Reviews tagging 'Death'

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

106 reviews

_forestofpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Gaslighting

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This novella delves more into Jack and Jill's backstory, which was briefly mentioned in the first book.

It was interesting to hear how their personalities evolved when they were growing up around their parents vs when they were in Their World. 

A very dark, compelling continuation of the Wayward children, and I can't wait to continue the series.

This book

made me hate Jill even more because of what she did to Alexis, her sister's lover. I really wanted to empathize with her desire to be wanted and appreciated but UGH she's terrible..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, and Medical content

takarakeireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book focuses on the back stories of Jack and Jill - two characters from book 1. I really loved how gender roles were explored (and critiqued).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Fatphobia

Much of the book deals with Jack and Jill's parents forcing them into gender specific 'roles'. While neither character is trans, they are both girls who are not allowed to be true to themselves. Adult/minor relationship -

while I don't believe there is explicitly anything sexual between Jill and 'the master' (who is a vampire) there's def a power imbalance/ ick-factor in their relationship

maeverose's review against another edition

3.25

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Lesbophobia

Toxic masculinity, depictions of germaphobia ocd, a situation similar to grooming

books4em's review

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia

lorenmarie7's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Blood, and Murder

lola77's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Whimsical yet dark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

daffodilcherry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely loved this installment of the Wayward Children series! I loved immersing myself into the moors, the tragedy of Jack and Jill. It really further developed my favourite characters from the first book which I definitely enjoyed. 
Wheelhouse items: Gothic setting, vampires, mad scientists, traveling to different worlds, worldbuilding, nature vs nurture, narrative parallels, dysfunctional relationships.
CW explanations:

Jill is a bit homophobic/weirdly jealous of Jack and her girlfriend, which ends in a murder. Jill is also disparaging about the girlfriend's size, but the narrative isn't.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Blood

miachalupa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood

cady_sass's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

WOW this blew my mind! It’s the second book and it’s so short that I literally can’t say anything without risking spoilers. Jac & Jill were mesmerizing in the first book so I’m so glad that’s the story we followed here. Absolutely captivating, give me more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment