Down Among the Sticks and Bones
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Narrated by:
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Seanan McGuire
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By:
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Seanan McGuire
About this listen
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 listeners 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
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Critic reviews
"McGuire has a miraculous talent for examining adolescent discontent, wedding the strange with the poignant, the fearsome with the fascinating." —RT Book Reviews Top Pick, 4 1/2 stars
“Beautifully crafted and smartly written, this fairy-tale novella is everything that speculative fiction readers look for: fantastical worlds, diverse characters, and prose that hits home with its emotional truths." —Library Journal starred review
"Down Among the Sticks and Bones has the voice and rhythm of a fairy tale... It is vividly characterised, as so much of Seanan McGuire’s work is, and has the kind of prose that carries you along to find out what happens next." —Locus
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Story
When Jafar steals the genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish. To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A "street rat" becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And listeners will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.
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Loved this!!!
- By Catherine E on 08-04-16
By: Liz Braswell, and others
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Grim
- By: Ellen Hopkins, Julie Kagawa, Amanda Hocking, and others
- Narrated by: Christine Johnson
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today: Ellen Hopkins, Amanda Hocking, Julie Kagawa, Claudia Gray, Rachel Hawkins, Kimberly Derting, Myra McEntire, Malinda Lo, Sarah Rees-Brennan, Jackson Pearce, Christine Johnson, Jeri Smith Ready, Shaun David Hutchinson, Saundra Mitchell, Sonia Gensler, Tessa Gratton, Jon Skrovron.
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amazing
- By Anonymous User on 10-04-17
By: Ellen Hopkins, and others
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Ironskin
- By: Tina Connolly
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Jane Eliot wears an iron mask. It's the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin. When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.
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Light Fantasy With A Compelling Story
- By Jeff Jackson on 11-14-12
By: Tina Connolly
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Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - editor, Gavin J. Grant - editor
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
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MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - editor, and others
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The Fire Rose
- By: Mercedes Lackey
- Narrated by: Kate Black-Regan
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Accepting employment as a governess after hard times hit her family, medieval scholar Rosalind Hawkins is surprised when she learns that her mysterious employer has no children and only wants her to read to him through a speaking tube.
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Great story, poorly presented
- By Che on 02-26-10
By: Mercedes Lackey
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The Thirteenth Princess
- By: Diane Zahler
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Zita is not an ordinary servant girl—she’s the13th daughter of a king who wanted only sons. When she was born, Zita’s father banished her to the servants’ quarters to work in the kitchens, where she can only communicate with her royal sisters in secret. Then, after Zita’s 12th birthday, the princesses all fall mysteriously ill. The only clue is their strangely worn and tattered shoes. With the help of her friends, Zita follows her bewitched sisters into a magical world of endless dancing and dreams.
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Interesting but not complete
- By THoward on 11-18-15
By: Diane Zahler
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Alice
- By: Christina Henry
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls that echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn't remember why she's in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood.
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Superb writing and narration
- By Jennifer Wadsworth on 08-27-16
By: Christina Henry
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The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
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some stinkers mostly good
- By M.T. on 12-11-18
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
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Roses in Amber
- A Beauty and the Beast Story
- By: C. E. Murphy
- Narrated by: Zehra Jane Naqvi
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Amber Gryce believes in magic the way anyone does: as a thing of the past, marked now only by the long reign of an ancient queen sworn to live until her stolen son is returned to her. Such stories are romantic but distant for Amber, surrounded by family and wealth. But like magic, wealth can disappear. Left destitute, Amber's family retreats to a forest holding far from their city home, where Amber's love of roses leads her into the heart of enchantment
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Quite unique, but not my favorite retelling
- By Melinda on 09-24-22
By: C. E. Murphy
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Tess of the Road
- By: Rachel Hartman
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is...different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. Tess's family decide the only path for her is a nunnery. But on the day she is to join the nuns, Tess chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. She's not running away, she's running towards something.
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Beautiful and Boring, Both.
