Reviews with content warning for Classism - Down Among the Sticks and Bones

I wanted more from the gothic setting and the vampire and mad scientist characters. I wanted more atmosphere and worldbuilding. Ofc it’s a novella but not a lot happens in it. It focuses too much on their childhood before they find their door, and once they get there it felt like it sped through and summarized so much of what happened. There were even parts where the author said ‘This part would be dull/unnecessary to explain so let’s just fast forward’. It felt like she couldn’t really think of where to take the story up until the end we already learned about in the first book. My rating is mostly for the concepts and the pretty writing. We also learned a bit more about how the doors work,

and I’d really like to know how Dr Bleak figured out how to conjure them.

The setting was cool but we didn’t get to see enough of it. I’m hoping we do in the other book from this world.

I read the first book so I knew how it would end, but I didn’t like how they got there. I hate the message of ‘family is family and somewhere deep down you love them no matter what unforgivably horrible things they’ve done to you’, and this kinda had that. It made no sense to me how Jack could have any love for her sister after what she did, especially considering she never got along with her to begin with. The author tried to explain why Jack did it, but I didn’t feel like she really succeeded at that. It seemed like it was only written that way for the plot to go in a certain direction. Also because their abusive parents are never redeemed, it almost felt hypocritical.

Content Warnings

books4em's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

McGuire continues to amaze me with the Wayward Children series. I liked how this one gave some background to Jack and Jill in the first book. I do have some questions still, like what happened after they went back to the real world, is Alexis alive, and does Jack find her when they go back to the Moors? But I loved the representation in this one too, the queer rep so far in this series is great because it isn’t really questioned. It’s just how it is and who these kids are. I also greatly appreciated the backstory at the beginning and how quickly Jack and Jill basically switched rolls when they got to the Moors. That was really interesting to watch happen and was extremely relatable! McGuire continued her wise writing with a lot of detail. I don’t know how this was all packed into 187 pages! Can’t wait for the next.

Content Warnings

More...