Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

My brain is being overtaken by Seanan McGuire.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones is the second book in the Wayward Children series, which is a collection of connected stand-alone about children who go through doors into other worlds and the schools they can attend should they come back to our world. This book follows twins Jacquline and Jillian as they grow up forced into restrictive roles they are at least in part ill-suited for. When they are presented with a door to go through, Jack and Jill have one choice only one of them can make freely about who they wish to be. This book is creepy and atmospheric and about who you are and your connections to those around you. I read this book in two sittings, interrupted only by the need to sleep.

I love this series so far. I am specifically very in love with the writing. It is very rare for me to give five stars to books that don't make me cry, and neither of the books in this series has made me cry or really had a similarly strong effect on my emotions in another direction. But both have made me deeply interested in the story and in the way I was being told that story. I read both books with a highlighter pencil (my very favorite thing, I like the Caran d'Ache one), and I have used it liberally.

McGuire tells these stories in such an interesting and engaging way. They feel so much like fairytales, in the grim and gritty way, but they are also just as transportive as the polished and beautiful kind of tale. I really love the diction, every word feels so purposeful, and it is so rife to be thought deeply about should you choose to do so.

This book in specific does an amazing job of fleshing out these two characters we met in book one. I also deeply want another book from them, but I do not think that is how this series works. I really adored the two chapters we spent in the beginning getting to know their parents and grandmother. They were absolutely excellent and perfectly set the stage for understanding everything about these two. I feel like this could have been done in a relatively short couple of pages, but I loved that McGuire chose to keep the reader in their childhoods for as long as she did. It absolutely felt vital to the story and was maybe my favorite part of the book. Maybe, I also loved the portal fantasy part, of course.

I really love how character-focused these books are, especially because the worlds they take place in are so rich, and the plots are strong, but still, the thrust of the story is focused on the main character, or characters in this case, of the story. I loved getting deep focus on Jack and Jill. Seeing the corruption and the healing, the way their ecosystems were designed in both worlds to pry them apart. It was such a fascinating read.

I really loved this world; I absolutely wish we could have more books in this world. The girls choose to go towards the vampire's stronghold when they arrive on the moors, but I am so curious about the drowned god, and I would also love a werewolf story. But I do like the fast and constantly changing nature of this series. I shall just be satisfied to jump from world to world, hopefully loving each.

If we are friends and you haven't read this book, you might be getting it on the next present-getting occasion. I adore this book, and I recommend it so strongly to fans of portal fantasy and to fans of other genres alike. I also really like the way this story feels so applicable to so many age groups. It is an adult book, but it clearly has appeal in the YA market; the characters are younger, but the topics and consequences do feel more in line with what you would get from an adult title. I am just obsessed.

I gave this book five stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph