Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Written by Seanan McGuire
Narrated by Seanan McGuire
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire returns to her popular Wayward Children series with Down Among the Sticks and Bones—a truly standalone story suitable for adult and young adult readers of urban fantasy, and the follow-up to the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List book Every Heart a Doorway
Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.
This is the story of what happened first…
Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.
Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.
They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.
They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.
The Wayward Children Series
Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway
Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky
Book 4: In an Absent Dream
Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire was born and raised in Northern California, where she has lived for the majority of her life. She spends most of her time writing or watching television but also draws a semiautobiographical comic strip and has released several albums of filk music (science fiction and fantasy-themed folk music). To relax, Seanan enjoys travel and frequents haunted corn mazes, aquariums with good octopus habitats, and Disney parks. Seanan is remarkably good at finding reptiles and amphibians wherever she goes, sometimes to the dismay of the people she happens to be traveling with.
More audiobooks from Seanan Mc Guire
Urban Enemies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Indigo: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Carniepunk: Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carniepunk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Titles in the series (9)
Every Heart a Doorway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down Among the Sticks and Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In an Absent Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beneath the Sugar Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come Tumbling Down Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Across the Green Grass Fields Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Drowned Girls Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost in the Moment and Found Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mislaid in Parts Half-Known Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Down Among the Sticks and Bones
2,174 ratings53 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5**slight spoiler!**
I loved this story, it was incredible. I only wish there would have been an epilogue talking about when they actually got to go back to the moors after "Every Heart a Doorway".1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The best part of this story was the fantasy world inside the attic trunk and down a long stairway. Jacqueline and Jillian are twin sisters who become shaped by the Grade B horror movie fantasy world, because they were never loved by their own parents.
The story is simplistically told and a little more mature than the way it is told. The author’s heavy-handed moralizing and cartoonish characters made this story hard to take seriously. It had the feel of a fable about what happens when people who shouldn’t have children make the mistake of having them.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It will take your breath away and fill your eyes with tears for a girl forced to stand still when in reality she was meant to run.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5this book kind of ruined me i think because i have a twin as well
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Down Among the Sticks and Bones chronicles the lives of two of Every Heart a Doorway's favourite characters before they wind up in the Eleanor West Home for Wayward Children - a place where children who have experienced fantasy adventures can be reintroduced to the 'real' world. In Down Among the Sticks and Bones, twin girls Jack and Jill find themselves thrust into a world of monsters and mad scientists, and something they thought they'd never experience: choice.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes! I'm loving this series!!! I can't wait to read everyone elses' stories
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every once in a while an outstanding storyteller comes with a bag full of extraordinary tales that render you mesmerized and speechless. This is one of them. ?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I definitely liked this one better than the first book. It felt more fluent and it was so much better to follow just two characters and their history, but it could have had a better world building.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I liked this one better than EHAD, but still left wanting.... the first third was just a commentary on how parents shouldn't make their kids be who they don't want to be and it annoyed me a lot. I read just to be entertained, I don't need to be lectured.
And I just wanted more of the world!! I know a lot of people love these books and want more, but I think that is why I don't like them. It's just not enough of these cool worlds and its 99.9% characters - and I also didn't like them :( At least Jill was awful...I will still keep reading the series in hopes of liking one of them! The premise is just so promising... - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This audio was amazing! Loved it so much more than Every Heart, A Doorway! My love for Jack grew and I absolutely loved hearing about their story! Would definitely recommend listening to this series!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This story is wonderful. A bit slow to start, the reason for 4 stars instead of 5, but still just as whimsical and delightful as Every Heart a Doorway. I absolutely love Jacqueline, she is one of my favorite characters I’ve ever read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I am enjoying this series and loved the fact that we got Jac and Jill’s story next after the first book, it made sense to make their story next. I just didn’t find it as interesting as book 1.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Phenomenal!! What an amazing story. I’m slowly, but surely, falling in love with Seanan McGuire’s writing style
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was a good listen. Jill is annoying, my goodness ?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark and gory like good fairytales ought to be. It's remarkable how something that feels so familiar can still feel so new, age-old and contemporary all at once. Brilliant!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I absolutely agree that children are not possessions and their choices should be respected but even I found this to be preachy. Hopefully this next installment will be a bit more entertaining.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Even better than the first!!! I loved this so, So much! Can be read as a standalone but better with the context of the first book. I loved the characters, the world, the narration... I loved seeing Jack & Jill grow up, how they were shaped, how they were set free... and not. This is a dark, fantastical story and I loved every moment of it. The audiobook was especially excellent, and was narrated by Seanan herself.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first part had more juicy bits on their story in another world. And Jack has different personality. Too different.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5(4.5 stars)
Loved this audiobook! I love the fact that the narrator is the author herself and I love the way the story progressed! I definitely enjoyed this book a lot more than the previous one. Highly recommend - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5First rule of audiobooks: Authors should never narrate their own books.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the kind of fairy tale you dreamt up as a child and it's nice to hear one play out where you don't have to rework it and compromise with your brother on where the story is going
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed getting to know the history of Jack and Gill... Good read as well... Off to listen to the 3rd :)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5great start!
unfortunately the plot turns quite unremarkable towards the middle and end.
liked the authors narrations of the two girls. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/54.5 stars amazing origin story of Jack and Jill and what was before they came back.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A good continuation of the series, even if it reads more like a prequel.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loved this one ... i just want more of this world and these characters
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Second time reading it, this time on audion, and it is still favourite in this series!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Assim como o primeiro livro dessa série, é mágico e de doer o coração!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very well written in both balanced points of views and in details, depth and caracters
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this book a lot , I read it via audiobook which was narrated by the author and it was soooo goood .... I liked the plot a lot and the characters .
The doctor is my favorite.