Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Down Among the Sticks and Bones
by Seanan McGuire
Rating: ★★★½
Series: Wayward Children #2
Publication Date: June 13, 2013
Genre: urban fantasy
Pages: 187
ReRead?: No

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.

In an effort to stave off a reading slump, I have decided to take a break from pretty much all of my reading projects and read by whim for a while. The remaining big reads for the year – Moby Dick and Kristin Lavransdattir – have been pushed off indefinitely. If a book fits by chance into either of my ongoing century projects, I’ll add it to the project.

I really enjoy Seanan McGuire’s contemporary urban fantasy series – especially her InCryptids series, which is probably my favorite UF series of all (Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson might give it a run for its money, though). I’ve off and on enjoyed her October Daye series. I don’t read her Mira Grant work because it tends towards horror, which is not my jam. I’ve only previously read the first of her Wayward Children series, Every Heart a Doorway, which I read all the way back in April, 2017, and which I gave 5 stars on GR.

For some reason, even though I loved the book, I never continued with the series.

Which takes me back to my read by whim plan. And also, short books. Novellas. Novelettes (what is a novelette, anyway). Books under 300 pages. I gravitate towards long books. When I’m picking a read, I generally follow the adage that longer is better. Give me a 900 page epic or classic and I will settle in for the long haul. But, recently, I’ve found myself interested in stepping away from the doorstoppers and reading books that are less of a commitment.

So, I (metaphorically) dusted off my library card and put a bunch of books on hold. My library, rather astonishingly, allows me to check out 80 items at once. I decided that I would just start expansively requesting books and cycle through them as my fancy takes me. If they have to go back to the library without being read, no big deal. I cleared off the book cart so I would have a place to keep them. One of the first books that showed up was Down Among the Sticks and Bones, book 2 of the Wayward Children series, which is up to 10 books now, all novellas, all around 200 pages or so.

I liked this one, but not nearly so well as Every Heart a Doorway. I like the concept of the series, and McGuire’s writing is wonderful – dreamy and fairy-tale-esque. I didn’t love the story here, though, but am interested enough to have put book 3 on hold, Beneath the Sugar Sky, and it’s waiting for me to pick up next time I am at the library.