What do you think?
Rate this book
Wayward Children #7.5
In Mercy, Rain
Jack Wolcott was only twelve years old when she and her twin sister Jill, descended the impossible staircase and found herself in the Moors, a world of drowned gods and repugnant royals.
After abandoning her sister to a vampire lord, and under the tutelage of a mad scientist who can do impossible things with flesh and living lightning, Jack quickly learns that in the Moors, death is merely a suggestion.
After abandoning her sister to a vampire lord, and under the tutelage of a mad scientist who can do impossible things with flesh and living lightning, Jack quickly learns that in the Moors, death is merely a suggestion.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 18, 2022
111 people are currently reading
5088 people want to read
About the author
Seanan McGuire
521 books17.2k followersHi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 470 reviews
March 30, 2023
fun to have a whole series of extremely short books and then also throw in extremely short short stories.
this was kinda corny and not altogether necessary, but it was sweet and happy. if you're into that.
i'm personally not, but hey. to each their own.
bottom line: the shortest and the sweetest.
this was kinda corny and not altogether necessary, but it was sweet and happy. if you're into that.
i'm personally not, but hey. to each their own.
bottom line: the shortest and the sweetest.
January 6, 2023
Now, normally, I love this series. The premise is refreshing and interesting. There are all these stories about children who walk through magical doors (or cupboards) to enter magical lands. This series asks, "What happens to those children after they come back to the regular world?" The teenagers gather at Eleanor's School for Wayward Children, and each child brings back a story about some different, fantastical world. We've heard of the Greek underworld, a silly land of anthropomorphic living candy, a world of skeletons, an Autumn-fest world with living scarecrows, a land populated entirely by sentient hoofed species, etc. Sometimes the children even come back with a magical gift that they can still use in the "real" world.
It's awesome.
However, the recurring problem with this universe is that fucking Seanan McGuire thinks that the greatest characters she has ever invented are the Wolcott twins, Jack and Jill. Their whole shtick is that they're identical twin sisters, but their parents were crappy people who projected weird gender roles on the girls. They raised one to be a tomboy and the other to be a prissy girl. The twins escaped to a magical land that is basically a Hammer film, with a vampire and a mad scientist, and the girls promptly switched gender expression.
Having these two as main characters wouldn't be so bad if the author found a way to tell interesting new stories with them. But, she doesn't. Their entire story basically was completed with the first book in this series. During that book, they summarized their entire history, which then got expanded as the subsequent prequel novel, "Down Among the Sticks and Bone."
Even when Jack and Jill came back in a subsequent novel, their story was essentially repeated. Jack has a lot of OCD neuroses, Jill is displaying worse and worse Stockholm Syndrome for her vampire captor, and the girls don't get along. Done.
What the fuck is wrong with Seanan McGuire that she thought we wanted yet another Wolcott twin flashback? We don't like the Jack and Jill twins as much as you. And I have deduced that you poured a lot of yourself into Jack.
Over it.
I am tired of the fucking Wolcott twins. You keep acting like their melodramatic role reversal and exaggerated childhood trauma are the most interesting things you have ever written. ... They are not. Get back to the more interesting kids, please. And if you won't do that, will you at least finally turn one of the twins into a vampire, maybe? Or, better yet, find some other way to flip the script and change expectations?
It was great when Cora, the mermaid, visited Jack and Jill's world and was traumatized by The Drowned Gods. It was noteworthy as something that wasn't supposed to happen to Cora's story. You could do something like that with Jack and Jill. Like, Jill gets dragged through a door into a nature world and is turned into a dryad. Or, Jack performs an autopsy on a fairy, accidentally releasing fairy dust that she inhales, cursing her with frou-frou butterfly wings.
Something. Anything but yet another rehash of the --questionable-- child abuse perpetrated by the Wolcotts.
That is setting aside my own issues as a foster parent/social worker who has worked in Abuse and Neglect for years. Seanan McGuire wants to tell us over and over about how awful it was that the parents projected gender expectations upon their children. Which, while it might have been a crappy thing to do, I have trouble taking seriously as child abuse.
I know people who have been chained up by their parents and tortured with razor blades. Or, starved near to death and regularly used as an ash tray for lit cigarettes. Or, molested and impregnated by their own father.
This whole, "My parents made me wear dresses!" complaint rings hollow to my ears.
It's awesome.
However, the recurring problem with this universe is that fucking Seanan McGuire thinks that the greatest characters she has ever invented are the Wolcott twins, Jack and Jill. Their whole shtick is that they're identical twin sisters, but their parents were crappy people who projected weird gender roles on the girls. They raised one to be a tomboy and the other to be a prissy girl. The twins escaped to a magical land that is basically a Hammer film, with a vampire and a mad scientist, and the girls promptly switched gender expression.
Having these two as main characters wouldn't be so bad if the author found a way to tell interesting new stories with them. But, she doesn't. Their entire story basically was completed with the first book in this series. During that book, they summarized their entire history, which then got expanded as the subsequent prequel novel, "Down Among the Sticks and Bone."
Even when Jack and Jill came back in a subsequent novel, their story was essentially repeated. Jack has a lot of OCD neuroses, Jill is displaying worse and worse Stockholm Syndrome for her vampire captor, and the girls don't get along. Done.
What the fuck is wrong with Seanan McGuire that she thought we wanted yet another Wolcott twin flashback? We don't like the Jack and Jill twins as much as you. And I have deduced that you poured a lot of yourself into Jack.
Over it.
I am tired of the fucking Wolcott twins. You keep acting like their melodramatic role reversal and exaggerated childhood trauma are the most interesting things you have ever written. ... They are not. Get back to the more interesting kids, please. And if you won't do that, will you at least finally turn one of the twins into a vampire, maybe? Or, better yet, find some other way to flip the script and change expectations?
It was great when Cora, the mermaid, visited Jack and Jill's world and was traumatized by The Drowned Gods. It was noteworthy as something that wasn't supposed to happen to Cora's story. You could do something like that with Jack and Jill. Like, Jill gets dragged through a door into a nature world and is turned into a dryad. Or, Jack performs an autopsy on a fairy, accidentally releasing fairy dust that she inhales, cursing her with frou-frou butterfly wings.
Something. Anything but yet another rehash of the --questionable-- child abuse perpetrated by the Wolcotts.
That is setting aside my own issues as a foster parent/social worker who has worked in Abuse and Neglect for years. Seanan McGuire wants to tell us over and over about how awful it was that the parents projected gender expectations upon their children. Which, while it might have been a crappy thing to do, I have trouble taking seriously as child abuse.
I know people who have been chained up by their parents and tortured with razor blades. Or, starved near to death and regularly used as an ash tray for lit cigarettes. Or, molested and impregnated by their own father.
This whole, "My parents made me wear dresses!" complaint rings hollow to my ears.
December 14, 2022
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the SEVENTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your annual reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
GR has deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. i have tried to restore the ones i could, but my to-do list is already a ball of nightmares, so that's still a work-in-progress. however, because i don't have a lot of time to waste, and because my brain has felt scraped clean ever since my bout with covid, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case GR decides to scrap 'em again.
i am doing my best.
merry merry.
DECEMBER 5
on the one hand, new wayward children content is ALWAYS APPRECIATED. however, between what we've read and what we've intuited about what we've read, there's not a whole lot here that expands jack and jill's whole deal, so it's not as rewarding as getting that mariposa expansion pack a.k.a. Skeleton Song. still, her writing is so good - her turns of phrase, her twists of knives - she could rewrite the exact same events over and over using different words and i would be right there, drinking it all in, happy as a clam at high tide.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2022/07/18/in-mer...
2022:
DECEMBER 1: PORGEE'S BOAR - JONATHAN CARROLL
DECEMBER 2: SKELETON SONG - SEANAN MCGUIRE
DECEMBER 3: JUDGE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MANUSCRIPT - LAVIE TIDHAR
DECEMBER 4: QUANDARY AMINU VS THE BUTTERFLY MAN - RICH LARSON
FROM THE BEFORETIMES:
2016 short story advent calendar
2017 short story advent calendar
2018 short story advent calendar
2019 short story advent calendar
2020 short story advent calendar
2021 short story advent calendar
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the SEVENTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your annual reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
GR has deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. i have tried to restore the ones i could, but my to-do list is already a ball of nightmares, so that's still a work-in-progress. however, because i don't have a lot of time to waste, and because my brain has felt scraped clean ever since my bout with covid, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case GR decides to scrap 'em again.
i am doing my best.
merry merry.
