Book Review: “Down Among The Sticks And Bones” By Seanan McGuire

I read the first book in this series about a year ago and I immediately fell in love with the writing and just the main story line. I went to start the second book only to find it was following Jack And Jill whom at the time I didn’t care to learn more about so I set the book aside for far too long. I am so glad I finally picked this one up as it truly surprised me.

Make sure to check out my review for the first book in this series “Every Heart a Doorway”.

This Post May Contain Spoilers as this is a second book in a series.

Read with Caution.

“Some adventures require nothing more than a willing heart and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world.”

Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones

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“There are worlds built on rainbows and worlds built on rain. There are worlds of pure mathematics, where every number chimes like crystal as it rolls into reality. There are worlds of light and worlds of darkness, worlds of rhyme and worlds of reason, and worlds where the only thing that matters is the goodness in a hero’s heart.”

Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones

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Synopsis

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.

Synopsis From GoodReads

“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.”

Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones

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Rating

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Review

I couldn’t imagine being thrown out of the one place you could call home and felt like you belong just to know you have to go back to these parents who were never good to you in the first place. This book really put the events of the first book into perspective and it all comes full circle!

I can’t wait to read the rest of this series and to learn more about all of these crazy worlds these children find themselves in. It makes me wonder what magical door would have opened for me if this was something that really happens. Probably a door filled with cats, like a world ruled by cats…Ok yeah…I might be a crazy cat lady haha.

I highly recommend this book/series however please read trigger warnings as the events that take place can be tough to read.

“Every choice feeds every choice that comes after, whether we want those choices or no.”

Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones

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QOTD: What Magical Door would you hope opens to you?

“She had tried to make sure they knew that there were a hundred, a thousand, a million different ways to be a girl, and that all of them were valid, and that neither of them was doing anything wrong.”

Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones