Seanan McGuire is easily one of the best fantasy authors writing today. Her world-building is tremendous and her characters are first-rate. In <em>Beneath the Sugar Sky</em> we return to McGuire's 'Wayward Children' series. This time we are introduced to Cora who, due largely to her weight, has been bullied when on earth. Cora wanders the hallways, looking for the doorway that will lead her back to the Trenches where she is a beautiful mermaid.

Then Rini arrives. Rini is from the land of Confection. Her mother is Sumi. Sumi died years before Rini was born -- remember, this is a fantasy! -- and now Rini is trying to bring her mother back to help stave off someone trying to bring ruin to her land. Confection is ... well, think of the game Candyland and imagine it as a real place. That is 'Confection.'

We spend a lot of time in Confection in this book, which is actually quite fun. I couldn't help but think of Hansel and Gretel, but without the witch, with everything sugar-coated and ready to eat.

This book appears to be a little lighter than the first two books in the Wayward Children books, which works nicely since the first two were rather dark. But there's still an edge to the world that reminds the reader that this fantasy land isn't necessarily a place to want to live. Even Confection, that sugar-sweet land, has dangers in it.

I'm constantly impressed with McGuire's work and that she can be writing in different worlds and make them all seem so real and all so unique. In this book, and this series, we meet characters who appear familiar to us, but at the same time, we see a side of these characters that is more than just unique but a little bit on the frightening side as well.

I'm struggling for ways to describe this book, and the series. It's more than just a fantasy. It is familiar fantasy, but seen from an edgier point of view - the 'what could happen' point of view.

This is definitely something I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys modern fantasy and modern fairy tales.

Looking for a good book? <em>Beneath the Sugar Sky</em> by Seanan McGuire is the third book in the Wayward Children series and continues to impress with the scope of the world building and the reality of the characters.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Seanan McGuire is definitely one of my favorite fantasy authors. Her books have it all, perfect prose, masterful plots, exciting worlds and engaging characters and the same is true for her Wayward Children series. This dark and whimsical series like all of her work is so well written that it grabs hold of you and takes you twisting and turning into fascinating new worlds. McGuire addresses, race, sexuality, religion, illness, disabilities, mental health etc. and handles it with such nuance. Her characters are multifaceted and each face personal challenges that so many can relate to.

The series revolves around students housed at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. The Home for Wayward Children is a safe haven for children who have traveled to different portal worlds so different from their own. The other worlds are nothing like our world, some are underwater worlds, worlds made of confection, worlds of death, some are logical ones with order and others nonsense worlds, where chaos is plenty and rules don’t apply. Often when the children return to this world they are lost or traumatized, their parents unable to help them and at a loss, send them to the home. Often, these children long to go back, biding their time waiting for the opportunity when the door back reveals itself again or actively searching looking for clues.

In this story, we hear from characters from the previous award-winning “Every Heart a Doorway” and we get to meet Cora. Cora, overweight and insecure, came to the home from an underwater world where she enjoyed being a mermaid. Cora although worried at first, finds she fits in just fine at the home, each of the students so unique in their own way. As Cora is getting used to the home, a girl falls from the sky looking for her mother, a former student who had passed away recently. The group band together to help her embark on a quest to find her mother, through time and multiple worlds, the reader catches glimpses of the group’s experiences as they travel through the different doors.

I have loved each book in this series and as a series, it is definitely 5-star. However, I would give this story 4.5 stars only because I found that some things seemed a bit unnecessary and detracted from the story. Information on the logical, nonsense aspects of the worlds as well as Cora’s insecurities kept re-appearing a little too often for me, but reading is subjective and others might not mind it as much. All in all, this was a fantastic book, and I highly recommend it.

The third book in this series is just as good as the last two. Surprisingly you will not be that lost if you haven’t read the previous ones. Anything that has happened in the previous books that you must know is provided but there is never a feeling of an infodump to it. Rini is trying to bring her mother back to the sugar based world to fix things there. The problem with this is Sumi died when she came back to our world and thanks to magic died before her daughter was born in the land of Confection where time is different than here. There is a quest to help her and of course some previously introduced characters show up to help our heroes on their journey. But I have to say the last two lines of the book were the best and I think will stay with me for a long time.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

Beneath the Sugar Sky takes place not long after the end of Every Heart a Doorway, the first novella in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. While I don’t think this story has the same magic as the first, it is worth reading if you’re a fan of the series.

As the inhabitants of Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children are picking up the pieces from the murder spree that occurred in the first novella, a new crisis takes shape when a young woman named Rini falls from the sky, looking for her mother. There’s just one problem—her mother is Sumi, who was one of the killer’s victims. However, since Rini is from a Nonsense world named Confection, it might just be possible to use magic to bring Sumi back to life. So, several of the students at the school accompany Rini on a quest to use what they’ve learned in their own adventures to other realms to save Sumi and her daughter.