DECEMBER 5
on the one hand, new wayward children content is ALWAYS APPRECIATED. however, between what we've read and what we've intuited about what we've read, there's not a whole lot here that expands jack and jill's whole deal, so it's not as rewarding as getting that mariposa expansion pack a.k.a. Skeleton Song. still, her writing is so good - her turns of phrase, her twists of knives - she could rewrite the exact same events over and over using different words and i would be right there, drinking it all in, happy as a clam at high tide.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2022/07/18/in-mer...
2022:
DECEMBER 1: PORGEE'S BOAR - JONATHAN CARROLL
DECEMBER 2: SKELETON SONG - SEANAN MCGUIRE
DECEMBER 3: JUDGE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MANUSCRIPT - LAVIE TIDHAR
DECEMBER 4: QUANDARY AMINU VS THE BUTTERFLY MAN - RICH LARSON
FROM THE BEFORETIMES:
2016 short story advent calendar
2017 short story advent calendar
2018 short story advent calendar
2019 short story advent calendar
2020 short story advent calendar
2021 short story advent calendar
January 7, 2023
I'm not sure that we needed yet another Jack and Jill story, and to be honest this doesn't really add anything to the Wayward Children world. Maybe read this if you're a die hard fan of the twins, but otherwise you're not missing much if you skip this.
November 12, 2022
This is still Wayward Children, and more specifically, it's Jack. Jack the apprentice to the mad scientist, Jack the pristine, the scientific, the undead.
It's also a short story that is all about infatuation, and for all that, it excels at what it does. :)
Cute. Young love. And very, very Translyvania. :)
It's also a short story that is all about infatuation, and for all that, it excels at what it does. :)
Cute. Young love. And very, very Translyvania. :)
July 1, 2025
Jill would have her beautiful dresses and her jewels and her doting vampire lord, and Jack would have hard work and harsh lessons and learn to forge the steel her parents had slid so smoothly into her heart into a weapon that she could wield, not merely a spike to impale herself upon. The Wolcott twins had started from the same place. They had never once been the same.
A short flashback to a part of Jack and Jill's story. This does retread some ground, but it does expand on it, and I'm always up for more from the Wayward Children series. Plus, it's free on Tor here: https://www.tor.com/2022/07/18/in-mer...
A short flashback to a part of Jack and Jill's story. This does retread some ground, but it does expand on it, and I'm always up for more from the Wayward Children series. Plus, it's free on Tor here: https://www.tor.com/2022/07/18/in-mer...
September 8, 2022
An unnecessary short yet 3 stars cuz it has the Moors and Jack.
February 18, 2025
The Moors spin on stories, and this is a classic one: the formerly dead maiden and the mad scientist’s beautiful daughter.”
The Moors, a place that resembles monochromatic 1930s horror movies, is the best realized and most interesting world in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. And Jack Walcott, fastidious, remote, apprentice to the Moor’s mad scientist, is among the series’s most compelling characters. This short story is another prequel that focuses on Jack (to the exclusion of her twin sister, Jill) from her first year in the Moors until her first love.
Most of the world’s stories are either about Love or Death, or Love and Death. This one is no exception, except that it reverses that predictable order.
The Moors, a place that resembles monochromatic 1930s horror movies, is the best realized and most interesting world in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. And Jack Walcott, fastidious, remote, apprentice to the Moor’s mad scientist, is among the series’s most compelling characters. This short story is another prequel that focuses on Jack (to the exclusion of her twin sister, Jill) from her first year in the Moors until her first love.
Most of the world’s stories are either about Love or Death, or Love and Death. This one is no exception, except that it reverses that predictable order.
February 25, 2024
Did you forget where you come from, little girl? Did you forget that the Moon gives you everything you have and will one day take everything away from you? Did you forget that we—all of us—serve at Her whim, and have nothing more than She allows us?
Oh my word, I loved this SO much! I adore Jack and Alexis, and the Moors, and have always wanted to know more about Dr. Bleak and Alexis' backstory. I'm sad I didn't know sooner that there was a short story featuring exactly that, but I'm so glad I've read this now! What wonderful characters. Can we please get a novella about Alexis' father and his previous experience(s) with the Drowned Gods someday?!
✨ Representation: Jack is queer and has OCD/mysophobia ("germaphobia"), Alexis is queer and fat (implied bi/pan), Dr. Bleak is queer
✨ Content warnings for:
———
bookstagram | booktok | blog | storygraph
July 9, 2023
Short story following both the parental relationship between Jack and Dr. Bleak and the romantic one between Jack and Alexis. Very sweet and I do adore Jack; really oddly gapped timeline. Ended up feeling fairly thrown together as a story. To read for free, go here.
