Despite being the second book in the series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones takes place before the events of Every Heart a Doorway. It tells the story of Jack and Jill, two characters from the first book, and how they ended up in their magical world and also how they ended up leaving it.

The first part of this book goes over the two girls' childhood and how they ended up having the right energy/desires/needs/whatever to summon a doorway to the horror world that is the Moors. And it was so completely relatable. The narration is insightful, and it was heartwrenchingly familiar watching these girls grow up with parents who didn't care about them as individuals, but just wanted them to fit into the roles they (the parents) had decided on for them. I've often felt that my parents don't love me, they love the version of me they want me to be, and it was so relatable it wasn't funny.

It's really hard to talk about any more of this book because so little of it is mentioned in the synopsis that I think too much more would be a spoiler. The girls find the doorway and end up in the Moors, and that's where they really start to differentiate themselves. The story mostly focuses on Jack, so most of it is watching her grow and change. Which is unfortunate, because I think seeing a little bit more of Jill would explain her change a bit more. But the story is mostly about them growing into two individual people, away from the strict roles imposed by their parents.

It also ties in nicely with Every Heart a Doorway, filling in some details and making the two characters more interesting in retrospect. It's a thoroughly engaging read. The world is excellent, the characters are solid, and even though I knew what was going to happen from reading the first book, it was interesting anyway. I'm excited for the third book!