The Ninth City, I will gladly read it.



Rating on my scale? 10 STARS. This book made me re-examine a lot of things, favorite childhood stories, their inspirations and their creators. It's everything I thought it was going to be and then just that much more because of the place it left me with that ending. I'll read this again when I receive my hardcover for my shelves. Read this book if you have ever wondered about the other side of the characters you knew as kids and who they'd be if they could grow up.

[RavenCantRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Children
4.25 ⭐️

Guinevere and Ennis Sharpe lived two childhoods. Their real, gritty, neglected childhood in the forests of Vermont and a fake fairytale one that their mother crafted for millions of people around the world in her series “The Ninth City”. Years later we see the impact this has on the children now that they’re adults, but is there more to it than meets the eye? Are their secrets behind hidden doors? Is the ninth city real?

“The Children” is both a character study of how an upbringing like that could effect a persons psyche and a haunting exploration of generational trauma in the form of literal monsters.

I really enjoyed this story, it has some incredibly evocative moments and whole chapters where I felt like I didn’t breathe once.

The flashbacks to Guins childhood felt entirely consuming, I could feel the scrapes and bruises, smell the woods behind the farmhouse. My heart ached for Guin and Ennis as their parents slowly but surely stopped caring for them. Every moment in the past had an ominous overtone that I couldn’t escape and I loved every moment of it.

The present day, however, dazzled me far less. Present day Guin is hard to route for, except in very brief flashes of vulnerability. Her fiance, Hank, knows nothing about her but…neither do we. We’re watching her past unfold in flashbacks but we know nothing of her present day character, of the type of person she’s turned out to be. I acknowledge that this is intentional as Guin really hasn’t grown at all since her childhood, forever frozen on the night her life went up in flames, but it still made it tough to be invested in the choices she made.

The driving narrative of present day is the search for Ennis but he’s portrayed as such an ass hole that I almost didn’t want to find him.

I found the pacing really took me out of the story, and I just really wanted to get back to the meat of the mystery of Guins childhood. I really liked the entire book but it felt much longer than it was because of the competing timelines.

The ending was very satisfying and I felt there was really no where else for Guins story to wrap up, no together way for her to go. The magical aspect was very well distributed throughout that the info dump at the end felt a little heavy handed but I understand the choice.

Overall this books was incredibly atmospheric, creepy in the quiet moments and haunting. I think this would go nuts in a book club setting, it’s definitely a book you want to TALK about!

Thanks NetGalley and WilliamMorrow for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

[emmak]

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!*

My Ranking: this was fun!

I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to read this book before it’s initial release date! Before jumping into it, I was really excited to have an adult magical realism story in my hands since those are usually hard to find (especially outside of the “cozy” subgenre). For that reason alone, I appreciate what Melissa Albert did with this story. I read it in only a couple of days because I so desperately wanted to know what happened next. The nostalgic, gothic, slightly unnerving vibe that persists throughout the pages definitely kept me reading.

I loved the majority of this book. It was fun trying to piece together these mysteries from our main character’s past. I especially enjoyed reading about her relationship with her brother, Ennis. The two of them certainly had a dark childhood with apathetic, disinterested parents who exposed them to things they had no business seeing. I felt bad that these two characters couldn’t have more of a childhood — one with loving parents, a full fridge, and guidelines. Instead, these characters were forced to “raise” themselves which resulted in two pretty dysfunctional adults.

Thematically, this book dives into how our upbringings have made us into who we are today, for better or for worse. I also enjoyed the discussions around perception and how claustrophobic it can feel to be surrounded by so many opinions and ideas about who you are. In reality, we only know people as much as they allow us into their lives, and even then, masks and walls can cloud our judgment. I will note that I wish this book ended with more of an arc, even though it landed in a realistic spot. I wanted more for the main characters than the lives they ended up choosing for themselves. Overall though, definitely a book that I’d recommend checking out upon its release!