Blog | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | About |
Blog | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | About |
November 12, 2022
Yet another short story set between books 7 and 8 in the Wayward Children series.
This one is about Jack, one of the twins that ended up in the Moors. After leaving her sister, Jill, with the vampire master, she went with Dr. Bleak and learned how to heal people, resurrect corpses, and fashion her own clothes and spectacles.
But it is also about how Jack and Alexis (her girlfriend of sorts) met.
I have to say, this was not as strong as the other short story in the series. Maybe because I don‘t quite understand so many people‘s fascination with this world over all the others (no, the Moors - while being perfectly fascinating - have never been my favorite despite of the implications for the books). Don‘t get me wrong: seeing the apprenticeship and learning of the „magic“ in this place was cool, but it wasn‘t groundbreaking.
A nice addition but nothing I would have overly missed.
You can read the story for free here: https://www.tor.com/2022/07/18/in-mer...
This one is about Jack, one of the twins that ended up in the Moors. After leaving her sister, Jill, with the vampire master, she went with Dr. Bleak and learned how to heal people, resurrect corpses, and fashion her own clothes and spectacles.
But it is also about how Jack and Alexis (her girlfriend of sorts) met.
I have to say, this was not as strong as the other short story in the series. Maybe because I don‘t quite understand so many people‘s fascination with this world over all the others (no, the Moors - while being perfectly fascinating - have never been my favorite despite of the implications for the books). Don‘t get me wrong: seeing the apprenticeship and learning of the „magic“ in this place was cool, but it wasn‘t groundbreaking.
A nice addition but nothing I would have overly missed.
You can read the story for free here: https://www.tor.com/2022/07/18/in-mer...
May 22, 2023
“I’m going to dance with the lighting and laugh with the thunder, and no one will ever tell me I look like my sister again.”
I've said it before and I'm sticking to it: I'm over Jack & Jill.
I feel their story was told and that we can move on.
And I really don't see the relevance of this story.
However it did answer one question I've had ever since the start of the series - can people travel both ways? Like can people who live in the Moors find a door to our world?
I've said it before and I'm sticking to it: I'm over Jack & Jill.
I feel their story was told and that we can move on.
And I really don't see the relevance of this story.
However it did answer one question I've had ever since the start of the series - can people travel both ways? Like can people who live in the Moors find a door to our world?
July 31, 2025
Re-Read! Rating is a 3.5
What I wouldn't have given for a staircase in a chest or a doorway in a cupboard and ...well, I'm certain there's a third one.🤔
What boring thing was I doing at age 12? I distinctly remember watching Beethoven and wanting a Saint Bernard desperately. I think I might have had artistic aspirations at the time. So average stuff. Now look at these kids from the Moors. 12 years old, serving Vampire Lords - abandoning twin sisters to travel with mad scientists and stepping into old chests that have staircases to other worlds in them. Feels like I missed out🧐
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Big haunting energy in a quiet war between a vampire landlord and a necromancing doctor. Life vs death and all that.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Behold! My song:
🎵Jack and Jill both made of steel
but Jack is way more colder.
The Twins first died
Then came back alive
To be raised by separate monsters
Jill stayed back
While Jack made plans
And Jill couldn't tumble after🎶
Heheh...well I tried okay.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
An eery sight:
The inkeeper and his wife, (The Choppers) making their way uphill to the Doctor's windmill, dragging a corpse in a wagon with them, while the wife screams like a banshee.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She learned to heal by learning to harm,and under the watchful eye of the Moon, they were both the
same." (Jack will go far)
🖤 “The Wolcott twins had started from the same place. They had never once been the same.” (It's like that sometimes. Blood is just liquid in some bonds)
🖤 “The Moors were a place of delicate balances, every principality held by two monsters of equal power and
opposing dispositions” (this just makes me want to go to the Moors more)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Abbey of the Drowned Gods and their Sinking Town
■ Monster of Day vs Monster of Night
■Living-Dead Twin Sisters
■It's ALIVE! ... Reanimation.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short stories by 2025
What I wouldn't have given for a staircase in a chest or a doorway in a cupboard and ...well, I'm certain there's a third one.🤔
What boring thing was I doing at age 12? I distinctly remember watching Beethoven and wanting a Saint Bernard desperately. I think I might have had artistic aspirations at the time. So average stuff. Now look at these kids from the Moors. 12 years old, serving Vampire Lords - abandoning twin sisters to travel with mad scientists and stepping into old chests that have staircases to other worlds in them. Feels like I missed out🧐
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Big haunting energy in a quiet war between a vampire landlord and a necromancing doctor. Life vs death and all that.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Behold! My song:
🎵Jack and Jill both made of steel
but Jack is way more colder.
