Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children, #3)

by Seanan McGuire

Beneath the Sugar Sky, the third book in McGuire's Wayward Children series, returns to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children in a standalone contemporary fantasy for fans of all ages. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the "real" world.

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can't find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests...

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Warning: May contain nuts.

Reviewed by inlibrisveritas on

4 of 5 stars

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3.5 Stars

Spoiler Warning for all previous books! This review may have spoilers for the first two books in the Wayward Children series, if you are interested in starting the series I recommend checking out my review of Every Heart a Doorway of that book instead.

Beneath the Sugar Sky is the third book in the Wayward Children series and picks up a little while after the ending of the first book. (The second book focuses on two characters in the first book, but technically kind of happens before and during book one). The school is moving on somewhat from the tragedy of Sumi’s death in book one when a girl falls out of the sky saying that Sumi is her mother. Sugar Sky takes us on an adventure to a land filled with nonsense, sugar, and a little political upheaval.

I will say this one is probably my least favorite of the series so far, because it does have that theme of nonsense and a tone that matches the weird sugary world that is Confection. That being said I think it’s still pretty enjoyable and still has the darker edge to it, I just think that some of the writing felt a bit cumbersome and obvious at times. We have a new character to follow named Cora, who is heavier set and very self conscious about it. In the world she went to it where she became a mermaid it was a boon, but here she finds herself sliding back into being defensive and scared when it comes to others opinions. I appreciated the rep here, but at times it felt a bit heavy-handed and too exposition-y. Instead of feeling her discomfort at the idea of someone looking at her different, we are told all the ways in which she is used to it and how this or that relate to how she’s been bullied in the past. It just didn’t come off as a natural way to present the information. I did like Cora despite the odd way some of her inner monologues were written, and I love the friendship that she starts to forge with Christopher. We also get to know more about Cade, whose story is rather unique in that he doesn’t want his door to open.

The plot itself is suitably weird as it deals with Sumi, who in the first book was kind of a delightful mess of energy. We get to see the world that she was pulled into and it’s kind of wonderful. The world just comes across as exceedingly vibrant and while the idea of it makes my teeth ache, I just the adore the concept of a world filled with cake and soda. We also get to spend some time in Nancy’s world, which seems more my speed. The best part of this was the fact that it actively broadens the scope of what we the readers get to see, and seeing the characters in their element (and in a larger case way out of their element) is just so much fun.

I am looking forward to diving into In an Absent Dream! The world needs more portal fantasy and McGuire is providing.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 8 January, 2019: Finished reading
  • 8 January, 2019: Reviewed