Name: Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Rating: 4.228260869565218 (414 reviews)
ISBN: 9781643584928

Seanan McGuire

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. This is the story of what happened first . . .

Wayward Children

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Seanan McGuire returns to her popular Wayward Children series with Down Among the Sticks and Bones—a truly standalone story suitable for adult and young adult readers of urban fantasy, and the follow-up to the Alex Award-winning, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus finalist, Tiptree Honor List Every Heart a Doorway Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. This is the story of what happened first... Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline. Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got. They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted. They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

Kellie Davis

Loved this so much more than the first one. Jack and Jill's story was so interesting. I only wish the book was longer. I couldn't put it down!

Dustin Tinch

I am here to officially profess my undying love for Seanan McGuire's writing. 

Down Among the Sticks and Bones delivered more than enough to solidify my adoration for the whimsically dark world of the Wayward Children. As I was reading and tabbing I noticed that if I didn't stop I would run out of tabs. That's just how beautiful and impactful it was! I am so beyond excited to have more magical and poignant stories to jump back into with the rest of this bewitching series. I will simply leave you with this, READ IT!!!

Alexa M

Leaning on 4.5 stars. I find Jack and Jill so interesting so i loved this!!

menna

My favorite things about this book is:

• The atmosphere, eerie and daunting and matches the story perfectly.
• How it discussed forced gender roles. i would love to have some stern talking with jack and jill's parents . Jack and Jill's obvious discomfort with their assigned roles from birth and how that affected their decision making in the moors.

This…was so perfect. I’m genuinely so obsessed with the writing in these novellas, how the story is told, how whimsical yet horribly dark they are at the same time?? Jack and Jill…I love you poor poor girls, I’m so excited for the rest of these!

dija

I just finished this in my Chemistry course and i regret nothing. Am i doing university right?

Jamieson

“The Moors exist in eternal twilight, in the pause between the lightning strike and the resurrection. They are a place of endless scientific experimentation, of monstrous beauty, and of terrible consequences.”


Down Among the Sticks and Bones is McGuire's second foray into the Wayward Children series and it is excellent. Seanan McGuire managed to hit this eerie, ominous tone she maintained throughout that made it tense, and the entire world was interesting, and endearing in it's creepiness. I should have liked this as much as book one, but it was missing one key ingredient that made me love book one: humour and charm. 

Here's the thing: I can see why people prefer this to book one. It's much more mature, explores it's characters much better, and overall presents a more interesting setting. Jack is a delightful character to follow, and Jill is unconventional despite being "traditionally" feminine. But I didn't like it as much. 

Despite this book having many amazing qualities (and don't get me wrong this is a very POSITIVE REVIEW) I really think going for this tone made it lose some of the things I loved about book one. I really wanted more fun, more charm, more humour. It's not this worlds style, but I missed it. I also think the ending of the f/f romance was disappointing and honestly I expected better from Seanan McGuire. (view spoiler)[ bury your gays has been done LETS LET THE LESBEANS LIVE (hide spoiler)]


  “I could give you children,” said Jack, sounding faintly affronted. “You’d have to tell me how many heads you wanted them to have, and what species you’d like them to be, but what’s the point of having all these graveyards if I can’t give you children when you ask for them?” 


But these criticisms aside - I loved this book. Following Jack was wonderful, she's my favourite character in this series beside Kade. She's a mad scientist and brave and COOL and just not your typical heroine? But she rocks and I love her. 

Jill is not followed as closely, but I did love her scenes. I especially loved the relationship between Jack and Jill and how it was shown to change, develop and eventually dissolve. The complex push and pull between the sisters and shifts in their relationship was well done, especially when you consider how short these books are. 

I simultaneously love and hate the length of these books. Love, because McGuire does so much with her page length. She gives her stories and her characters impact in a short page span and it works. Thse books have got spark and ooft factor without ever being tedious. 
On the other hand, this page length means some things need to be left out and I do wish they were longer sometimes. I'd like to see longer stories, more complete resolutions to stories, and more side character development. (Alexis was a shell, I wanted more.)



This is definitely worth reading after Every Heart a Doorway. It's feels so different to the first book, and yet is also a perfect companion. Jack, Jill and their world are incredibly interesting. The Moors has got to be some of my favourite worldbuilding ever. It's whimsy, weird, unrealistic and yet somehow so rich it feels it could be real. I also think Seanan McGuire really did something unique with the Moors - she took some tropes and things you'd never expect to go together - vampires, mad scientist, wind mill houses and castles and made it into this rich, ominous world that feels so real and so right.

