Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Published by Tor.com on May 7, 2019
my rating: ★★★★.5
Goodreads avg: 4.07 (as of 2020-06-17)
Spoiler-free review
Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.
Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.
Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.
Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.
Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.
Goodreads | IndieBound | Author’s Website
This is going to be one of those books you’re SO lost reading when it comes to plot, but it’s okay because Seanan will take your hand and guide you to an ending that will make about as much sense as it can be expected to. I had been intending to read something by Seanan McGuire (or Mira Grant, another pen name of hers) for a while now and while Middlegame wasn’t what I expected my first book of hers to be, I’m so glad I picked it up!
While it’s impossible to get into the plot while still remaining sensical and avoiding spoilers, let’s just say this book will reel you in. It struck the perfect balance of maintaining a complexity that required me to follow things closely while also giving me enough information to keep me completely interested. At no point did I feel like things were lagging or forced; this book was perfectly set-up and perfectly paced and I’m so impressed by it.
In order to balance out a largely confusing plot, the characters and their relationship were so, so endearing. We start off during Roger and Dodger’s childhood and I was impressed to find that Seanan was able to write them in a way that felt realistic without feeling immature or irritating, which I often find to be the case with younger POVs. They both felt like such truly real people and it was wonderful watching their growth.
Overall, I just found this to be such a satisfying read and wouldn’t be surprised if my 4.5 tips over to a 5, depending on how well it sticks to me. I’d definitely recommend this to lovers of sf/f.
content warnings: attempted suicide, graphic descriptions of blood/gore/death
Sarah Ames-Foley 
Ooh, I’m so excited you loved this, I’ve been meaning to read it for a while! Great review! 🙂
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thanks! hope you like it as well. 🙂
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wow im definitely sold on this now! i didnt love the first book in Seanan Mcguire’s Wayeard Children series but ill definitely give this one a shot, especially since you loved it so much!
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i hope you end up liking it! 🙂 i haven’t read the Wayward series yet so unfortunately i can’t speak to how they compare.
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I just stumbled across your blog and your reviews are so well written! This book has been on my to read list for awhile, so I’m definitely gonna check it out. I gave you a follow as well. 🎉❤️
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Thank you!
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This is one of my all time favourite books. What a place to start reading McGuire’s work! I also love the Wayward Children books – though the content is a little different, I think you would enjoy them if you enjoyed Middlegame.
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from what i’ve heard i think the Wayward Children books are a little more my style, so i’m definitely extra looking forward to them now. 🙂
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I think you are good to go with Wayward Children, but I thought I’d also check if you saw this thread McGuire posted last night, haha https://twitter.com/seananmcguire/status/1277110704604975106
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oh that’s super helpful, thanks for linking!! 🙂 now i’m thinking i may go with Rosemary and Rue or something Mira Grant next…
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You’re welcome! I haven’t read anything that she’s written as Grant, but I might try Into the Drowning Deep sometime…
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yeah, i think that may be where i start with that pen name as well!
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I’ve yet to meet a Seanan McGuire book I didn’t like (she’s truly outstanding, and also her Twitter feed is delightful to boot), and I’m SO EXCITED to see people raving about Middlegame! I haven’t picked it up yet, but it moves higher and higher up my TBR with every positive review I read. Can’t wait to have book money freed up for spending again. 👀
Anyway, fantastic review, Sarah! I love that you managed to keep it short, sweet, and spoiler free. 😃
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thank you! i’m excited to see your thoughts once you get to it, and i’m definitely looking forward to trying out more of her work. 🙂
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