Beneath the Sugar Sky

3.5/5. A little on the fence on this one. It had a pretty fun quest-like adventure where our heroes from the School go on a journey towards Confection in order to put Sumi back together again, but I felt that it was a little bogged down by some didactic aspects that felt a bit too heavy-handed imo.

I think some part of my experience of this book was dampened a little by the audiobook narrator's interpretation of Rini's voice. While the narrator was pretty good for the most part, she made Rini sound rather high-pitched and whiney, and since Rini is such a central character for this story, it got really grating really fast.

There also didn't seem to be a central protagonist per se, with each character taking turns in the spotlight. I get what the intention was behind that but it also made me feel like I couldn't really root for any one of them. Cora was perhaps the closest to being a protagonist. While I also get the intention of why we had to dwell so much on her insecurities, it also felt like she was a bit too defined by that. Again, I get the intention - childhood bullying and fat-shaming can be traumatizing and it's not easy to break free from those memories - but at the same time I thought it did her character a disservice to make it seem like that was literally all she could think about, if she wasn't bemoaning her lack of friends. We see so much of Cora's fears of what she might hear her new friends say about her physique in association with the candy world of Confection around them that, ironically, it becomes all we do associate Cora with, just in the opposite direction. IMO, a single or a few mentions of this to provoke thoughts amongst readers would've been just nice to raise that awareness which I agree is important, but to continually dwell upon almost nothing else was excessive. (I almost feel a bit afraid to mention this in my review because it kinda feels like I could get cancelled for having a different opinion on how I would like representation to happen in books)

Confection sounds like a diabetic nightmare and as someone who doesn't like sweet things that much, the thought of having to swim in a soda sea almost makes me a little nauseated.

Overall, a very short and sweet (hah!) novella. I look forward to continuing the series.

Journeying through three worlds, McGuire showcases her strength as a world-builder. Worlds that could seem silly or frivolous, like Confection, are still both part of a greater theme, and also thoughtfully depicted with internal consistency, backstory and a lush sense of place.

The characters continue to be flat, and the murder mystery of the first novel continues to diminish in importance with nonsensical resurrections, but this time I knew what I was in for, and just relaxed and had fun with it.

Could've been 4⭐️ but the disability rep isn't good. I liked this world though. I didn't like the fat rep either, but that's not my wheelhouse. I definitely feel comfortable talking about the disability rep though.

Still love this series. I feel like these are the types of stories I would love to be able to write. Seanan McGuire creates fantastical worlds where kids, who have real issues, get to have adventures, but with very high stakes.

Honestly speaking, this was a disappointment after reading the very beautiful Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher. That was a portal fantasy worth reading, with a journey filled with things to see and do. The characters in Beneath the Sugar Sky go on a quest too, but ... it falls flat, and it just doesn't make you FEEL satisfied.

Okay I loved the characters but the story was kinda weird (nonsense, as you would say). The narrator's high pitched voice for Rini really grated on my nerves so this only gets 3 stars.
I was very happy to see Kade and Christopher and Nancy again. Cora was introduced but didn't have much role. I liked her.

I was so delighted to get this one right when it was released! And then of course I was still finishing another book and couldn't start it right then. But it was absolutely worth the read. It didn't break my heart in the same way the first two Wayward Children books did, but it was still lovely.

I received a galley of this book from Tor Publishing via NetGalley. This has not impacted my thoughts or opinions about this book.

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 Labyrinth Lost.

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

Just like the other books in this series, I loved the story and it was yet again way too short. The omnipotent narrator is great as well. The only reason why this isn't 5 stars is because of Cora. 

In general, I liked her as a character, but she just keeps going on and on about being fat. Like I get that this is a trait of hers, she is very self-conscious and aware of the way some people might view her because of her weight. I think that's a solid thing to add and that isn't at all the problem. But fuck did she really mention/think about it at every possible fucking turn. It made me so tired of her. Like it's her entire personality. The whole time the book is going on and how she isn't her weight, she can't control it and it doesn't define her and then the book literally defines her by that struggle around people because of her weight anyway. 

Didn't love that. Otherwise loved the book, the ending definitely made me cry

2.5

A great story that led me to consider my experience and perception of expeiences with greater criticality.

This was my least favorite book in the series so far. I wasn't a fan of Rini at all. Did like the other characters. Storyline wasn't for me either

A beautiful continuation of the story begun in [b:Every Heart a Doorway 25526296 Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) Seanan McGuire https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431438555l/25526296.SX50.jpg 45313140]. This book is written in a fairy-tale style and each time I read it I find myself reflecting on a different aspect of life. A beautiful little book and a great 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.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Rini lands in a pond behind Home for Wayward Children. She comes from the Land of Confection. She finds out that her mother Sumi died in this land before she was conceived. That is why she is starting to disappear. She must race to undo her mother's death so she can exist. This was such a fun episode in this series. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

“Oh! I didn't see that coming.” - me,

Loved every minute. McGuire returns to the children of the first book, and continues their story in an adventure that spans several worlds, but also introduces us two some new characters. Time travel and non-linear timelines can get messy, but it's very well handled, as is the internal “logic” of the nonsense candyland that we spend most of our time in.

Highly recommended to anyone who loved the first book, especially if you loved it more than book two. Not quite a standalone book, you should at least read “Every Heart A Doorway” before you get into this one.

I loved visiting Confection and the race to fix the world! I also love the back and forth between worlds and characters that we get in this series. We don't settle in one place, but instead we see adventures here and there for various characters and various worlds.
Ah. I am so in love with this series.

