4.5 stars. Fantastic addition to an inventive and engaging series.

Well I loved this. But that is not really a surprise. Seanan McGuire and I seem to have some sort of shared soul most days (lol). I love that she is such an amazing writer that under her pseudonym for horror/thriller books (Mira Grant) she is just as successful. So fair warning, I'm a bit of a fan girl. :)

Wayward Children #1 was one of those books (well, novellas as these are short books in this series) that felt like it had been pulled from my own subconscious/imagination. And so the continuation of this series in Beneath the Sugar Sky (BtSS) was highly anticipated for me; and I'm glad to say it didn't disappoint. What was nice about BtSS in comparison book 2 in this series is that we went back to the Wayward House and met up with some characters we had met in book 1. All the while we got to meet new characters and visit some new dimensions very different from our own.

Characters
Our lead gal is a "fat girl" (as she calls herself), Cora (who was in a mermaid world) who has a real self esteem problem. This is a leading theme in the book as she struggles to deal with people's immediate thoughts about her, or the irony of a "fat girl" being in a candy filled land, for example. This is a sad little story and yet I know so many people will connect with it. I like that McGuire's lead gal is a runner and talks about her love of it, as well as the stigma people have about larger women running. The whole time I just wanted to yell "you go girl!" to her. McGuire portrays Cora as having an anxiety problem... but I gotta say (as someone with anxiety) her attempt to portray anxiety here is a bit cliche and weak but it didn't bug me enough to be annoyed and certainly not offended by the portrayal.
There is a slew of characters (new and known) that end up together in this story and a few other interesting points of view that we see besides our lead gal. In all of these Nancy is my favourite. I just love how her world is still and quiet and seems like death without being death. I was very, very happy to see her appearance in BtSS.
We are also shown more into the world/life of Kade, the resident 'doesn't want to go back to his world' kid. This may seem like a normal thing but he is the ONLY child at Wayward that doesn't want to return to his world. He also happens to be trans and came from what appears to be a terrifying fairy world. I really hope we see a lot more of him in the future!!

Plot
The overall story in BtSS takes us through a number of the worlds/dimensions that our children have been to, or are similar to the ones they have visited. I really enjoyed experiencing more of the dimensions that McGuire has thought up. And I really, really hope this series goes on forever; as I feel like the number of doors into interesting worlds we could go into is unlimited.
That said the overall plot is actually the part I cared about the least (ironically). I didn't much care about Rini and her mother. But was more than happy to be taken on the adventure with them. It may seem weird to give 5 stars to a book and not really care about the main plot; but this series is one of those special ones where I'm just glad to be in the world McGuire has created no matter what we are doing or following in it.

Forever and Ever
Some series go on forever and ever when we don't want them to. Just in a quick thought I can name a dozen that I wish had ended long before they did (or that are still going on). However Wayward Children is a series I feel is so unique and has such diversity of worlds via doors, with so many interesting children that can be products of them, that I think it could go on infinitely. So while this may be book 3 I'm really just hoping to another one, or maybe thirty.
There is also something to be said for these snippets of stories that are short. A lovely way to take a 1-3 day break to visit these worlds and find some doors to get lost in. Perfect books for a quick break in the middle of a 1000 page tome or that horror book that is scaring you (check out Mira Grant, she's really good! lol).
Really all I can say is that while I can find flaws with this I just don't care. For no other reason than this world is brilliant and McGuire always knows how to keep my attention. As has been with this entire series, a hard copy of this book will go to my print bookshelf. The absolute highest honour I can give any book is to buy it in print after having already read it.

I'll leave you with this quote (that everyone seems to have put in their reviews) that really struck me as an honest way of looking at life and it's often cruel reality:
“Just keep getting through until you don’t have to do it anymore, however much time that takes, however difficult it is.”

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

My favorite in this series so far. I love all of the fantastical elements and all of the worlds they traveled to.

This third title in the Wayward Children series of novellas is again a one-seating morsel, and it's a delight. The first book introduced the school, the concept, and a limited cast. The second book told the back story of two intriguing characters from the series opener. The third book moves forward, picking up threads and characters from the first book. When Rini arrives at Eleanor West's school in search of her mother Sumi, Rini finds Sumi has been killed...and thus Rini herself is in danger of being unmade. Rini and a group of students must set out on a madcap quest to bring Sumi back to life in her fairytale world before Rini also ceases to be. Weird, affirming, and delicious.

I tend to be skeptical of the third book in a speculative fiction series. For every trilogy that ends in a masterpiece (such as last year's The Stone Sky) there are many Hunger Games and Divergents and His Dark Materials that go out with a thud. Maybe it is just me getting bored too easily, because plenty of folks loved those final books, but I've shelved too many third books in the DNF pile.

Approaching it with those lowered expectations, I found that Beneath the Sugar Sky did not entirely disappoint. McGuire managed to capture some of the delight the reader encountered on first entering Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, and while the central conceit resembles that of Every Heart a Doorway a bit too closely (new girl at the school joins Kade and Christopher on an adventure!), it's still a compelling adventure. Of course, the "No Quests" rule introduced in the first book is broken here, as Cora, Kade, and Christopher set out not to catch a murderer but to bring a murdered classmate back to life. Season the familiar recipe with the complications of time travel, toss in beloved characters from the first book, and it's a meal that largely satisfies.

The food metaphor is deliberate, for one of the aspects of the book I found most remarkable was the skill with which McGuire paints Cora, a body-positive fat main character. McGuire shows the deep emotional damage that our fat-shaming society inflicts on young person like Cora. I acknowledge that some reviewers found it heavy-handed, but for me it was consistent with the introspective narrative style of the series, analogous to Nancy's ruminations on stillness in the first book.

