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 … 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.
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Jaqueline and Jillian are twins, born to astoundingly self-absorbed parents who really wanted life-sized Sims characters, not actual children. They are raised as caricatures of the Princess and the Tomboy, and are emotionally stunted, trusting only each other, but without liking or understanding one another. Then one day, they find a set of stairs, descending to an impossible depth, in an impossible place, and at the base is a door with a sign: Be Very Sure.
And behind the door the girls find the lonely, windswept Moors, the perfect setting for a Gothic novel…
I don’t think this book can entirely stand alone; the story is (rich, dark, lovely) backstory to two of the characters in Every Heart a Doorway, and will be unsatisfactory on it’s own, and perhaps a bit too revealing if read prior to Every Heart.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and wanted to have an extended discussion with it over the nature of portal worlds and how a child’s innermost nature shapes the kinds of world they can access. Every Heart seemed to argue that one’s portal world was potentially one’s paradise (even if it was Heaven to no one else), a place to unlock repressed secrets and find one’s true self.
Sticks and Bones also has a portal world that cut away outside warping and crimping influences, but this one seems to play a bit dirty. We all have the potential to be heros and to be monsters within us; for the crime of being less observant than her sister and having a moment of misplaced empathy, one sister is trapped on a path that will nurture the monster, while the other gets a path that might allow her to find her hero.
I feel that the twins got a raw deal. Portal worlds don’t have to be fair, I suppose, and there is an implication that the girls’ hearts were so twisted that they had to end up in a twisted world. On a meta-level, they were broken together and will have to heal together, and their story was not done at the end of Every Heart.
This book was provided to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This is my first experience with Seanan McGuire, but definitely not my last. Down Among the Sticks and Bones is a stark, poignant, and beautiful story. There’s not much joy to be had in the lives of Jacqueline and Jillian, and what little joy they have is consistently snuffed out by either the adults in their lives or (sometimes intentionally, but mostly unintentionally) each other. The personalities of the two main characters are richly developed and complex. Jack and Jill have never been comfortable in their own skins, and when given the chance to be someone else, they leap at the opportunity. While this is a good, engrossing book, the beauty of it lies not in the words themselves, but in the way those words keep you thinking long after the story is over. The question that keeps me thinking the most is “Who is/are the true villain(s) of this story”. I have gone around and around with that one. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well-written, character driven novels. If you need a truly happy ending in order to be satisfied with a book, just walk away.
The first book in this series was amazingly gripping. I wasn’t really noticing it while reading, but long after finishing the book was still actively on my mind. I was thinking about some beautiful quotes I had read. I was thinking about the plot, its characters and the worlds we saw some glimpses of. As soon as I could I therefore ordered the rest of the series and yesterday my books finally arrived and I could continue this adventure.
I totally think I’m in love with McGuire’s writing style in this series. Her writing is enchanting, it’s beautiful and it has something lyrical. Loads of quotes would do pretty well on merchandise, just like they would make perfect life mottos. Her writing also creates a certain kind of atmosphere, which really adds to the mystery and the strangeness of the story she is telling. The writing helps us to really drown in the story.
The world in this book was also amazingly fascinating. Although I feel like we’ve still only seen a glimpse of it and I know there’s still much more to discover the world did feel very vivid and in a strange way also very realistic. The world worked, the pieces of the world fitted and the world most of all was perfect for our characters to become whoever they wanted and had to become to grow out of the stiffening skin their parents had put them in.
However, those main characters learning about themselves and growing into the people they truly wanted to be didn’t come easy and for sure not for free. There was a lot of pain, there was a lot of heartbreak and there were countless moments where the story almost shattered my heart, especially because we know what’s waiting for our characters in the near future, once they get back to our world, frantically searching for a door to go back home.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones tells the story of Jack and Jill. In this darkly creative sequel, Seanan McGuire shows the sister’s broken lives and the world that stole them away. If you have not read book one, I highly suggest you do. Sticks and Bones will not go into detail about the mechanics of the doorway worlds and can leave you easily confused.
The girls were not raised with love and care from their parents. They were treated like moldable clay and forced into roles that made their family look perfect on the outside. But on the inside, the two grew apart, each one yearning for something more in their life. Something they could truly enjoy. Like most children, when their door appeared, they stepped through with innocent curiosity. Nothing could prepare them for the violence and desperation of their new world.
This was another brilliant and dark entry in the Wayward Children series. It’s like reading page after page of smooth dark poetry that sinks into your mind. You cry out for these two girls, hoping for them to find their happiness any way they can. You become immersed in a world of magic and desperate hope. I can’t get enough of this series!
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
(Wayward Children #2)
by Seanan McGuire
This book follows the lives of twins Jacqueline and Jillian, Jack and Jill from book one. Reading book one I thought they were effected by the people/creatures that influenced them during their time in the other world they found beyond the special door. This shows that it was only partly true.
