After a dubious beginning to this series, Ritter came back with a punch! Beastly Bones managed to weave together a gorgeously atmospheric story about archaeology and paranormal shenanigans. It had so many elements that I love: feminist female lead, slightly eccentric and socially maladjusted genius sleuth, subtle sassiness, shape-shifters, and cute police offiers. It completely sucked me, and made me fall in love with Abigail and Jackaby’s crazy world.

The plotline was just perfect - exactly what I wanted from this series in the first place. I thought that the mystery was suspenseful and engaging in all the ways a proper mystery should be. I was guessing at every corner! The new mythology and paranormal creatures we are introduce to in this sequel tied well into the overall storyline and didn’t feel nearly as forced or out of place as they did in the first book. The setting - both the historical era and the countryside - was the perfect backdrop for the sleuthing and academic squabbling aspects too.

However, what truly worked for me the most was our protagonist, Abigail. She has such amazing character growth in this sequel! I simply adored how she actually listened to her friends’ advice and took it on board. She learned so many valuable lesson throughout the story and actually put them into practice. What did let it down a little bit for me was Jackaby. I think he is a fantastic character in theory - you probably know by now how much of a thing I have for geniuses - but we still don’t get to know him as well as I would like. I want to get inside his head. I really think dual narration would work wonders for this series. I just need more Jackaby!

The romantic tension should have annoyed me but it purposefully had very little “page time” and really was only the smallest of subplots. It never retracted from the story and was actually used to fuel some of Abigail’s character development so it worked out rather well in the end. I just wish we got to know Charlie a little better! I adore them together though and definitely look forward to seeing how it will advance in the sequel.

While we still didn’t get a lot of answers in this book about the how and why of Jackaby’s abilities - or the even why no one believes paranormal creatures exists in this world when they so obviously do - the new mythology introduced and the adventures it sets the characters off on was so well-done and enthralling, I couldn’t really muster the energy to be bothered by it.

Overall, I enjoyed Beastly Bones a great deal more than I did the first book. My biggest complaint are simply that a) we still don’t know Jackaby as well as I would like, and b) everyone has exactly the same sense of humour (which just isn’t realistic, no matter how hilariously witty Ritter is). Abigail was the perfect protagonist for this story and the plotline worked well on so many levels. I really just cannot complain that much at all! Entertaining and engrossing. I’d definitely recommend continuing on with the series if you were iffy after Jackaby. The third book sounds even better too!