DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES Wayward Children, Book 2

Author Seanan McGuire narrates her story of twins who follow a mysterious staircase into a dark and violent world. Jacqueline and Jillian's parents have raised them, doll-like, without any attention to the girls' actual interests or personalities. The sisters escape their oppressive homelife for a magical world filled with vampires, mad scientists, and, for the first time ever, the freedom to make their own choices. McGuire's interpretation of the characters is less than fully successful. The petulance of the adolescent characters occasionally bleeds into the rest of the narration, and her voice for the Frankenstein-like mad scientist Dr. Bleek is such a soft whisper that his dialogue is barely intelligible. Her narration is best when she captures the storytelling cadence of her witty prose. E.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2017]