- By Ryan on 04-05-19
By: Rachel Hartman
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The Cabinet of Wonders
- The Kronos Chronicles: Book I
- By: Marie Rutkoski
- Narrated by: Lorelei King
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Petra Kronos has a simple, happy life. But it's never been ordinary. She has a pet tin spider named Astrophil who likes to hide in her snarled hair and give her advice. Her best friend can trap lightning inside a glass sphere. Petra also has a father in faraway Prague who is able to move metal with his mind. Petra's life is forever changed when, one day, her father returns home - blind.
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It was okay
- By Robbin Sutherland on 05-29-12
By: Marie Rutkoski
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The Cerulean
- By: Amy Ewing
- Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Sera Lighthaven has always felt as if she didn’t quite belong among her people, the Cerulean, who live in the city above the sky. She is curious about everything - especially the planet her city is magically tethered to - and can’t stop questioning things. Sera has always longed for the day when the tether will finally break and the Cerulean can move to a new planet. But when Sera is chosen as the sacrifice to break the tether, she feels betrayed by everything in which she’d been taught to trust. In order to save her city, Sera must end her own life.
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It was ok
- By Kim on 12-16-20
By: Amy Ewing
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Honor
- By: Elif Shafak
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Piter Marik
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
What listeners say about Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- kwdayboise (Kim Day)
- 06-19-17
A macabre prequel to Every Heart a Doorway
Readers of McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway will recognize Jack and Jill, the identical twins Jacqueline and Jillian, who are a major part of the conclusion of the book.
In this standalone book we get to see how Jack and Jill became the people they were by the time they entered Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the home where children who found doorways to alternate universes are helped to recover.
Born to a couple more interested in the social benefits of parenthood than actually being parents, Jack and Jill begin to take on their unique gender identities at an early age. One day, wanting to play costume make believe, they go up to the attic and find that the costume trunk is empty except for a door leading to a deep stairway. Down those stairs is a world ruled by the Master where vampires are the ruling citizens. Jack and Jill take on unique roles in this world. But before they turn 18 they must make a decision whether or not to become permanent residents.
McGuire invented dozens of unusual worlds in her last book. In this story she creates a dark and frightening world. As in the past, she doesn't shrink from the death of characters whether you like them or not, nor from Jack's sexual ambiguity. What is also as strong here as in the first book is the devotion Jack has for Jill.
This is a perfect follow up to Every Heart a Doorway, a book that started like a pleasant children's book and ended up gothic, macabre, and murderous. It will be interesting to see what other twists and turns will come in future books. While it would be a good read for most older teens it's a book that would be enjoyable for any adult lover of gothic fantasy.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Sunny
- 09-26-23
Perfect sequel to Every Heart a Doorway!
I loved Every Heart a Doorway, and I loved this one, too. It gives more detail to the lives of the twins in the first book while telling its own story. The narration (by the author!) was absolutely stunning in its expression. I wasn't crazy about the previous narrator, and I'm so glad this one was narrated by the author; she's fantastic at it, and the story was superb. I'll definitely be continuing the series.
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- Emily
- 06-14-18
Absolutely Incredible!
I was not a fan of Jack and Jill from Every Heart A Doorway, so I left Down Among The Sticks and Bones for quite a while before picking it up. You know a book is good if it makes you like characters that you’ve previously disliked.
This book follows Jack and Jill from the idea of conception through pregnancy, birth, childhood, until they find their door at twelve. They both felt a bit childish at twelve to me, for instance Jill didn’t know the difference between Master and Doctor. Though my knowledge of those sorts of titles at that age probably came from watching Doctor Who. The story continues in their world as the two girls split apart, one becoming the Master’s Daughter and one becoming the Doctor’s Apprentice.
There were quite a few time slips during their time in the other world, but it didn’t impact the flow of the book.
I really like how this book deals with themes such as sexuality, with the first book in the series having a character who identifies as asexual, another who identifies as transgender and one in this book who has a relationship with another character of the same gender. I just love how this is becoming mainstream and this series handled these topics so well. It also deals with topics such as childcare, as Jack and Jill’s parents foist the girls off on their grandmother and then tell them that she forgot how to love them when the grandmother is forced to leave.
