Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire [Book #2]

Content Tags: Abuse, Murder, Fantasy, Trauma, LGBTQIA+

Description from Storygraph:

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 tomboy. 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 for a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Down Among the Sticks and Bones is the second book in the Wayward Children series. From everything I've read about the series, each novella can be read as a stand-alone story; however, it's recommended to read the first book (Every Heart a Doorway) to get some baseline information of the world and the characters before the others. 

I originally read Every Heart a Doorway in January 2019 and figured I'd be okay to read the other books without re-reading it now. And in some ways, yeah, that was true. In other ways, I was trying to remember what I couldn't remember about what happened in the first book while reading this one. So, I re-read Every Heart a Doorway after finishing this one. 😅

Jack and Jill's story is such a great depiction of how sometimes nurture really has more power and control than nature does. Jack and Jill weren't given a lot of control in how they thought or acted growing up... until they found a mysterious staircase in the bottom of a trunk and went on an adventure.

In most books there's a plot to follow. Everything has a purpose and builds to something in particular. This book (and I'm guessing it'll be a theme in the whole series) is not one with a purpose, so much as one that follows a couple of lives as they develop. It is full of weird, fantastical characters, creatures, and experiences, but is also very... allegorical for real life feelings, behaviors, and choices. 

The narration style by Seanan (pronounced Shawn-in) McGuire is something I've never read before and found very engaging. It felt very much like someone telling a story to me in an animated and intriguing way. This was a quick read partially because it's a novella and mostly because the story drew me in so thoroughly.

Book Reflection Wrap-up:

Are there any characters you'd like to deliver a lecture to? If so, who? What would you say?

Jill. But also I know it would be so pointless. She very much reminded me of a couple of my siblings who are so set in their ways and mindsets that it truly does not matter how hard you try, they'll never see reason or realize the harm they are doing.

Which quote stood out to you the most?

"The thought that they might be harming them by forcing them into narrow ideas of what a girl - of what a person - should be had never crossed their minds."

Added to TBR: January 2019

Removed from TBR: April 2023