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jakeykayyreads 's review for:
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
by Seanan McGuire
This is absolutely shaping up to be my new favorite series. I thought this was a great prequel to Every Heart a Doorway, and I was really excited to learn more about Jack and Jill. Where the first book’s length worked for me, though, I felt it hindered this one.
This entry is different from EHAD in the sense that it’s about one of the journeys that these children go on rather than the events at Eleanor’s school. Because of this, there is an entire world, magic system, and five years worth of events to get through (17 if you’re counting the time before Jack and Jill arrive in the Moors) in less than 200 pages. That’s a tall order.
A lot of time is spent explaining the twins’ upbringing, which I did think was absolutely essential character building. Unfortunately, this means that by the time they get to the Moors the book is half over. This leads to a very “telling not showing” last half of the book where I kind of felt robbed not getting to experience most of what the twins went through during their five year journey.
I did really love this, I just kind of had high expectations after EHAD. Short books are Seanan’s thing, and I respect that. At least their writing is captivating enough to write a novella that packs a lot of punch. But when there’s an incredible world to explore with five years worth of events to experience, I’d like more than 80 pages to do it.
This entry is different from EHAD in the sense that it’s about one of the journeys that these children go on rather than the events at Eleanor’s school. Because of this, there is an entire world, magic system, and five years worth of events to get through (17 if you’re counting the time before Jack and Jill arrive in the Moors) in less than 200 pages. That’s a tall order.
A lot of time is spent explaining the twins’ upbringing, which I did think was absolutely essential character building. Unfortunately, this means that by the time they get to the Moors the book is half over. This leads to a very “telling not showing” last half of the book where I kind of felt robbed not getting to experience most of what the twins went through during their five year journey.
I did really love this, I just kind of had high expectations after EHAD. Short books are Seanan’s thing, and I respect that. At least their writing is captivating enough to write a novella that packs a lot of punch. But when there’s an incredible world to explore with five years worth of events to experience, I’d like more than 80 pages to do it.