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A review by midici
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
4.0
Honestly I may have liked this better than the first in the series, Every Heart a Doorway. Jack and Jill have pivotal roles in that book, but this one goes straight to the beginning to show how they became what they were in that book.
Jacqueline and Jillian spend the first 12 years of their lives forced into a very narrow box by their parents: Jacqueline, the pretty, obedient, quiet child; Jillian the rough, tomboy, messy one. Their upbringing makes it difficult to stay friends because each is so jealous of what the other is allowed to have. When they find a secret door in a trunk they venture into it together and find a door that says: BE SURE.
They aren't sure of anything but they make a choice and thus begin their entry to the Moors. The narration has a almost whimsical, threatening tone. You can see all of the dangers lurking under the surface of this world that Jack seems to be much more wary of than Jill. In the house of the Master, the vampire that rules this place, Jack makes a choice to save herself and her sister - she leaves and becomes the apprentice of Dr. Bleak, a former foundling like her.
But children don't stay children forever and even Dr. Bleak can see the world setting them up in opposing fashion, can see Jill becoming a dangerous vampire to-be, in direct opposition of Jack who is becoming a quick and clever apprentice, a future mad-scientist like himself.
Jill, carelessly shedding her humanity every year, makes a misstep so large even the Master can't save her. Jack could - but after what Jill has just done, does she even want to? Of course, we know the answer to this from the first book - because this ending is just one stop in the road for both of them.
Jacqueline and Jillian spend the first 12 years of their lives forced into a very narrow box by their parents: Jacqueline, the pretty, obedient, quiet child; Jillian the rough, tomboy, messy one. Their upbringing makes it difficult to stay friends because each is so jealous of what the other is allowed to have. When they find a secret door in a trunk they venture into it together and find a door that says: BE SURE.
They aren't sure of anything but they make a choice and thus begin their entry to the Moors. The narration has a almost whimsical, threatening tone. You can see all of the dangers lurking under the surface of this world that Jack seems to be much more wary of than Jill. In the house of the Master, the vampire that rules this place, Jack makes a choice to save herself and her sister - she leaves and becomes the apprentice of Dr. Bleak, a former foundling like her.
But children don't stay children forever and even Dr. Bleak can see the world setting them up in opposing fashion, can see Jill becoming a dangerous vampire to-be, in direct opposition of Jack who is becoming a quick and clever apprentice, a future mad-scientist like himself.
Jill, carelessly shedding her humanity every year, makes a misstep so large even the Master can't save her. Jack could - but after what Jill has just done, does she even want to? Of course, we know the answer to this from the first book - because this ending is just one stop in the road for both of them.