The Twins first died
Then came back alive
To be raised by separate monsters
Jill stayed back
While Jack made plans
And Jill couldn't tumble after🎶
Heheh...well I tried okay.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
An eery sight:
The inkeeper and his wife, (The Choppers) making their way uphill to the Doctor's windmill, dragging a corpse in a wagon with them, while the wife screams like a banshee.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She learned to heal by learning to harm,and under the watchful eye of the Moon, they were both the
same." (Jack will go far)
🖤 “The Wolcott twins had started from the same place. They had never once been the same.” (It's like that sometimes. Blood is just liquid in some bonds)
🖤 “The Moors were a place of delicate balances, every principality held by two monsters of equal power and
opposing dispositions” (this just makes me want to go to the Moors more)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Abbey of the Drowned Gods and their Sinking Town
■ Monster of Day vs Monster of Night
■Living-Dead Twin Sisters
■It's ALIVE! ... Reanimation.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short stories by 2025
November 19, 2022
i was really excited to read a new story about jack, but unfortunately this novella was not only so detached from the characters, but the writing was also so over the place :(
January 17, 2024
Every Heart a Doorway ★★★ 1/2
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★ 3/4
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
In an Absent Dream ★★★★
Come Tumbling Down ★★★ 1/2
Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★ 1/2
Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★
In Mercy, Rain ★★★
Lost in the Moment & Found ★★★ 1/2
Cute story. It doesn't add much to the main storyline though.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★ 3/4
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
In an Absent Dream ★★★★
Come Tumbling Down ★★★ 1/2
Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★ 1/2
Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★
In Mercy, Rain ★★★
Lost in the Moment & Found ★★★ 1/2
Cute story. It doesn't add much to the main storyline though.
December 27, 2025
In Mercy, Rain by Seanan McGuire is a haunting, lyrical fantasy novelette set in the Moors, a strange, otherworldly realm of drowned gods and monstrous politics where Jack Walcott was only twelve when she and her twin sister Jill stepped through an impossible staircase into a place that was supposed to be magical but quickly revealed itself as perilous and strange. Under the care of a mad scientist named Dr. Bleak who can bend flesh and lightning, Jack learns that death is merely a suggestion in this world even as she grapples with the consequences of choices that changed her life and relationship with her sister forever.
What moved me most was the emotional texture McGuire brings to this short but resonant tale: Jack’s fierce survival instinct, her complicated loyalty to Jill, and the beauty she finds in unexpected moments of connection despite the Moors’ bleakness felt deeply human even amid its surreal weirdness. The world itself, with its strange gods, mad science, and villagers caught between life and transformation, made me feel both unsettled and strangely hopeful, as though McGuire is inviting us to notice the moments of laughter and kinship that can bloom even when hope seems thin.
I especially savored the way Jack’s compassionate ingenuity grows over time, showing that strength and kindness can coexist in the most unlikely places. Because its poignant exploration of identity, belonging, and resilience made me feel both pulled into its uncanny world and personally stirred by Jack’s quiet courage, I would give In Mercy, Rain 4 out of 5 stars: a brief but beautifully textured glimpse into a magical world that feels as emotional as it is strange.
What moved me most was the emotional texture McGuire brings to this short but resonant tale: Jack’s fierce survival instinct, her complicated loyalty to Jill, and the beauty she finds in unexpected moments of connection despite the Moors’ bleakness felt deeply human even amid its surreal weirdness. The world itself, with its strange gods, mad science, and villagers caught between life and transformation, made me feel both unsettled and strangely hopeful, as though McGuire is inviting us to notice the moments of laughter and kinship that can bloom even when hope seems thin.