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Messy, toxic family drama but make it gothic fairytale? INJECT THIS INTO MY VEINS.

The Sharpe family is famous: The parents' marriage was a Hollywood scandal, the children immortalized in the world's most popular book series. But beneath the sheen and spectacle of fame is something darker that Guin is desperate to forget.

Guin's estranged artist brother reveals a new exhibit based on their childhood at the worst time, right when Guin is trying to shill a memoir that's more wishful thinking than fact. She must confront memories and mysteries about her parents' untimely death and who is responsible for their demise. (A hefty task given the Sharpe family does not possess a single shred of sanity.)

Not sure if there's a likeable character to be found in this book, but I could not have cared less. I lost myself in the atmosphere and blend of memory and discovery. The haunted house vibes and sibling. dynamics were a knock out.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an epic story. I finished this a couple days ago but wasn’t quite sure what to say yet. I don’t write well enough for a book like this. Such an imaginative story about an eccentric family and their life. It’s full of rich detail that is so intertwined and clever, by the end I was marveling at how so many details fit in together so nicely. Melissa Albert is so good at painting the scene and making her characters real with striking personalities and uniqueness. It’s part literary fiction/romance/mystery/magical realism/horror… It really did not play out as I expected and I love that. At first I did not, but I was just so obsessed with watching it all unfold that by the end I knew it was the only possible ending. I want to read it again to see what breadcrumbs I missed along the way…and I want to read it told from a different perspective just for fun! 😁 I love Melissa Albert’s stories and this one was a knockout.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

[Patricio Padua · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept is fine, and the structure should help move things along, but it doesn’t. Partly because the characters never really come alive for me. Partly because while the author is clearly talented, and her subject very personal, the self-consciousness keeps it from breaking out. The rich similes the author aims for are in her reach, but she doesn’t quite reach deep enough.

[Eleanor Surina · Rating 5 out of 5]

INCREDIBLE !!!!!!!

[Trisha]

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god! Thanks, Melissa Albert, William Morrow, and NetGalley for the arc of the book, The Children. I suggest reading it without knowing much more than what the cover looks like. WHAT A RIDE.

[Nnenna | notesbynnenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

Let me start by saying that you’re going to want to add this book to your 2026 TBR stat! I read this during a reading retreat this fall and it was one of the most memorable reading experiences that I’ve had in a long time.

This book was eerie and unsettling in the best way. I thought the fairytale elements in the story were fitting and beautifully woven in. Just like this story, fairytales may appear idyllic on the surface, but the reality beneath that is often much darker and scarier.

Albert’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, so atmospheric and immersive. I felt like I was experiencing the flashbacks with Guin. I wanted to know what happened during their childhood, but at the same time I felt like reading with my hands over my eyes, knowing that the bad thing was surely coming.

I loved the way that Albert explored memory and asked the question: which version of the story is actually the truth. I was also captivated by the complicated family dynamics, particularly the relationship between Guin and her brother, Ennis. As someone with siblings, I know that two siblings growing up in the same household can have very different experiences with the same parents. And I was desperate to know what could have gone so wrong that caused these siblings to be estranged for decades.

This book made me nostalgic for the children's books that shaped my childhood, books such as The Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew. At the same time, Albert explores the relationship between the artist and their audience, and what responsibility the artist may have to both the subjects of their art, as well as the people that consume it.

Back to the writing for a moment because it was just that good. The dialogue is expertly written (which we discovered since we read the book aloud). And certain references were so sharp that I had to marvel at their accuracy.

When I finished this book, I had to just breathe deeply and stare at a wall for a wall (complimentary). I know I won’t be forgetting about these characters anytime soon and I can’t wait for more people to read this haunting and beautifully-written novel.

/////

Let me tell you right now that you’re gonna want to add this book to your 2026 TBR! Full review to come.

[Giselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh y’all ain’t even READY!!!

