Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children, #3) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Jan 22, 2017 Philip rated it liked it

Shelves: author-woman, hugo, fantasy, ya, fairy-tales, novella, 2018-releases

3.5ish stars.

Maybe my most anticipated read of the year. To say I loved Every Heart a Doorway would be an understatement, and I thought Down Among the Sticks and Bones was really wonderful, too. Couldn't wait to get back to the school!

While the world is still enchanting and creative, and while it's often funny and sometimes profound, it also feels like McGuire phoned this one in. It seems rushed and sloppy. There isn't as much character development as I expected there to be, based on the first ...more

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Jan 15, 2018 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-shelf, fantasy, 2020-shelf, worldbuilding-sf

Re-Read 1/4/20:

Gotta love it when you can break causality. Sometimes, going to a batshit insane reality is the smart move. :)

Original Review:

Modern fairy tales. Gotta love them, especially when they take twelve core hearts and totally run with them, allowing an almost meta world-building full of magical doors taking the young at heart (or obsessional) directly to their best dreamland. :)

This third book in the Wayward Children novellas doesn't disappoint. It's Candy Crush land and Mermaids, with ...more

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Jan 15, 2018 Trish rated it it was amazing

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

This is the third book in the Wayward Children series that tells of a "school" full of children that, at one point or another, have all travelled to different magical worlds but are now stranded in our normal one (at least until they can find their door back). Eleanor West provides a safe-haven so they can escape the world and all the expectations that come with it until (hopefully) they can go There is kindness in the world - if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door.

This is the third book in the Wayward Children series that tells of a "school" full of children that, at one point or another, have all travelled to different magical worlds but are now stranded in our normal one (at least until they can find their door back). Eleanor West provides a safe-haven so they can escape the world and all the expectations that come with it until (hopefully) they can go back where they belong or, alternatively, come to terms with staying here.

It starts with a new student, Cora, who has been a mermaid until recently. She and another student are surprised by a girl falling out of the sky, but this girl came on purpose because she's trying to find her mother. The problem? Her mother is younger than she is and has died in the first book and now causality is catching up even with Sumi's nonsensical world so her daughter starts disappearing.
In order to bring Sumi back, save her daughter and in fact an entire world, a band of students go to different magical realms to "fix things".

We've never seen so many different worlds in one book and Cora, who could be viewed as the MC here, is not as different as Nancy from the first book was. There are many things about Cora that a lot of readers will be able to relate to (weight problems, body-shaming, being snarky but actually just trying to cover up how out of place she is), which might not have been the case with Nancy.

I really liked how the author presented a different kind of story in every one of the three books published so far while still telling the same kind of story (it's hard to describe). Here, we get a quest, not for a door but still a quest like the ones every child had to fulfill in their respective world - with the notable difference of there being several children working together and almost none of them truly belonging. Fish out of water indeed. *lol*

The most notable thing about this series is the writing style. Mesmerizing and enchanting and just the right kind of magical for the tale of such wondrous places.
Additionally, no matter if we read about nonsensical worlds, logical worlds, virtuous or any other - we slip right in, we identify with how lost and desperate these children are, abandoned by their own families for being different and not conforming to what their parents had wanted for them.
It's definitely a very personal theme for me although I never fell through a door and had to sleigh a dragon.

What is also amazing is that while the stories are weird and, overall, quite tragic, they are also uplifting at the same time. It's hard to describe the effect these have on me but I'm always half in tears and yet full of hope while reading about the Wayward Children and hope we have more stories to look forward to. ...more

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Apr 13, 2016 Justine rated it liked it

Shelves: novella, 2018-read

2.5 stars

This was OK, but not great for me. I really loved the first two books, and Down Among the Sticks and Bones was a particular favourite of mine. I'm just more partial to the Moors than I am to Confection. ...more

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Jan 06, 2022 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it liked it

I now have a Booktube channel! Find me at: The Obsessive Bookseller

[3.5/5] I’d no idea what to expect next. Would the series take all the characters in the first book and use the following novellas to tell their backstories like they did in Down Among the Sticks and Bones? I was okay with that trajectory, but feared I’d miss the boarding school element too much to stay invested. Luckily for me, Book 3 managed to progress the storyline developing at the boarding school while also giving some grea ...more

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Jan 15, 2018 Veronique rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read2018

"Children have always tumbled down rabbit holes, fallen through mirrors, been swept away by unseasonal floods or carried off by tornadoes.”