Also - lets talk Audiobook. I always listen to these on Audio. Seanan McGuire narrates this song and I did not like it as much as the original narrator (Sorry Seanan). I think this also may have impacted my choice to knock a star. HER NARRATION IS STILL GREAT. Just not the perfection that was book one. 

Overall, I adore this series. Down Among the Sticks and Bones wasn't my favourite, but it's good. It's got some really great themes and concept and incredible tone - and if these keys are gonna hit you then you'd probably like it more than book one.

Rachel Kanyid

I liked this WAY more than book one. I guess I just love the fairytale style format so much more than contemporary magical realism. Definitely a great addition to the series.

Kelsey Joëlle

This book was better than the first one. Jack is a goddess and I hope we see more of her.

"Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their w ay home and were packed off to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children ... Jacqueline was her mother's perfect daughter--polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it's because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline. Jillian was her father's perfect daughter--adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got. They were five when they learned that grown-ups can't be trusted. They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices"--Amazon.com.

Janice Hopper

Not every author appeals to every reader, alas. That seems to be the case with Seanan McGuire and me. I know she's got a HUGE posse of fans. I just don't think I can be one of them.

With this book, I may be falling into the error of criticizing the author because she didn't write the book about twin sisters that *I* wanted to read. That's not the author's fault, obviously. I bow to her fans and wish them well.

What I liked: the setting, mostly. It's a mysterious land accessed by a mysterious staircase which appears, and disappears after use. The land contains vampires, werewolves, mysterious creatures of the deep, and more or less ordinary people. It appears to be populated only by children who wander down the steps into the land. There's a giant red moon that lours over the land. 

Two twin sisters, Jacqueline and Jillian, are the ones who descend the staircase. They're not much loved at home, so they don't mind missing home as much. Jacqueline ("Jack") and Jillian ("Jill") have parents who are pushing them into tightly defined gender roles. Jack's the designated "girl". She's the pretty precious princess her mom wanted. "Jill" is her dad's son-surrogate: pushed into sports and other relatively masculine pursuits. Both tend to acquiesce to this manipulation, because it's hard to fight parental pressure. But once they go down the stairs, they're no longer bound by their previous roles. Each can do something different now. So far, okay. I guess.

What bugged me: "Jack" and "Jill". Seriously????? I can't tell you how much I HATED that the author used those names. 

At this point, I better put in spoiler tags.

(view spoiler)[
Sure, she switches things up. "Jack" goes from Pretty Precious Princess to pants-and-cravat wearing apprentice to a Mad Scientist. "Jill" goes from tomboy to essentially one of Dracula's The Master's (the vampire - shades of Buffy season one, jeezopete) girl toys, or his "daughter", as he wants to call her, complete with filmy, flowing nightgowns dresses and aspires to be nothing more than the Next Hot Vampire In The Castle. Each becomes the complete opposite of what she was back home.

Reader, I didn't buy it. It's too plot-convenient. The author is using a bludgeon to make her point here. This may be the part where I'm telling you that I really wanted to read a DIFFERENT book on this theme. If so, that's on me rather than the author. But this book before me? Didn't work for me.

Sure, the author made it heavy-handedly obvious that these girls had never had a choice before. Here, Jack chose first. Jill was left to make the best of The Master. And she throws herself into it with a vengeance.

I could never decide if the sisters really liked each other or not. A lot of times it seemed like they didn't, but the next moment they'd be running hand-in-hand through the fields in the other world. We're told that Jill walks the battlements of the castle and can see the villagers from there, but in 4 or 5 years only sees her sister ONCE, and only decided to contact her ONCE? Likewise, Jack knows where Jill is, but she never seeks her out. Until she absolutely has to rescue her at the end.

Also, the Master rejecting Jill after she brutally killed Jack's girlfriend? Didn't buy it. And the fact that the Mad Scientist had a magic jar of lightning that he could use to conjure a door back to Our World at the exact moment they needed it? Too plot-convenient.  (hide spoiler)]

Y'all, I just have Opinions. I get that McGuire wanted to make a statement about gender roles and love and having choices. I just think this was a particularly heavy-handed way to do it, and it didn't work for me. Her writing style doesn't work for me either. It's a little too florid in some places, a little too reader-look-at-this in others. I skimmed a fair amount so I wouldn't have to read it word by word, because annoying.

If you loved the book, more power to you! I always feel kinda bad about negatively reviewing something most folks love. But there it is. I didn't love it.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones Wayward Children

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