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you hear the sound of bees? The smell of rotting fruit and fire and fear? When you open The Children, you will hear it. You will smell it. You will be in the thick of it before you realize, and you will not be able to turn back. The Children is a novel that unfolds and unfolds and unfolds- it keeps you guessing and keeps you in its thrall. Much like the art installations in the novel itself; it has to be wandered through and experienced. I loved every page of this book, and so many of the sentences felt like small beautiful secrets. It’s a novel that I suspect will reward even more on a second or third read; you’ll discover things you missed or overlooked the first time through. But for that first reading, be ready for the sound of bees, the scent of smoke, the feeling of something watching just over your shoulder. Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

arc received from NetGalley.

I really love this idea of this story, and Albert did a wonderful job in creating the vibes/atmosphere for this. Unfortunately, I had some issues with the pacing and some disappointments at the end—I wouldn’t say that the execution totally failed, but it could have been better.

This was my first book by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of writing style. On the whole, it all worked well. The prose often toed the line of being too pretentious, but mostly it fit and contributed to the mood of the story. I usually don’t seek out books with dual timelines, and while I didn’t always love it here I do think it was utilized well. I definitely preferred the flashback chapters chronicling Guin's childhood, which was where the vibes were best realized. I also liked the descriptions we got of the Ninth City books! Albert didn’t have to continually tell the reader that they were cool and beloved in order to get that message across, which I appreciated.

The plot of this novel is very mysterious: while Guin is trying to figure things out about her brother, the reader is trying to figure things out about Guin. This is where I start to get critical, as I don’t think there were enough hints throughout for me to guess where things were headed. (The one theory I developed was obviously what the author wanted me to think, so I knew it couldn’t be accurate.) So instead of searching for subtle clues, I just had to sit along for the ride. And it was kind of a long ride! This book clocks in at over 400 pages, and I think it would have benefitted from being pared down and overall a bit snappier—or maybe more things to pick up on. I think the last ~25% was the best, as that’s when we actually started to get things to chew on. Before this point, I would be interested in picking the book up, but I would find myself putting it back down after just a couple of chapters (technically it would be several chapters, but they were all very short, and tbh I think it would have been better structurally to have longer chapters with breaks in them).

I think another element that hindered the pacing of the mystery was the character of Ennis. He wasn’t actually in that much of the flashbacks, and he just seemed like a dick in the present day, so consequently I didn’t really care about finding him. Yet I think a lot of the story depended on that! As the reader I should be curious about him and his relationship with Guin, but I really wasn’t. I also wasn’t a fan of Guin’s fiance, Hank. You know in a story like this that a relationship like that is totally doomed, and, sure, at the end that storyline served a purpose in highlighting parts of Guin’s character, but it was just rather tedious to get through. As for our leading lady…I’m not really sure what I think of her! Like yes she was definitely flawed and a bit messed up herself, but I had a hard time deciding whether I should root for her to become a better person or to fully lean into the madness.

All of these elements culminated to a kind of unsatisfying ending. (I’m going to avoid spoilers since this is an arc, but I might have to come back after this is published just so I can complain in detail.) A story like this can’t really have a perfect tied-up-in-a-bow ending, but now that I think about it…this one seemed to try? There’s just so much buildup to what the mystery could be, and it basically gets explained in a couple of pages. And I don’t think the twist is something that could have been guessed! Maybe I’m just bad at figuring things out, but I don’t think there were any actual clues that could have led to where things went—and while sometimes a book can pull off a totally unpredictable twist, I don’t think the vibes of this did. The ending few chapters were fun and well done, but ultimately I’m not wholly satisfied with where our characters, especially Guin, ended up.

In conclusion, this is one of those books that I can almost convince myself that I enjoyed more than I did, as I really did enjoy the ambiance of the story; however, the structural elements of this prevented me from properly falling in love with it. I think this is Albert’s first adult novel, but I would definitely be interested in checking out more of her adult publications in the future.