I especially savored the way Jack’s compassionate ingenuity grows over time, showing that strength and kindness can coexist in the most unlikely places. Because its poignant exploration of identity, belonging, and resilience made me feel both pulled into its uncanny world and personally stirred by Jack’s quiet courage, I would give In Mercy, Rain 4 out of 5 stars: a brief but beautifully textured glimpse into a magical world that feels as emotional as it is strange.
January 11, 2023
Filling in some of Jack's story.
February 1, 2023
A novelette?! I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I love that this novella series has it's own version of novellas. This one takes us back to the Moors! And I'll admit, I really do love Jack's story and enjoyed reading more about her. However, I found this a bit redundant as it's simply a different perspective on a story we've heard before. That being said, I did enjoy Dr. Bleak's take on Jack's time as his apprentice and learning more about their found-family dynamic.
July 25, 2025
Plugs a small narrative gap in the Jack Wolcott story
In Mercy, Rain is a Wayward Children short released by Seanan McGuire for free on Tor's website or, if you want to read it on your kindle, you can buy it from Amazon. It plugs a small narrative gap between the two Wayward Children's books about Jack and Jill Wolcott, Down Among the Sticks and Bones and Come Tumbling Down.
At the beginning of Come Tumbling Down we learn that, back in the Moors, Jack took as lover one of the village girls, Alexis. In Mercy, Rain tells Alexis' story and how Jack and Alexis came together. If you've read Come Tumbling Down you already knew how this story was going to go.
I was disappointed. I don't mind reading pre-spoiled stories, but nothing in this one was very interesting.
Blog review.
In Mercy, Rain is a Wayward Children short released by Seanan McGuire for free on Tor's website or, if you want to read it on your kindle, you can buy it from Amazon. It plugs a small narrative gap between the two Wayward Children's books about Jack and Jill Wolcott, Down Among the Sticks and Bones and Come Tumbling Down.
At the beginning of Come Tumbling Down we learn that, back in the Moors, Jack took as lover one of the village girls, Alexis. In Mercy, Rain tells Alexis' story and how Jack and Alexis came together. If you've read Come Tumbling Down you already knew how this story was going to go.
I was disappointed. I don't mind reading pre-spoiled stories, but nothing in this one was very interesting.
Blog review.
July 29, 2022
Added nothing to the original story of Jack and Jill falling through their wayward door into the Moors. A bit more detail to a scene we already knew of Jack meeting Farm Girl. I love everything McGuire writes...except this short bit.
November 27, 2023
Very short story in a series of Novellas. 3.5/5 rounded up. In Mercy, Rain gives a very short little snippet of more of the tale of Jack and Jill in the Moors. If Jack was a character you enjoyed, this will be a nice little 'meat' cute (ha) for you to enjoy her more. Otherwise, I didn't feel like you had to particularly go out of the way to track this story down, none of it is really new information and just another snap shot of the world they live in.
January 3, 2023
Slow to start, but great in the second half. A must-read if you, like me, love Jack's story.
September 7, 2024
Rated 4.5 really.
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: An imaginative look-in-reverse at one of the most common fantasy tropes. Fills us in about the scientist who took Jack under his wing, and her first encounter with her future girlfriend Alexis. Heartwarming despite the brutal setting and spooky circumstances.
Cons:Leaves at least one question unanswered (what kind of deal did Alexis' parents do, exactly?).
WARNING!Death and gore as usual, but the latter is mostly implied.
Will appeal to: Fans of the Wayward Children series...past and future 😉.
You may ask - what's the point in reviewing a short story that also happens to be a free read? It's not like one has to decide if it's worth one's money or not. But since I'm reviewing the whole series, it just didn't seem right to leave this one out. Also, sorry for going all McGuire on you...again and again and again (I have 3 mini reviews for one of her series coming later this month). But she writes SO MANY BOOKS, and I'm perpetually behind...
Whole review here.
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: An imaginative look-in-reverse at one of the most common fantasy tropes. Fills us in about the scientist who took Jack under his wing, and her first encounter with her future girlfriend Alexis. Heartwarming despite the brutal setting and spooky circumstances.
Cons:Leaves at least one question unanswered (what kind of deal did Alexis' parents do, exactly?).
WARNING!Death and gore as usual, but the latter is mostly implied.
Will appeal to: Fans of the Wayward Children series...past and future 😉.
