The Children: A Read With Jenna Pick

Melissa Albert has crafted something wonderfully unsettling with The Children. Told across two timelines, the story weaves between Guin and Ennis's childhood, where the mythology surrounding their family and their mother's beloved stories first took root, and the present-day countdown to Ennis's provocative art installation, Mother. This is a deeply character-driven novel that invites readers into its shadows one careful layer at a time. The slow-burn pacing isn't a flaw; it's the spell. Before you realize it, you've slipped so far into Guin and Ennis's world that the line between memory, story, and reality feels impossibly thin.Albert explores family secrets, complicated women, sibling relationships, memory, trauma, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Equal parts haunting adult fantasy and literary thriller, this dark fairy tale examines what happens when the books that shape a childhood are built on grief, exploitation, and carefully constructed myths. The fantasy elements never overwhelm the story; instead, they add the perfect amount of magic to unlock doors you may have forgotten about. This is the kind of book that each reader will walk away with something different and I think that was the goal. Lean in and enjoy!

I could not pull myself away from this book. The kids, Ennis and Guinevere, were self-sufficient onto themselves .Their mother wrote books and their father was an actor, until he couldn't and started painting. The kids initially painted a picture of a wild, happy childhood. I just knew it couldn't last. And it did not. The book had some magical realism and mystery going for it. Everything became a trainwreck and I hung on until the end. I am not sure what I feel about the ending. I think it ended the only way it could. I give it 4 stars because 3/4 of the way through, I asked myself what the purpose of this book was and couldn't come up with an answer. Did I miss it? Was I enchanted?Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the extraordinary and complementary digital ARC. This review is my own opinion and not coerced in any way.

This story follows Guinevere and her brother Ennis through their unusual upbringing in a farmhouse in Vermont with completely dysfunctional parents. Their mother is the author of a popular fantasy book series in which they are the main characters, which reminded me of the Chronicles of Narnia. Their childhood was almost magical, until a terrible tragedy takes place. For years, they are estranged, Guin living a purposeless life and Ennis a secretive one. The ending blew me away and gave me all the answers I was seeking. Told in alternating timelines, the narrative travels between the past and the present, peeling away secrets like layers. The writing is absolutely beautiful. What an amazing book!

When I originally read the premise for the Children by Melissa Albert, I was intrigued and knew I had to read it. Unfortunately for me, this book didn’t fully live up to its potential. This book was advertised to me as a horror book, but I would argue this book is more of literary fiction/magical realism book.One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is Melissa Albert’s ability to create an atmosphere. The setting of this book felt very eerie, and at times while reading I felt unsettled. When I was reading, I felt like I was with them in the house. The tension in this book was so thick it could cut with a knife. The author did a good job of incorporating darker themes including generation trauma, child abuse and complicated family dynamics. Even though this book didn’t end up being my favorite, I still couldn’t put it down.The one thing that really took me out of the story was the story structure. To me at over 400 pages, this book felt long, especially since the pacing was slow. The author did do a good of slowly building tension throughout the book, but unfortunately it lead to an anticlimactic ending. In this book I had difficulty with the dual timelines, because at times when reading I didn’t know what was happening. With all the additional characters and plot lines, it made the plot feel disjointed and this made it difficult for me to fully connect with this story. Even though this book wasn’t for me, I can see why other people would enjoy reading it. Thanks NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this advance readers copy. My opinions are my own.

Melissa Albert’s The Children is a novel reminiscent of the fairy tales of old, haunting and sinister and whimsical and realistic all at once. Our story follows Guinevere in the past and present; her childhood as the daughter of a famous author, and as an adult grappling with that legacy. Guin’s life, her career and relationships in the present, are shaped by her past, and the story weaves these two timelines to reveal what happened at 11 to change her life forever.Guin is the fictionalized star of the children’s fantasy series Ninth City, in which she and her fictionalized brother Ennis explore the world. As an adult, Guinevere maintains a pristine legacy for her mother, portraying a happy home of whimsy and wonder; however, our flashes between the past and present show something much darker and more sinister. Guin and her brother are estranged, she’s engaged but unwilling to let her partner in. We see glimpses of her enthusiastic father who suddenly changes, other artists who come through their enigmatic Farmhouse, and as an audience, something feels uneasy amidst all the ghosts of the past.This book felt captivating. I felt drawn into the mystery, to the sinister juxtaposition of Guin’s public persona and her reality. It was hard to tell if the book felt supernatural or simply manipulative, whether there was more to Guin and Ennis’ childhood than met the eye. I needed to know what was going to happen next, and I really flew through it.These characters were compelling but complicated, sometimes frustrating in their choices but they always made sense. I found myself drawn into the story, curious about the presence of magic or lack thereof and the hidden past and its revelations in the present.I loved this book. I maybe hated it sometimes, but for the best reasons. It was complex and curious and compelling and totally worth a read if you love the old fairy tales where a demon is lurking behind the corner. If you’re looking for something happy, this probably isn’t the book for you! This book also doesn’t have any kind of substantial romance plotline, so for people looking for a love story, this isn’t it. But it is worth a read for a complicated mystery and a compelling cast of characters.Thank you to William Morrow for this advanced reader copy!