We’re back at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children :O) As much as I enjoyed the previous novella, it is was with pleasure that I got back to my favourite characters. This time however the narration is mainly seen from Cora, a new ‘refugee’, former mermaid and former resident of the Trenches, awaiting for her door to re-appear. However, the daily routine i ...more

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Apr 13, 2016 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Still Seanan McGuire, so still fantastic. She has very few misses, but I will say I didn't like it as much as the previous two. (That's ok, there's a whole lot of books I don't like as much as this series. It's good company to be in.)

We're back at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children after the events of Every Heart a Doorway. New girl Cora is making herself a home while hoping for her door to find her again so that she can go back to the world where she's a mermaid. When Rini arrives from he ...more

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Jan 05, 2020 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the 3rd installment of the Wayward Children series and once again, it was quite different from the previous ones though also quite the same.

What I mean is that book #1 can, roughly, be described as the opening act complete with a murder mystery, while book #2 was the first time we spent the entire book with a child (or, as it were, two children) and their world. In book #3, while we also travel to some of the worlds, it's more than one and we follow a whole group of the children while th This is the 3rd installment of the Wayward Children series and once again, it was quite different from the previous ones though also quite the same.

What I mean is that book #1 can, roughly, be described as the opening act complete with a murder mystery, while book #2 was the first time we spent the entire book with a child (or, as it were, two children) and their world. In book #3, while we also travel to some of the worlds, it's more than one and we follow a whole group of the children while they are on a quest.

You see, a girl named Sumi got murdered in book #1 (no, that isn't a spoiler since it's in the blurp even). But that doesn't mean her world is done with her. As Confection (her candyland) is a nonsensical world, we get causality problems. What that means? Well, despite Sumi's age in her world of birth, she has a daughter in Confection as was prophesized. And that daughter is disappearing now because reality is catching up. Since Sumi was killed as a girl, she never had sex with a candy farmer in Confection, never had her daughter and also never defeated the evil queen so that causes one hell of a lot of causality problems for the world itself.

Kade (whom we've met in the first installment), Cora (a new student and wonderful mermaid), Rini (Sumi's daughter) and a few others are therefore allowed by Miss Eleanor to break one of the school's rules and go on the quest to bring Sumi back.
Amongst other things, this quest leads them to Nancy's world as well as Confection itself, where we get the showdown and a very interesting twist in the end.

Once again, some elements were incredibly sad and the author managed to mix profound topics with the light and funny elements, turning them into a nicely balanced swirl. I care deeply about all these children and their worlds, their traumas, their hopes and dreams. Though a nonsensical world obviously wouldn't be for me. I'd go mad. *lol*

Just like in the previous volume, the print version of this third volume had three pieces of artwork. Here they are:

The audio version for this 3rd book was narrated by Michelle Dockery. I've really come to love that there are different narrators for the different volumes and Michelle Dockery, much like the other two, did an excellent job (which wasn't easy, especially with Rini).

Fantastic part of the series. Not my favourite world(s), but still a strong addition. Now I'm excited for the 4th one though! ...more

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Jan 14, 2018 Christina Pilkington rated it really liked it

Although Down Among the Sticks and Bones has been my favorite novella of the Wayward Children series, Beneath the Sugar Sky was still enchanting and magical, full of quirky, wonderful ideas and the potential to go in so many amazing directions.

I just love the way McGuire writes! It was so easy for me to visualize all the different settings of the book, from the turtle pond at the school, to the eerie monochromatic halls of the Dead, to the crushed gingerbread streets and candy floss (cotton cand ...more

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Jan 12, 2019 Helen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Candy land; would drive me nuts!

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Feb 22, 2018 Jo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars. I didn't enjoy this installment as much as Down Among the Sticks and Bones, but I was happy to be back in the Wayward Children world. It was neat to be able to see two more of the worlds in this book. ...more

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Oct 30, 2018 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I really like the premise of this series - I used to dream about doors to different worlds all the time. I liked the world described in this book - I think I would fit right in there :)

One favorite (though abbreviated) quote:
“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 tr ...more

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