While I wanted to more of the story of Cora's mermaid world and less of the quest, overall the book is a satisfying addition to the series.

I have loved the writing in all three of the books in this series. This story was probably my least favorite of the three, but I still enjoyed it and loved seeing new worlds.

Gorgeous and surreal writing that takes an extremely diverse cast of characters on a journey through what happens when the fairytales end. If you like Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones, you will love Beneath the Sugar Sky.

I love this series so much! This, the third, is my least favourite so far, but I'm still so invested in every character and the concept will never stop being awesome, and everyone should read it. It's the very best in portal fantasy.

Seanan McGuire gives us Beneath the Sugar Sky in which young people with affinities for special worlds are involved with saving a world where the goddess bakes the contents and sugar and spice are basics. Interesting follow in to Every Heart a Doorway involving the some of the same characters.

4/5: What a delightfully fun conceit. I started this without realizing this was part of a series and loved it. Now I’m hooked and want to go back and read the others. I loved all of the characters, the doors, and the world’s. Could have done without Cora’s constant self shaming early on, but even that fit somehow. Overall a delightful book. A huge thank you to the publisher for sending an advanced copy.

Review posted on goodreads.

This book was everything I wanted and more! The characters feel alive and I love that we go back to the wayward children home, while still getting to know Sumis world of whimsy. This author has become a new favorite of mine and I cannot recommend this series enough! The action, the different worlds they encounter, the never-ending speculation to see if someone dies or if they find they door back to their own world is simply mesmerizing. Hope everyone gets to read this and spread the love of this magnificent series! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this arc!

Once again, Seanan McGuire’s writing takes us into very magical and whimsical places. In this third installment of the Wayward Children series, we got to follow five wonderful characters as they went from one world to another. Each character was unique, and each had some aspect of representation, which I believe is truly important.

The writing, simple as it is, makes the story so much better somehow. Facts like being born without an arm, being trans, being a cancer survivor, suffering from anxiety were brought up with care, not making a big deal out, and explained with such simplicity that sometimes I personally had to stop and think how deep some sentences and their implications were.

The way the different worlds are built and explained is, for me, one of the most interesting things about this world. The worlds are classified by a compass (nonsensical or logical, and wicked or virtuous), with a touch of other smaller subdirections. Each door takes the children to one of these worlds, all of them special, a place were they belong. Now that sounds like a dream from my childhood, I don’t know about you. After all, who hasn’t wished to fall down a rabbit hole or disappear through a closet as a kid?

I went into this book with high expectations, having rated the previous two books as 5/5. I wasn’t disappointed, in fact, I was even surprised. With each book, we explore more and more of the different worlds, we are introduced to new characters and some old characters that were secondary now are the focus of the story. I am completely and utterly in love with this series, and I will never tire of recommending them.

Finally, as I am a sucker for quotes, I always like to pick out a quote for the books I read and that I feel represents them. For the Wayward Children it’s always a hard task (there’s too many good quotes!), but I think the following one represents Beneath the Sugar Sky pretty well, and how the multiverse Seanan McGuire has created makes me feel overall:

“There is enough kindness in the world,
if we know how to look for it.
If we never start denying it the door.”

This review can also be found here: https://bookaffaire.wordpress.com/2018/01/14/beneath-the-sugar-sky-review/

Wow! Wow! Wow! This was such a stellar read. I adored it and have purchased several copies for my library. I’ve been maki g so many patrons start reading the first 2 in the series and they have been so well received. This latest installment has everyone chomping at the bit. Thank you so much for letting me read it early. Seanan McGuire is a force to be reckoned with. Her characters and plots leave you wondering how on earth she came up with the details. Love love love.

This is a delightfully weird and wacky little book. It tells the story of four children from Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children as they go on a quest to help a young girl from Confection bring her mother back from the dead in an effort to save her world. What I really appreciated here was the depth of characterisation that McGuire employs and the diversity she has included in such a short book. Her portrait of Cora was so true that it left me breathless. As a fat woman myself, I really appreciated the honesty of simple things, like the horror of riding in the back seat of the car with other people. The premise to this series is wonderful, but readers should be aware that this is not a light and fluffy book, despite ostensibly being about a world made of spun sugar, gingerbread and candy corn. The book deals with real issues and emotions with a raw clarity that I really liked in a tone that never patronises. Overall this is a really well crafted novel that I think anyone with an imaginative bent will enjoy.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A true achievement that circled from "Alice in Wonderland" to "The Wizard of Oz" with elements of "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" and "Wonder Woman." I marveled at this accomplishment and pose that this series, and particularly this final purposed leg, is McGuire's magnum opus.

This is a lighter story than the first two and I didn't like it as much. It was hard to be too worried about the candy land, so the suspense was lacking. But I enjoyed the return to characters from the first book.

Another strong installment of the Wayward Children series. This book is different than the others in that the story is heavily influenced by a chaos world, so at times it's a bit nonsensical and not exactly linear. However, Mcquire's lyrical and engaging storytelling shines though and makes this a quick read.

I absolutely devoured this book! A great addition to the Wayward Children series. I enjoyed meeting the new characters and thought the author did a good job of depicting the inner trauma of fat shaming and abuse and how it can affect every day interactions.
It was fun to explore a nonsense world this time around and I thought the world's origin story was very creative. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Yassss I love this series so much! I love the tone and the premise so much, and just the interrogation of the concept of portal fantasies and what they mean to individuals...so exactly my jam.

And then THIS one has a fat mermaid protagonist!!! Hell yeahhhhh, frosting on this delicious sugary confection