Reading this book, I found myself thinking of a conversation I recently had with a friend who told me that they find the novella length unsatisfying. They prefer a big, chonky novel. We had a good-natured disagreement, as I find myself more and more drawn to novellas—I find that in the write hands (see what I did there?), they can be just as rich, just as complex, as doorstoppers, without taking a month to read.

Case in point: Mislaid In Parts Half-Known, the ninth novella in Seanan McGuire’s Hugo and Nebula-winning Wayward Children series. Like all the books in the series that came before, Mislaid In Parts Half-Known is equal parts heartrending and hopeful, a meditation on friendship and family of the found variety, all of it wrapped up in an exciting, involving adventure.

Mislaid In Parts Half-Known picks up right where book eight, Lost In the Moment and Found, left off, featuring Antsy and several other characters—Sumi, Kade, Cora, Christopher, and more—we’ve come to know from the other books. Which brings me to an important point that McGuire recently addressed on the Twitters, namely that, when it comes to reading a book that’s part of the series, start with number one and work your way through. Starting with a middle book in the series (or, say book nine) does a disservice to both you as the reader, and the series itself. As mentioned, Lost In the Moment and Found features multiple characters from previous books. They have history together, shared traumas and triumphs, shared adventures. Without knowing all that, you wouldn’t get nearly as much out of the story.

As always with this remarkable series, McGuire’s world-building is intricate yet extravagant, with so much room for her considerable imagination to soar. She has built a framework that can hold a nearly infinite number of stories. Selfishly, I hope McGuire keeps writing them forever. Having said that, however, Lost In the Moment and Found feels like it’s building to something big and overarching. I’m just hoping it’s not the end.