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A review by fauna_n_fiction
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
adventurous
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
This is an all time favourite book. This is the first time I have felt so strongly for a book. I almost cried when it was over and I immediately want to reread it! This is heaps and bounds better than the first book (the first book was not by any means bad - I gave it a 4 star - but this had such amazing writing, and atmosphere and touched on many more topics that are important to be discussed.)
One criticism of this book - way too short. *crying* I would have read a 500 page book of this story.
Characters
Because this is a novella, it's expected that the characters are flat and surface level. However, even with such a short time with these characters, I genuinely feel like both Jack and Jill were very well developed and, although a lot of it happened off-page, there character arcs were satisfying.
Jack (Jacqueline) - Jack is whole heartedly my favourite of the two. I enjoyed her so much in the first installment of this series and that love was fully amplified in this book (especially chapter 8.) I LOVED the interactions with Alexis. I fully related to her confusing and broken love for her sister, as I have a sister of my own. I love the complexity of her germaphobia and how it genuinely affects her life. I love her.
Jill (Jillian) - I genuinely wish we would have gotten more of Jill. Although this story follows the twins, Jack if very obviously the main character. I would have LOVED more development and focus on her and her relationship with Master. During the first half of the book, I genuinely felt for Jillian more than Jacqueline. I felt like the parents influence over the girls was very prevalent in Jill, even with Jack's germaphobia, and throughout the whole book I felt super empathetic towards her.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere was specifically something that made me apprehensive to read this book. I am not a Halloween lover and I have never really been into "spoopy" which is something I have heard this story described as. But I LIVED for this atmosphere. While not overbearingly scary, it was clear that the surroundings played a major impact on the citizens of this world and on our main characters.
While the setting wasn't so much a "character" itself in the book, it definitely fed into the personalities each girl grew into because they were living in this dreary dark and creepy world where monsters run rampant.
Writing
I LOVE Seanan McGuire's writing. While distinctly for adults, it still holds this childlike whimsy and poetic nature that makes me feel like I am reading a middle grade but still about topics I enjoy and find intriguing.
I loved the omniscient narrator who explained things without fully spelling stuff out for us. None of the toxic things happening in the story were romanticized. All the horrible stuff was very clearly described as horrible and very wrong.
This is probably the first book in a while that made me laugh out loud. It was super intriguing, funny and beautifully written. I also read this right after reading a book with very average writing so this was even more enjoyable with such stunning, poetic and whimsical writing.
Plot
While not exactly shocking and surprising, I enjoyed it. I was not expecting to get Jack and Jill's FULL backstory. I was expecting, and lowkey hoping, for what happened after their journey in the first installment.
I don't have a lot to say on the plot, as it is a novella, it is quick paced and I enjoyed it. I wish we would have gotten more between the skipped years but that feeds into my desire for this story to be much longer.
Conversations Had
Seanan McGuire touched on a few topics in this novella that I truly loved and enjoyed how they were discussed and explored.
There is a large discussion about parental influence on personalities and the toxicity of enforcing your own ideals onto your children without giving them a choice to be their own person.
Another strong topic was the idea of gender stereotypes and roles. One twin was forced into typical femininity, while the other was forced into tom-boy masculinity and then judged for it.
There's also discussions about sibling and familial love and how complicated and complex those relationships can be.
One criticism of this book - way too short. *crying* I would have read a 500 page book of this story.
Characters
Because this is a novella, it's expected that the characters are flat and surface level. However, even with such a short time with these characters, I genuinely feel like both Jack and Jill were very well developed and, although a lot of it happened off-page, there character arcs were satisfying.
Jack (Jacqueline) - Jack is whole heartedly my favourite of the two. I enjoyed her so much in the first installment of this series and that love was fully amplified in this book (especially chapter 8.) I LOVED the interactions with Alexis. I fully related to her confusing and broken love for her sister, as I have a sister of my own. I love the complexity of her germaphobia and how it genuinely affects her life. I love her.
Jill (Jillian) - I genuinely wish we would have gotten more of Jill. Although this story follows the twins, Jack if very obviously the main character. I would have LOVED more development and focus on her and her relationship with Master. During the first half of the book, I genuinely felt for Jillian more than Jacqueline. I felt like the parents influence over the girls was very prevalent in Jill, even with Jack's germaphobia, and throughout the whole book I felt super empathetic towards her.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere was specifically something that made me apprehensive to read this book. I am not a Halloween lover and I have never really been into "spoopy" which is something I have heard this story described as. But I LIVED for this atmosphere. While not overbearingly scary, it was clear that the surroundings played a major impact on the citizens of this world and on our main characters.
While the setting wasn't so much a "character" itself in the book, it definitely fed into the personalities each girl grew into because they were living in this dreary dark and creepy world where monsters run rampant.
Writing
I LOVE Seanan McGuire's writing. While distinctly for adults, it still holds this childlike whimsy and poetic nature that makes me feel like I am reading a middle grade but still about topics I enjoy and find intriguing.
I loved the omniscient narrator who explained things without fully spelling stuff out for us. None of the toxic things happening in the story were romanticized. All the horrible stuff was very clearly described as horrible and very wrong.
This is probably the first book in a while that made me laugh out loud. It was super intriguing, funny and beautifully written. I also read this right after reading a book with very average writing so this was even more enjoyable with such stunning, poetic and whimsical writing.
Plot
While not exactly shocking and surprising, I enjoyed it. I was not expecting to get Jack and Jill's FULL backstory. I was expecting, and lowkey hoping, for what happened after their journey in the first installment.
I don't have a lot to say on the plot, as it is a novella, it is quick paced and I enjoyed it. I wish we would have gotten more between the skipped years but that feeds into my desire for this story to be much longer.
Conversations Had
Seanan McGuire touched on a few topics in this novella that I truly loved and enjoyed how they were discussed and explored.
There is a large discussion about parental influence on personalities and the toxicity of enforcing your own ideals onto your children without giving them a choice to be their own person.
Another strong topic was the idea of gender stereotypes and roles. One twin was forced into typical femininity, while the other was forced into tom-boy masculinity and then judged for it.
There's also discussions about sibling and familial love and how complicated and complex those relationships can be.