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Daily Archives: January 22nd, 2026

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold: A Review

Every January, I look forward to the release of the newest title in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. 2026 was no exception. I’ve loved this series since Every Heart a Doorway, and I’m happy to say that the most recent entry is just as fantastic.

When Nancy first arrived at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, she had recently returned to our world from a land known as the Halls of the Dead. There, Nancy had been favored by the Lord and the Lady as one of their most beautiful and elegant living statues, holding so still for hours on end that she could barely be perceived as living. At Eleanor’s school, she learned that she was hardly alone, as one of dozens of children who had journeyed to distant, incredible worlds and then reluctantly returned home. After an adventure with her new classmates, Nancy soon rediscovered the Door that would lead her back to the Halls of the Dead, and she departed without saying farewell. Later, a group of students on another quest made their way to the Halls in order to retrieve the soul of a student who had been murdered (she got better). There, they encountered Nancy again and enlisted her aid in convincing the Lord and the Lady to let that murdered soul go with them to be placed in a freshly baked body (I promise it makes sense in context).

Now, Nancy has returned to Eleanor’s school in order to seek out the aid of the classmates she once left behind. Something is stalking the Halls of the Dead and attacking the statues there. Something hungry. Something violent. Something that made Nancy uncertain enough in her place there that she was able to find and open the Door to take her back to the school.

The students who remember Nancy are now fewer in number, as many of them have found their own Doors back home. There are still familiar faces, though, and Kade and Christopher and Sumi are willing to break Eleanor’s “No Quests” rule one more time, along with a newcomer, Talia. With Nancy’s guidance, they return to the Halls of the Dead to discover the true identity of the threat and save the remaining peaceful souls that linger there.

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold is an absolutely spectacular return to world of the Wayward Children. McGuire’s blend of humor and horror is ever-present, as is expected of any team-up involving Christopher and Sumi. Callbacks to the earlier entries in the series are found throughout, and we get the wonderful experience of following Nancy as she examines what it really means to “Be Sure.” Nancy’s leading role aside, there are a couple of unexpected reunions in this one, but I’ll let you experience those for yourself.

My utmost thanks, as always, to NetGalley and Tor for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. Through Gates of Garnet and Gold came out on Tuesday, January 6th, 2026. Go check it out.

Brigands & Breadknives: A Review

Travis Baldree may not have set out to turn the fantasy world upside down with his first novel, Legends & Lattes, but he definitely managed to shake things up by introducing us to Viv the orc. Viv was a retired adventurer who had given up her rough and tumble daily life to open the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune with the aid of Tandri, a local succubus. While this turned out to be a drastically different sort of adventure, she found herself falling in love with big city life. Baldree’s follow-up, Bookshops & Bonedust, gave us an earlier portion of Viv’s life when she was recovering from an injury in the small seaside town of Murk. It was there that she met Fern, a rattkin bookseller who traded Viv books in exchange for help in revitalizing her store. We got to see Viv as she was before her first cup of coffee sent her life down a completely different path.

Brigands & Breadknives picks up after the events of the first book. Years have passed now, and Viv’s coffee business is booming. She and Tandri (now Viv’s wife), are excited to welcome Fern to Thune, where they have all planned for the rattkin’s new bookstore to be located next door to the coffee shop. It doesn’t take long for Fern to begin to feel unsatisfied with the change in her life, though, questioning whether she should have ever left Murk. After a drunken night trying to build up the courage to confess these feelings to Viv, Fern finds herself waking up in a wagon with the legendary elf adventurer, Astryx One-Ear and her equally legendary Elder Blade, Nigel (don’t get him started). Astryx is on a mission to deliver a bounty, the goblin Zyll, and she reluctantly allows Fern to travel with them. Swept away from everything the bookseller has ever known, Fern is remarkably out of place in the company of someone of Astryx’s stature. Initially, she’s only wanting to send a letter of apology to Viv and get back to Thune as quickly as possible. Throughout the course of the journey, though, she begins to find her own courage. It may be late in life for a hero’s journey, but adventure rarely strikes when we’re ready.

Astryx isn’t the only one looking to cash in on the bounty on Zyll’s head. This, naturally, complicates things, as does Astryx’s own penchant to be the folk hero she’s spent most of the last thousand years being. Fern’s journey ends up taking her much farther from home than she ever anticipated.

Baldree mixes up his cozy fantasy formula quite a bit with this title, but to no great loss. While we don’t spend as much time with Viv and Tandri as many readers might have hoped, we’re still treated to phenomenal moments of calm amidst the storms. It’s an absolute pleasure to return to this world again, seeing new cities and the lands in between them and meeting a whole new cast of characters.

My utmost thanks to NetGalley and Tor for providing an eARC of this title in exchange for a fair review. I’m sorry it’s late. Brigands & Breadknives has been out in the world since November 11th. I loved it, and I hope you do to.