I still love the basic idea of this series, that children who don’t fit in can pass through magical doorways to worlds where they feel more at home. It’s a really great analogy for the alienation that lots of young people feel, and it holds forth the hope that, no matter how out of place you may be at the moment, there’s someplace better out there for you if you go looking. That’s certainly a message I would have identified with, back in the days when I was waiting for the Tardis to come scoop me up or wishing I could find a way to a magical realm like Vanderei or Mordant or Landover . . .

While I am a committed reader of fantasy novels, I like my fantasy worlds to be internally consistent; I’m not one for nonsensical stories. (Alice in Wonderland basically just gives me a headache.) A fair amount of the story takes place on Confection, where a magical baker is responsible for shaping the reality of the world. (Sure, why not?) That section of the story wasn’t as uncomfortable as it might have been for me, because McGuire does give her nonsense world some rules, but I think a different venue would have been a better fit for my personal tastes.

In my opinion, though, the real weak spot in the story is the new resident of the home introduced here—Cora, who had been transported to a water world where she was a mermaid. It’s not that she’s an unlikeable character. However, in this series, McGuire has used her stories to take on issues like gender roles, asexuality, being transgender, etc. With Cora, she delves into the topic of weight and fat shaming. While that’s a worthy issue to explore, Cora’s part of the storyline didn’t seem to resolve into anything meaningful. Maybe that means there’s more to come for Cora? I don’t know, but it seems a waste to put a character whose weight has created problems for her in our reality into a candy world and not do something really significant with that scenario.

So, this novella is a bit of a miss for me, but only because McGuire set such a high standard with Every Heart a Doorway. I’m still looking forward to seeing what she does with the next in the series. Christopher needs a story!

A copy of this novella was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

A wonderful addition to the series! You can read this as a stand-alone, which is one of the ways I judge how well a series book works (is there a lot of "previously"? can anyone access the book?) - and this book is great in that way.

The worlds that the author creates feel familiar but only because they're the worlds we always read about and want to visit, the worlds that children always somehow manage to find a way into and that adults can't find. Here there's a great homage to Baum's world, specifically the town of Bunbury and country of Merryland (ok, that's how I saw it, ymmv) with a side of Willie Wonka. I can't wait to see which doors and what worlds we explore next.

ARC provided by publisher.

I was so disappointed by this book. The first two were elegant and mysterious, suitable for multiple worlds only welcoming to a certain few who fit there. This book seems to try to answer questions that I really wasn't asking. The idea that even a small group could just go trooping through worlds seems to negate the whole premise of the series. I would certainly read additional books (if they come) but I didn't like this one.

Because I did not enjoy the first book, I am not surprised I did not enjoy this one as well. This book follows around a character from book 1 that I did not really care about.

Lest you think I am unfairly biased, I am not absolutely in love with *everything* Seanan McGuire. Just most of it. I have yet to get fully into the Toby Daye series, and I don't love all of the Incryptid series (though the Sparrow Hill Road stories in the same universe are some of the finest writing ever).

That said, the Wayward Children series is amazing! If you haven't started reading them, start now. If you've read the first two, order Beneath the Sugar Sky! One of the things I love about this series is that each book so far follows a different path. Book One introduces us to the multiverse of the Wayward Children and presents a murder mystery. Book Two introduces us to one of the many worlds in what is, at heart, a coming of age novel. Book Three travels between worlds as our characters come back together and head off on a quest. Weaving together the fast paced story and complex character development are Seanan's magically delicious prose, and those moments of startling insight into the human condition.

This series, the Wayward Children series, has become one of my favorite series this year and Beneath the Sugar Sky, Seanan McGuire’s third installment is no different, it has stolen my heart. This series center’s around a school Eleanor West’s home for Wayward Children. It is a boarding school for children, who have found themselves in magical worlds of all types and then had to come back to “the real world”, to become reintroduced to society. But, to the children, the school is a waiting place, a holding cell, a place to stay until they find their door back into the magical world from which they came. This series explores the curiosity of children, their adventurous spirit, and their willingness to believe in the impossible.

In this story, we join our heroes right after the events that took place in Every Heart a Doorway. Right at the beginning we meet Sumi’s daughter Rinni, who comes from one of these magical lands. In it her mother, Sumi, was foretold to birth a daughter that would save their magical land from great evil, but Sumi died in our world before she could fulfill her destiny. But Rinni is born anyway and comes back to our world to bring her mother back from our world, a world without magic. Our heroes then embark on an adventure through many dangerous, intriguing, and beautiful worlds to bring back Sumi and right the wrong that has been committed.

I love Seanan Mcguire’s writing style. It is dark, whimsical, and at times serious and sad, with a touch of magic thrown in. She tackles issues such as how families and children relate to each other, and obesity with grace and clarity. I really enjoyed the fact that one of the main characters in this book, Cora, was overweight and portrayed as a hero. While I do agree with others that have read the ARC of this book, that the character of Cora does, I think, dwell too much on her status as “the fat girl”, it seems like every other page; I also think the character’s inner dialogue of the subject is a good portrayal of how many teens who deal with this issue, think about their weight. I also love the world building in this series and in this book, particularly the world of Confection, the world Sumi and Rinni come from. It is particularly atmospheric, alluring, and to be honest, a child’s dream. Finally I really enjoy the diversity of characters in this book from a Mexican American to a child with a broken arm, to a bisexual character, it has a character that is relate able in it for just about anyone.

Studded with beautiful worlds, engaging and believable characters, and atmospheric literary prose, Beneath the Sugar Sky is a diamond in the rough of YA fiction.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge Books and Netgalley for the E Galley of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoy this universe so much, and Seanan’s tone of writing is so fun. I forgot how much I loved the deadpan, witty banter of the characters that crosses into just the right amount of meta self-mockery. I love that we got to revisit characters from past books and see how they’d respond in completely new ways. I need a book about Christopher or Kade immediately!

Having said that, the plot of this one was too much on the fetch-quest side of things for me. I was a little bored and the worlds they went into, while intriguing, went by too quickly for me to feel like I was fully immersed in the fantasy as I was in the other two parts of the series. Also, Cora as a main narrator was a little lackluster. I really like how Seanan brings like to personal issues like fatphobia and self harm, but I felt like Cora didn’t exist as a person outside of those struggles. That was really frustrating because I REALLY wanted to love the mermaid who just wanted to get back into her water world.

I love this series - it's concept and characters. Essentially about kids who go through portal fantasy adventures but find themselves stranded back on earth, and then get sent to a school for kids like them. Kids who're waiting to go back to where they belong. To world's where they can be accepted for who they are and have adventures and happiness. The greatest thing about this is that each kid is different and weird to others around them, but they all understand that acceptance they found through a magical doorway, and they can all respect that.

In this sequel to 'Every heart a doorway' we get a proper quest and more time with these wonderful magical kids who are all different and brilliant. Its a great tale and a wonderful metaphor, reminding us to just... be kind. A great addition to the series.

3.5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

In this third novella of the series, a group of travelers from Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children sets off to resurrect a former student in hopes of saving her future daughter (who somehow already exists).

Having enjoyed, but not loved the previous two books, I found this one to be my favorite of the bunch. The characters are well-drawn, rich, and nuanced; the story feels cohesive, complete, and fun; and the portal world of Confection is a joy to read about. Author Seanan McGuire does a great job to further the development of the portal worlds, giving more background into their existence and what they mean to the children who venture there.

Generally, I struggle to rate novellas higher than 3 stars, as they rarely dive as deep as a full-length novel can, but this one came close! I’d happily go on another adventure in this world, though.

This is McGuire's third installment in her Wayward Children series, and although it was not my favorite, I still enjoyed it.

Beneath the Sugar Sky was everything that the first two books in this series were not. It was light and non-sensical, full of whimsy and lots and lots of candy. My main problem was just that. I enjoyed the dark ordered world of Jack and Jill and found it hard to immerse myself in Sumi and Rini's Confection. This said, it was inevitable to avoid a nonsense world forever; we had been given two other worlds already and so it was time to travel to another. NOW, nonsense aside, this book still had everything else that I loved about the previous two! The breadth of McGuire's characters is amazing!

3 stars.

This was my first time reading a book in the Wayward Children series, and while I may have been slightly disadvantaged by not having a strong sense of the backstory, I easily fell into the world McGuire built. The book is mostly told from the point of view of a new character, Cora, who tries to make sense of the newcomers, the worlds, and the dangers at hand. The Wayward Children series seems to blend together the mystical worlds of Narnia with the complex dangers of <i>Labyrinth Lost</i>.

Bonus points for a beautiful cover and boatloads of diverse characters represented across sexual orientations, body sizes, and more.

I adore the Wayward Children series of novellas by Seanan McGuire. Despite their short length (which I one hundred percent believe is the perfect length for these tales), they pack a punch that plenty of other books lack, and Beneath the Sugar Sky is no exception.

Set after the events of Every Heart a Doorway, Sumi’s daughter, Rini, travels to Earth through a doorway in order to find her mother and set the world of Confection back on it’s nonsensical path, enlisting the help of current residents at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

The beauty of the premise of this particular tale is that it’s set, predominantly, in a Nonsense land, so it doesn’t make sense, and in it’s own way, it makes perfect sense. Confection, as a land, is like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory on steroids, and it’s wonderful. McGuire writes such wonderful descriptions of these worlds that it is so easy to form a picture of them in your head.