The girls had opened a door to a world where a vampire was Lord over the whole village. He also had a Doctor in his service. A scientist. One girl would be with each. That is where they lived and learned for years.
There was an incident that caused the girls to be banished. The Doctor opened a doorway so they could escape but gave Jack conditions in which she could return.
The story was mesmerizing! I couldn’t put it down! So rich in character development and world building! On to the next book!
I thought I was in love with this series after book one, but this book just made me a fan girl. The language in this book is somehow even more poignant, the life observations more stinging and the ultimate conclusion more heartbreaking. Knowing what we know about Jack & Jill from book one in no way spoils their heartbreaking journey told here. I know it’s not the nature of this series, but what I wouldn’t give to have so much more story from the world of the Moors. On page f/f relationship, and fat as beautiful rep!
While reading the first book I was so curious about Jack and Jill. I’m so glad I got to see their back story. They make so much more sense now. This one pulled at my heart strings. I cried. I cannot wait to read the next book.
This story in the series is based on Jack and Jill, twin sisters who find themselves in the Moors. The description of the Moors was eerie and gothic, both sister finding themselves in simultaneous tales. Is the love for one’s sister (sibling) stronger than one’s own ambitions? They are both faced with this dilemma throughout the story. I loved that they were the first in depth look!
This story gave so much insight to the events in book one. It is Jack and Jill beginnings, and amplifies the terror in the events of Every Heart a Doorway.
It’s a magically tragic tale of twin sisters told so poetically, I felt every heart beat of the characters. The story is woven together with all the elements that made me fall in love with the first book, and I’m excited at the prospect of the books to come.
While the worlds were only described in Every Heart, this book gives a deep look into the world they discover, telling us the innerworkings of the places/people, and law of the lands. Reading the childhood of Jack and Jill, followed by their teen years gave me chills to what became of them. It also gives so much depth to the idea of identical twins, and the done like world some people live in. My heart broke for Jack all over again.
Like with the first, this installment layers in more social commentary, and I’m here for it.
I also just realized the author is the narrator and wow. That made it more magical. I was going to rave about the narration, but it makes so much sense, all the emotion behind the words. A must listen, if you’re able.
If you love The Ten Thousand Doors of January or The Starless Sea you’re going to LOVE this book. Has the same whimsical fantasy air about it.
Note: LGBT
Jack & Jill + Chronicles of Narnia + Seanan McGuire
Sorry, there were other combos, but I don’t want to spoil anything for y’all!
Jacqueline and Jillian never got a choice in who they would be. Their parents saw to it that one was a pretty princess and the other would be a tomboy to make up for the shame of not having a boy AND a girl. When they find a staircase in their grandmother’s trunk, they have an opportunity to choose for the first time in their lives. To choose their master and to choose each other.
Again, adored this and will be buying the third to read next month. While Jack & Jill were primary characters in Every Heart a Doorway, we get the whole heart-breaking story here. I have seen in other reviews that this book should be first and EHaD second, but I humbly disagree. If that were the case, there would me no shocking twist in EHaD. Just a gorgeous story. I was at first disconcerted that we weren’t in the school, but Seanan made me forget that very quickly. Besides the breathtaking character and world building, she has a language that can’t be replicated.
Buy this for yourself and everyone you know, twisted or not!
I’ve read where this is a lot of people’s favorite of the 3 books currently, and I can understand why. For me, this setting was everything! The Moors was eerie and dark and just what you expect from every horror movie ever. I think it’s easily my favorite portal world so far (though I think I’d love The Halls of the Dead just as much if we ever get to see that world fully).
I loved the characters and their relationships with each other. They’re so flawed, and the Moors are completely unforgiving when it comes to mistakes.
This is the story of Jack and Jill, the twin sisters we met in Every Heart a Doorway. When they were twelve years old they opened a trunk and followed stairs down, down, down to a door that led to the moors and for Jill, a vampire Master and for Jack, apprenticeship to a mad scientist. It was their home for 5 years until circumstances changed, which we learned about in Every Heart a Doorway. It was interesting to read their story, already knowing how it ended up, but it was great to fill in the background and see how their experiences shaped them.
Back in 2012 or 2013, I was going through a reading crisis. A voracious reader, it got to the point that even my wife noticed I wasn’t reading any of the half dozen books I had sitting beside the bed. I just couldn’t find something that stuck and drew me in. Then one day, at the power lifting gym I trained at, my friend John Wesley Cummings aka “Beardo” and I got to talking. He asked what I was reading and I shared my struggles. He told me about a book that was guaranteed to break that issue. He suggested ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. I was hooked. Rothfuss’ book was pure bliss. Sublime writing and great storytelling.
Why am I sharing that? Well, I may not be in any sort of reading slump, but not since discovering Patrick Rothfuss have I found a writer who has such an easy storytelling approach, set in a fantastical setting, until now. Seanan McGuire’s “Wayward Children” series has absolutely captivated me over these first two books. I really owe this series suggestion to Jen, aka @BookDen, who insisted I read them.