Very heartwarming fantasy - cutesy, whimsical with a bit of darkness.

3.5 rounded up to 4

Goodreads really need to add the 1/2 star functionality - geesh.

I love this series!I can't say that Confection – that's the name, right? – was my favorite world, but that was interesting in and of itself, because it taught me about myself, my basic make up. As much as this world bothered me is how much I loved The Moors, the world in [b:Down Among the Sticks and Bones 31450908 Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children, #2) Seanan McGuire https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473685781s/31450908.jpg 47411892]. Seanan McGuire does a tremendous job with diverse characters, and this time the point of view character was Cora, a girl made to feel self-c0nscious about her weight in our world, but had discovered a world and returned from a world where she felt at home as a mermaid. I get the feeling the author has tremendous compassion for all of her characters, and that she's rooting for them to make their way back to their homes. I love that. I don't think they ARE all guaranteed to make it back, sometimes things things are out of an author's hands – :) – but she wants it for them. If there was anything that bugged me, it's that we got so little time with a character from the first book who we meet again in this book. She was there for the book, and yet sort of not there, and without spoilers, that was a bummer. Since – no spoilers! – she couldn't talk for most of the story, the people who knew her could have told stories about her. Just a thought.

This series is so cool! I liked venturing into a ‘nonsense' world for this entry and trying to follow along with everything going on. It is just pure magic and so fun to read through.

Also posted to my site Behind the Pages: Beneath the Sugar Sky

In the world of the Wayward Children, sometimes the most impossible and improbable solution is the one you need. After all, when Rini lands in the turtle pond dressed in frosting, missing two fingers, and demanding to see her dead mother, is there really anything else the children can do? The children must start a new quest, one that will take them through the doors of both logical and nonsense worlds. They are in a race against the clock to resurrect Sumi and save her disappearing daughter.

Beneath the Sugar Sky will let you revisit old friends and learn the backstories of some of the original children. From start to finish, you'll be engaged in the beautiful world-building Seanan McGuire portrays in each of these novels. And after two books of logical worlds, this new installment of the Wayward Children will show you what a nonsense world is all about.

You'll visit a world where the sea is made of soda, the sky is filled with candy, and the clothes are made from pastries and chocolate. The trees are filled with cake pops and cookies, and you'll never gain a pound eating it all. The rules of logic don't exist, and when the logical children of the school enter a nonsense world, they will have to fight against their instincts and reasoning. If they think too hard about the nonsense, the world will cast them out and all will be lost.

Another fantastic installment in the Wayward Children series. This one was just as creative as the previous two books, and while it wasn't as dark, the sense of tension and desperate hope was still there. I can't get enough of this series!

Because I love Seanan McGuire's writing, I will give this 3 stars. So far this is my least favorite of the series. I just got bored in spots, but it was still a good story. I guess I just enjoy Jack and Jill's world more than Confection.

Pros: interesting settings, fun characters

Cons:

When Rini falls out of the sky at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children she's shocked to learn that her mother has died. Several students help her bring her mother back, knowing that if they fail than Rini will be erased from existence.

This is the third novella in the Wayward Children series and returns - for a time at least - to the setting of the first book. In addition to the school and the students there, you also see Nancy again.

Rini is from a nonsense world, Confection, the world her mother, Sumi, went to and was hoping to return to one day. There's another new character, Cora, an overweight girl who loved the underwater worlds where she was a beautiful mermaid. She's the main point of view character, which allows the reader to understand her feelings around weight and self-confidence (and the attempts by others to use the first to undermine the second). It was interesting seeing her interactions with Christopher, who went to a world of skeletons and who therefore as unconventional ideas about flesh and weight.

The plot is fairly linear and takes the group to several locations. There are some dangers they face, though not always physical ones.

I thought the mythology of Confection was kind of cool and really fit the kind of world it was - giving it a weird sort of logic despite its nonsense overlay.

It's a quick, fun read.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—

Children have always tumbled down rabbit holes, fallen through mirrors, been swept away by unseasonal floods or carried off by tornadoes. Children have always traveled, and because they are young and bright and full of contradictions, they haven't always restricted their travel to the possible. Adulthood brings limitations like gravity and linear space and the idea that bedtime is a real thing, and not an artificially imposed curfew. Adults can still tumble down rabbit holes and into enchanted wardrobes, but it happens less and less with every year they live. Maybe this is a natural consequence of living in a world where being careful is a necessary survival trait, where logic wears away the potential for something bigger and better than the obvious. Childhood melts, and flights of fancy are replaced by rules. Tornados kill people: they don't carry them off to magical worlds. Talking foxes are a sign of fever, not guides sent to start some grand adventure.

But children, ah, children. Children follow the foxes, and open the wardrobes, and peek beneath the bridge. Children climb the walls and fall down the wells and run the razor's edge of possibility until sometimes, just sometimes, the possible surrenders and shows them the way to go home.

Beneath the Sugar Sky

Wayward Children

Every Heart a Doorway

Every Heart

I like existing. I'm not ready to unexist just because of stupid causality. I didn't invite stupid causality to my birthday party, it doesn't get to give me any presents.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Every Heart

Every Heart

Down Among

Beneath the Sugar Sky

Every Heart

Down Among

There was a door there, tall and imposing, the sort of door that belonged on a cathedral or a palace; the sort of door that said “keep out” far more loudly than it would ever dream of saying “come in.”

exactly

Indexed

Beneath the Sugar Sky