Mislaid in Parts Half-Known is a book in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. It is the ninth book in the series and a continuation of Antsy's story from Lost in the Moment and Found.
Antsy is a new student in Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. And a rumour goes around that she can find everything, anything. In a place where everyone has lost something, that is dangerous knowledge...
This book contains examples of the following tropes:
- Born in the Wrong Century: Stephanie is an almost exaggerated case, as her ideal world is a Lost World before mammals even existed. As an albino girl, the heavy rainforest cover and clouds keep her skin from being agitated, and she no longer suffers from constant infections because she lives in an era where most of the things that attack mammals' immune systems haven't evolved yet.
- Changing of the Guard: After being a major fixture of the School for most of the series and a protagonist of three books, Cora finally completes her development and returns to the Trenches.
- Easily Forgiven: Kade spends most of his time in the Goblin Woods terrified that they'll catch and execute him for killing their King. When Sumi actually talks to them, however, she learns that the Goblins completely understand that he was coerced into it and they are willing to make a home for him.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: Seems to be the mentality of Prism, as literally everything from the grass to leaves to clothes is rainbow. Kade originally went to the Goblin Woods because while they frequently change color, it at least stays one color for a moment.
- The Fagin: Vineta was already this, but it's revealed to be even worse in this book: turns out, she can open Doors herself, but chooses to use the life force of others, particularly children who don't know what they're spending. And while an amount of Door opening is necessary to get food and other supplies, Vineta is extremely careless and uses up Yulia's life force for petty luxuries or just for the novelty.
- The Final Temptation: Arguably the Central Theme, as all the travelers discuss the little things that are keeping them from fully committing to their worlds. In most cases, it's seeing their family or something traumatic that happened in the world, or realizing that something has to change. Emily jokes that the things keeping her from Harvest were her family, ballet, reality TV, and her cat....but her family rejected her, her cat is gone, and she can no longer do ballet so really the only thing keeping her on Earth is reality TV. Cora overcomes her final one when she realizes that her family is ready to let her go.
- Glamour: Seraphina's super power that even works in our world. Everyone who sees her sees her as incomprehensibly beautiful and wants to do everything for her.
- Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Subverted. Antsy always thought that feathered dinosaurs looked silly, until she meets a pack of them and finds that the contrast between bright feathers and sharp teeth actually makes them more intimidating.
- Intangible Price: Antsy sold the names of all the holidays she ever celebrated to a vendor during her travels through the Door. She doesn't mind much since she still has the memories of those holidays, but it causes some confusion with Emily, who went to a world that was patterned on Halloween and Thanksgiving.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Vineta caged Hudson and threw him through a random Door because he was telling Yulia things she didn't want her to know. When Hudson returns, the magpies offer her the same punishment: pick a random Door and hope she survives.
- Mundane Object Amazement: Well, not object, but the principle is the same. Antsy, who is a veteran Dimensional Traveler who has been to countless magical worlds, is shocked the first time she sees a person with albinism.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sumi, the consummate Cloudcuckoolander who says she'll die inside if she ever becomes predictable or boring, becomes briefly serious when consoling Kade about his experiences in Prism not being his fault and that he was just a child who didn't know what he was doing.
- Parenthetical Swearing: Discussed. Stephanie, who was bullied for her albinism, notes that although her classmates were smart enough to avoid actual slurs where the teachers could hear, they would call her "albino" in a derogatory way that made it clear what they meant.
- Raised by Wolves: Mentioned to be a common problem among travelers, as children raised by wolves or dreams or dinosaurs often don't know enough about letters and numbers to go through school, so Eleanor has special remedial classes for them. Stephanie has been formally adopted into a pack of utahraptors.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Antsy wastes no time laying into Vineta the moment they meet face to face again, and Vineta is revealed to have taken yet another child as an Opener.Antsy:I'm a teenager, and I won't ever get to be a child again, and I didn't get to be a child the first time. If I want to do childish things, or be with other kids, I'll be judged for being weird, or being threatening, or being scary, because you took time when I should have been allowed to play and turned it into something else. You turned it into trying to survive, to serve the adults around me, and you didn't care if it was hurting me, because it wasn't hurting you. As long as it wasn't hurting someone who mattered, you didn't care.Vineta: No one warned me. Why are you owed anything different?Antsy: Just because someone hurt you when you were a child, that doesn't make it right for you to hurt anyone else.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Seraphina is so beautiful that everyone loves her on sight, and thus she can't form any real connections with people. She's desperate to get back to her Door so she can live in a world where it doesn't affect others as much.
- Translator Microbes: It's confirmed that all the worlds have their own languages, but going through a Door gives the travelers instant, instinctive knowledge of that language, to the point where they don't even notice they're not speaking their native language. Cora's world isn't actually named "the Trenches", but a word that sounds more like whale song carried through water.
- Younger Than They Look: Antsy, due to her time spent in The Store, is a nine-year old in a sixteen year-old's body. This badly screws up her social life and leads her to self-isolate to avoid others finding out.
