Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review is spoiler-free!

Beastly Bones by William Ritter
Series: Jackaby #2
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy
Release Date: September 22nd 2015 by Algonquin Young Readers
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

I’m torn on whether I liked this one more than the first or not. Like the first one, we get to follow Jackaby and Abigail Rook on another adventure, but this second one doesn’t take place in the same area that the first one had. It’s not a problem on my end, since it helps to bring back one of my favorite characters, but I found myself a little more confused as I was reading this one than I had been the first time. A good thing for a mystery, probably! (I’m not much of a mystery read, and I really should change that.)

Of course, once I got to the end, all those loose bits came together and made more sense, they had only seemed random because I had not put two and two together before being told whodunnit and why. Other than that, I really enjoyed the story. Jackaby was still eccentric and hilarious, Rook was still a nicely animated female with a good lick of rebellion, and the new characters were pretty interesting to learn about.

My favorite part of this second installment, though, would have to be the end, simply because of how Abigail handled the situation and interacted with Jackaby in the conversation that followed the incident, which will not be named. The relationship between Jackaby and Abigail is probably one of the things I enjoy most about this series, they make a good Sherlock and Watson pair without crossing boundaries that would slam them into being romantic, like I was almost worried it would be. If it becomes that at a later point, then I’ll probably be okay with it, but I really love how it’s set up now, and I hope that doesn’t change anytime soon.

All in all, a good installment to a pretty cute series that still seems to border somewhat on being Middle Grade, but I’m not complaining.

Thanks for reading!