Ratings4
Average rating3.3
Welcome to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in this exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart in this companion book to McGuire's critically-acclaimed Middlegame and the sequel to Over the Woodward Wall.
Be sure to explore the myriad wonders that can be found Along the Saltwise Sea.
After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.
After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.
The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road
Featured Series
4 primary booksThe Up-and-Under is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2020 with contributions by A. Deborah Baker.
Reviews with the most likes.
I love some of the passages, but the narrative is quite... Hand wavy.
This was such a cute little book. I loved the narrative style and the characters. I think I'm missing something reading this by itself - I didn't realize it was a second book in a series, or tied into other book series as well.... it didn't really stand on it's own that well, but again, that's my problem.
I'd say this is suffering from middle book syndrome, except I just found out there are four books in this series, fourth scheduled to come out this year, and for all I know, that isn't the last!
I'm afraid unlike Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series (author name shown is a pseudonym) this doesn't read as a universe with self contained stories, but a continuation of a main narrative, which can make the installments frustrating even when they're not particularly cliffhanger endings.
I do still enjoy the adventure, the fanciful world building, the clear-eyed nudging both young and adult readers towards compassion and emotional intelligence via the character-building experiences of the protagonists, rather than simple moralizing.
I think it will be easier to continue in the series now that I know the format each will take.