What I liked: Where Book One ‘Every Heart a Doorway’ introduced us to a group of characters at the School for Wayward Children, Book Two is a prequel, telling the story of how Jacqueline and Jillian became who they are. We discover the basis of their nicknames Jack and Jill and what happened when they found the door to The Moors.
McGuire deftly crafted a stand alone book, that also slots in nicely as the prequel. If you were to pick this one up with no prior knowledge, you’d have absolutely no issues reading the story and understanding the implied connectivity.
I really can’t gush about McGuire’s writing. The words leap off the page and I galloped through this one.
For me, the most fascinating aspect was learning more about the Master and Dr. Bleak. We get a brief mention of them in Book One, but here we learn so much more and the relationship that we see Jack develop with Alexis was really well done and added an extra layer of emotional depth.
What I didn’t like: Typically, in this section, I try to say why a reader might be turned off of a book. In this case, I’m going to pivot and say that I truly HATED Jack and Jill’s parents in the real world. I see these types each day my son and I go to the park right now and it takes everything in me not to punch them. McGuire really crafted a couple of horrendous humans.
Why you should buy this: ‘Down Among the Sticks and Bones’ is a decidedly darker story than ‘Every Heart a Doorway,’ but don’t think of that as a negative or a detriment. McGuire stays true to the two characters at the center of this story and the reader is better off. This book has really elevated the series for me, personally, and now I’m going to have to beg and plead with my AMAZING wife to let me snag Book Three asap and dive in.
Can’t recommend these first two books enough.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but I loved this installment! Jack and Jill were not my favorite characters from ‘Every Heart a Doorway’, and I almost didn’t read this book since it was about them, but I’m so glad I did. Understanding their background and how they came to be the young women they are really changed my view of them (well, changed my view of Jack…Jill still sucks). GREAT series. Absolutely recommend it. I’m starting the third book today…I’ll definitely be bummed when it’s over and I have to wait for more books. I hope Ms. McGuire continues on with the series because it’s such a great story.
I was really hoping that it was going to include what happened after they returned back to the Moors. it was a good story but felt more like a prequel than a stand-alone story. Is it because the author wants to sale more books by dicing the story up?? I don’t know. I just felt like it was half finished
I didn’t like this as much as the first book, i was expecting it to pick up where book 1 left off which it didn’t. I’m going to continue with the Series in the hopes that book 3 is Better than book 2.
Did I like it or didn’t I ? I don’t know ! It read like a Lemony Snicket book. It’s hard for me to feel anything when I don’t like any of the characters, none of them. The story was cool, different and had so much to explore but the cast. There were just so unlikable to me I don’t really care what happens to them. I don’t see me moving on in the series, this was a prequel a look at their youth, maybe they are better when grown ? We’ll see, it’s unlikely but I might be talked into trying one more book.
This book was more grim and darker than the previous book and it had made the story all the better in its own way. This story was about twin sisters, Jack and Jill, and their journey of discovering the moors. While reading their story, I began to love everything about Jack and Jill and how they grew up. This is my favorite of the series so far and I honestly think that the series CAN NOT get any better than this. I recommend everyone read Every Heart a Doorway first and then if you are ready, to dive into the world of Jack and Jill and the grim world of the moors.
I just read through these books way too quickly. I’m sure the friend who I borrowed them from will be pleased to have them returned in under a week, but still. I need more! This particular book in the series was such a twisted tale. It kind of leaves me sitting there thinking “wow. Your parents really messed you up, huh?” and I immediately feel the need to go thank my parents for letting me be who I want to be, with little influence beyond “not a criminal/drain on society/mean person.” The word “fun” feels wrong to apply to this book, but I really enjoyed being able to delve deeper into Jack and Jill and their relationship and their story. You definitely don’t want to read this one before Every Heart A Doorway, so unlike that novel this one can’t stand on it’s own totally, but you don’t have to recall Every Heart A Doorway in detail in oder to enjoy this one. I really loved McGuire’s style of naration for this book. It felt almost like I was in the story but also that I was sitting next to McGuire as she told me it. A haunting story, and my fingers are already grasping for the next book in the series.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
I went into this book having no idea how the story would continue, quickly discovering it was more of a prequel than anything, and being 100% satisfied by that—what a rarity!
If after reading the last book you were left starving for a taste of the world’s the children had visited, then Down Among the Sticks and Bones is a savory meal! Sorry for the terrible analogy…
Down Among the Sticks and Bones tells us the story of Jack and Jill prior to their time in the home for Wayward children. Which, sounds mildly interesting on its own, and slightly exciting when you remember that Jack knew how to reanimate the dead, and that Jill was in some weird love thing with a vampire, but the story itself is so much more enjoyable than expected! All because of McGuire’s skill in storytelling.
Seriously, she might just have become my new favorite author—sorry King, Maas, and Taylor (Laini).
Really though, if you need something new to read, pick up this series. They’re so short it’s actually almost tortuous once you get into them.