The second book of the Wayward Children series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, tells the backstory of Jack and Jill, the twins who appeared in the first book. The beginning was like a Grimm’s fairy tale, and the ending was like something out of a classic horror novel. The series’ title aptly captures the twins’ essence and helped me understand what happened in the first part and why. In that sense, it’s a very successful sequel.
I was a bit bothered, however, that toward the end the author introduced strong emotions that weren’t sufficiently grounded in a believable way. This may be because the book is so short. The story didn’t quite reach the level of the first book, but it did awakened my interest in the backstories of the other characters. I plan to read the third book as well.