Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire

Title: Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #3)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 186
Date read: July 2019

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.


So far the weakest of the Wayward Children books, but I still really liked it - even if I now do feel the urge to reread "Every Heart a Doorway" to remind myself what happened "next" to Jack and Jill.

It is a LOT darker than the other books in the series - but due to the nature of the Moors (no pun intended) it really couldn't be anything else. I mean... there's even a character CALLED "Dr. Bleak"!

Kingdom of Needle and Bone - Mira Grant

Title: Kingdom of Needle and Bone
Author: Mira Grant
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~3hrs
Date read: July 2019, April 2020

It begins with a fever. By the time the spots appear, it’s too late: Morris’s disease is loose on the world, and the bodies of the dead begin to pile high in the streets. When its terrible side consequences for the survivors become clear, something must be done, or the dying will never stop. For Dr. Isabella Gauley, whose niece was the first confirmed victim, the route forward is neither clear nor strictly ethical, but it may be the only way to save a world already in crisis. It may be the only way to atone for her part in everything that’s happened.
She will never be forgiven, not by herself, and not by anyone else. But she can, perhaps, do the right thing.

We live in an age of monsters.


A fascinating book, which I'm sure I'll have to read several times to fully get all aspects of - especially in view of some of the twists revealed near the end which will influence how I read earlier parts. But I really shouldn't expect anything else from Mira Grant by now.

It's a thrilling story, that definitely shines light on the dangers of the anti-vacc movement. It's also really, really short and reads more like a prequel than a full story in its own right (which is the ONLY reason I didn't give it 5 stars - even though I'm pretty sure the prequel-feel was the intention, I still wanted to know more!) and I DEFINITELY want to read the rest of the story now! In many ways it's very similar to many of the shorts in the Newsflesh universe, and while I know they're not related, they very easily could be.

Mira Grant is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite authors. I've yet to meet a book of hers I didn't love.

Reread 2020: A bit too much "on the nose" right now, but that's basically why I felt a need to reread it. It's still amazing.