As always, the characters are on point, and we spend more time getting to know Kade and Christopher in this story, as well as new resident, Cora. It was wonderful to get inside the heads of Kade, a boy who was born a girl, and Christopher, a boy who wants to be a Skeleton, as well as mermaid, Cora (and I’d love a story set in her world). McGuire also fleshes out their worlds in more depth, helping to construct a stronger narrative understanding of the connections between them all, as well as their differences.

I will always be willing to jump blindly into a new Wayward Children story - magic and mystery await in each one.

4.75
From the second I started this book, I felt like one of the wayward children coming home. This book follows the same characters from the first book, with a couple of additions, Cora and Rini, back at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. Our group of misfits go on an adventure to save a new arrival and an old fallen friend. This was everything I always knew I wanted when I originally read the first book, although the world of Confection made my head hurt a little (kind of like Cora). I would read endless books following the Wayward Children in their respective “home worlds”. I would absolutely love a book centered around Cora and her mermaid world most of all, followed closely by Christopher’s world of skeletons and Day of the Dead vibes. Perfection!

My one and only gripe about the book, the reason for the small deduction in star rating, was the INCESSANT harping on Cora’s weight. I get it. She’s fat. I understand that her “fat-ness” was a huge part of her identity and why she always felt out of place with people, but really? Did it need to be brought up EVERY SINGLE TIME Cora was even remotely described. It gets to the point, that it is overbearing and completely counterintuitive. There are a couple ways the author could have been going with this, and I’m leaning more towards the fact that Cora’s mermaid world made her feel most like the person she was meant to be and now that she’s back in her birth-world where she was bullied for her weight, she can’t move past those stigmas that were placed on her, but it just never was fully fleshed out, especially because her fellow classmates never once commented about her weight. Everything was all internalized by Cora because of her past. I would have liked to see a lot less descriptions about how fat she was and/or more development in Cora coming into her own and learning to let that go now that she is with people that accept her.

Overall, a solid book that I will definitely re-read as this has become one of my favorite series of all times.

Does Seanan McGuire ever mistep with her writing? If so I've never seen any evidence of it. This was another great instalment in her wayward children series. Sickeningly good just as all her other books have been. Highly recommend fantasy and urban fantasy fans just work through each of her series in order and then start on the books she writes as Mira Grant.

3.5 stars. This falls somewhere between the brilliance of Every Heart a Doorway and the disappointment of Down Among Sticks and Bones. It definitely starts out a little shaky but it really rallies in the end, and ultimately I think it improves on a lot of the issues I had with the previous book.

It has a lot more of an actual story, for one, and it brings a lot of new ideas and imagery to the table. We get to go to a few new worlds which is a real treat (pun totally intended since we get to see Sumi's candy-based world :P). I was a major Candyland fangirl back in the day, so this was particularly fun for me!

The one issue i still have is that the writing vacillates between gorgeous and straight up pedantic. Sometimes it's wonderfully whimsical and full of little wisdoms, and then other times it's just so self consciously expository and repetitive that it really kicks me out of the story.

It must be said that I am 100% on board with Seanan McGuire's politics. I love that she has characters of different cultures, abilities, body shapes, and sexualities in these books. I agree with pretty much all of her soap boxing and appreciate how obviously and bluntly earnest she is about it all.

Like for example, I love that the main character is a fellow fat, and I love the message that she is more than just her fatness, that people project all sorts of ideas onto her about what type of person she is, what types of vices she has. Love it.

But sometimes I just don't want to hear yet another aside on the idea of fatness that doesn't fit naturally into the actual narrative.

Overall the fun details, whimsical half of the writing, strong ending, and the fact that I'm still ride or die with this series made me round this up to a 4 star rather than down to a 3.

I was pleasantly surprised that this was an actual sequel to Every Heart a Doorway. It was so good to see how everyone is doing after that first book. Hopefully, there will be more books in this series because Kade needs some happiness.
Beneath the Sugar Sky looks more into how these worlds works and expands more on the concept of why the different worlds work. It was a more hopeful look than Every Heart a Doorway.

Beneath the Sugar Sky is the third book in McGuire's Wayward Children series that starts with Every Heart a Doorway.

In Beneath the Sugar Sky we once again follow the children from Eleanor West's Home for Wayard Children. The story takes off when Rini lands in a pond behind the school/home. Rini is looking for her mother, Sumi, who died years before Rini was even conceived.

From there Rini and the others go on an adventure to Confection, a color world full of lollipop flowers, cotton candy clouds, and gingerbread castles. Nonsense and logic are once again at war in this story, as the characters fight not only to bring Rini's mother back, but also to understand what is logic and what is nonsense to each other.

This was a fun romp, but I felt it wasn't as strong as Every Heart a Doorway, which remains my favorite of the trilogy. I wanted more from this book than the cotton candy world that the characters were taken to, but I didn't get it.