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.
5 STARS
If you haven't read the first book, Every Heart A Doorway, I recommend reading that before reading this review. Also you should totally my review for the first book. Technically, Sticks and Bones is a prequel but I think it's important to read them in the order they're supposed to be read.
Okay onto the review!
I think I actually prefer this one to Every Heart A Doorway. I liked that it was more character driven than plot driven. The murder mystery/larger cast of Heart got it hard to fully get to know the characters. But I feel like I genuinely know both Jack and Jill now. However, I am still the most interested in Nancy's "world" than any of the others.
I loved the themes in this story. The focus on gender stereotypes, gender/parent expectations, and exploring/choosing your identity are so well done in this story. The theme of societal and parental pressure to live up to expectations or have to look and act a certain way is a theme I don't doubt is in a lot of books, I just haven't read a lot of those books. So I really enjoyed reading about a topic I don't see in a lot of books.
Like I said earlier, this is a more character driven story, which I really enjoyed because I love Jack and Jill as characters. I prefer Jack, because Jill is a pain in the ass, but it was still a lot of fun to read about their backstories. It made their motives and personalities make more sense in Every Heart A Doorway. It just makes me want to re-read both of them again. But I'll wait to do that until I read the third book.
The writing is so well done. It takes so much talent to handle heavy topics, make worlds so rich and well developed, and have the readers care about the characters all in a book less than 200 pages long. I found myself quoting many parts of the story and I just want these books on my shelves so I can re-read them whenever I want.
I highly recommend this series. The books are so short to fly through and I think despite their sizes they are so well fleshed out. Like I said, it takes a lot of talent and I am envious of said talent. Sometimes with fairytales/fables I feel a disconnect between me and the characters/story because it's like we are floating above watching the story instead of being face to face with the story. I was worried this would be the case for Down Among the Sticks and Bones but as I got about fifty pages into the story that worry vanished. I felt so much of a connection to Jack that she easily because my favorite character in the series.
If you've read the first two books I'd love to discuss!! Please no spoilers for the third book, Beneath the Sugar Sky, because I haven't read it yet!
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