All in all, it really makes you feel for both Jack and Jill by the end, and their thoughts and actions in Every Heart A Doorway are a lot more understandable now.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Woo! Woo!
- 07-19-17
A welcome return to the Every Heart universe
I really love Seanan McGuire and this particular universe.
This tells the story of Jack and Jill. Even though it is a prequel, I think you need to read Every Heart a Doorway first, otherwise there are too many spoilers.
I would like to know what happens AFTER Every Heart a Doorway as well.
While this is marketed as Young Adult cross-over, like the Velveteen series this is enjoyable as an adult read. While suitable for younger readers, it touches something more profound than the October Daye and Cryptid series (two of my favorites). Sharing these books with your 16 to 18 year-olds is a great idea!
I wanted to give this a higher rating, but it starts a little slow. Once it hits its stride, it makes up for it. Jack seems too forgiving. I can see her doing what she does, but I cannot believe she would not be more angry about it.
Seanan McGuire is pretty good as a narrator, but not as good as her usual readers. I am sure if she keeps doing it, she will be excellent. But I am not sure she will bother because Robinette Kowal (who is similar to Ms. McGuire) and Emily Bauer do such great narration for her books.
So a solid four-star book. Even though it feels like a four-and-one-half or five star book.
I hope there will be more!
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- Katie
- 01-29-22
Loving this series
Much like all the reviews I read it was a good prequel to the story of Jack and Jill. A better understanding of who they are and what happened in book 1.
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- Customer
- 07-23-17
Wonderful!!
A wonderful and engaging story told in a fairy tale like manner that is incredibly relaxing to listen to. Narrated by the author meaning that all of the pronunciation and intonation is perfect.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-06-20
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
This story is beautifully written, and the story line was unexpected. Thank you for the thrill.
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- Toni
- 01-21-21
Jack and Jill went down the stairs, let’s see what is to follow.
Jack and Jill went down the stairs…
As we continue in the Wayard Children’s series we see a different version of Jack and Jill, the twins from the Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. We go way back to the beginning and watch as they grow up to the time when they went down the stairs to the Moors. Two sisters who were forced to be someone by their parent’s standards, go tumbling down into a world where they can be who they want to be, until they cannot. A prequel to the first Wayward series we see Jack and Jill grow from 12-year-old girls to 17-year old’s make choices, but not all choices are good. Two sisters who look so much alike but be so different in both worlds.
I absolutely loved seeing Jack and Jill’s prequel (so far, they are my favorites). We see a lot more than their story, but the effects of parents who push too far and too controlling of their kid’s stories. Watching Jack and Jill change and try to grow and learn was beautiful and devasting at the same time. And can two sisters even more so twins survive a bond that is broken for so long?
Like Every Heart A Doorway I did listen to it on audio, and enjoyed hearing Seanan McGuire share her story, and set up perfect voices for each character. I want to learn more of these two girls and continue to read about the different students at the school. My rating like the first book is a five out of five and hope to be able to give the whole series a perfect rating, we shall see.
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- J. Andersen
- 10-02-22
A Great Second Edition to the story!
I really enjoyed this book. The book is a part of a series of stand alone companion books, which I think is great. They're small books, so they don't take a huge time investment, but still the author manages to pack a lot into a 4.5 hour book!
The books in general are about doorway worlds, like Narnia or Alice in Wonderland. The odd number books are about kids who have visited those worlds and are now adjusting to being in our world, while the even number books are about the kids' adventures in the doorway worlds.
In this book, we follow twins, Jack and Jill, who end up in a land with vampires and strange doctors. It's very atmospheric when you get to the doorway world. This is not a kids book, although it almost feels like it sometimes just because the characters are young, but it's not meant for kids. There is great LGBTQ rep in this book as well. I recommend!
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- Michael
- 02-22-24
huh, did not expect that.
the story goes in a perfect direction I just didn't expect it. Likely cause I didn't read the teaser but I'd been meaning to read this series for awhile
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