You may ask - what's the point in reviewing a short story that also happens to be a free read? It's not like one has to decide if it's worth one's money or not. But since I'm reviewing the whole series, it just didn't seem right to leave this one out. Also, sorry for going all McGuire on you...again and again and again (I have 3 mini reviews for one of her series coming later this month). But she writes SO MANY BOOKS, and I'm perpetually behind...
Whole review here.
March 12, 2023
★★½
At this point, it kind of feels like the author is just milking Jack and Jill’s story. This was completely unnecessary. And worse than that - for a story that was 36 pages long, it managed to be boring.
The ending was cute, though.
At this point, it kind of feels like the author is just milking Jack and Jill’s story. This was completely unnecessary. And worse than that - for a story that was 36 pages long, it managed to be boring.
The ending was cute, though.
December 31, 2024
"Alexis stared at her, eyes wide and heart pounding, and in that moment Jack knew three things without question: that Alexis was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, and that it was no surprise Alexis had managed to attract a phantom lover. It was more of a surprise that the ghost hadn’t found himself in a queue of living lovers twelve deep.
The third thing was that there was no point in her staying here and making moon-eyes at the other girl, who would never see a shadow as its own living creature, and would never love her as she was already halfway into love with Alexis."
جک جذابترین شخصیت این مجموعهست و هرکتابی که اثری ازش توش باشه دوست داشتنیه حتی اگه دربارهی گذشتهای باشه که ازش خبر داشتیم.
The third thing was that there was no point in her staying here and making moon-eyes at the other girl, who would never see a shadow as its own living creature, and would never love her as she was already halfway into love with Alexis."
جک جذابترین شخصیت این مجموعهست و هرکتابی که اثری ازش توش باشه دوست داشتنیه حتی اگه دربارهی گذشتهای باشه که ازش خبر داشتیم.
March 10, 2023
sad, when one knows what is coming. not as rewarding as juice like wounds, as it doesn’t expand the universe at all or introduce any lore i wasn’t aware of; but it’s well written and heart rending. it’s not totally clear to me why so much time is spent on the wolcott twins, rehashing content and themes that we readers have already been introduced to/understand.
but this is good and i’m not complaining.
but this is good and i’m not complaining.
July 10, 2023
i really like these stories! unfortunately these short, in between stories spend so much time reintroducing characters and environments i already know that half the story ends up feeling boring and repetitive
May 8, 2023
I just love Jack so much
December 6, 2024
I want a whole novel just about Jack and Alexis!! This was so good 🥹
October 7, 2023
It’s surprising how much vitriol there is about a free short story. I will never understand how anyone could get tired of reading about the Moors or Jack. While I may wish for adventures involving some of the more neglected characters (one day I will get more about Christopher and living skeletons… one day), I will take any extra moments with Jack I can get.
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
"It could be easy, when sunk in the dance of herbs and simples, scalpels and stitches, to forget that they were both fated to be monsters if they remained here."McGuire took a brief period of time we already know about and zoomed in, adding more detail and refocusing the lens. We get to see Jack and Jill from Dr Bleak’s perspective, and while we’ve met Alexis before, here we get the meeting that started their relationship. Only McGuire could write a meet-cute involving death and resurrection and have it be so incredibly sweet and perfect.
"'I’m not going back, either. The door we found said to be sure, and I’ve never been as sure of anything as I am that I belong here. I’m going to stay here for the rest of my life, and someday this is going to be my protectorate, my windmill, and I’m going to dance with the lightning and laugh with the thunder, and no one will ever tell me I look like my sister again.'"There’s so much packed into In Mercy, Rain. We get to explore more of Jack’s feelings about the world and her family left behind, and we’re introduced more to Dr Bleak’s belief in balance and the Moon (for a pseudo-religion, it’s as beautiful as it is harsh).
"'Did you forget where you come from, little girl? Did you forget that the Moon gives you everything you have and will one day take everything away from you? Did you forget that we—all of us—serve at Her whim, and have nothing more than She allows us? You are here due to love and science in equal measure, for I don’t love you enough to summon a storm on your behalf, and your parents lack the patience and training needed to summon lightning to your veins. Be grateful for what you have, and leave the dead to their own devices.'"I always end up gushing over McGuire's writing, and In Mercy, Rain is no exception. For all those reviewers out there speaking for others saying that we don’t want any more stories about Jack and Jill and the Moors, don’t include me; I’ll take every story I can get.
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
Amazon | Blog | Bookstagram | Reddit | Wishlist
Displaying 1 - 30 of 470 reviews