What a delight! I loved Every Heart a Doorway, but skipped Down Among the Sticks and Bones because I'm not such a fan of creepy, and it seemed like it would certainly head in that direction. I am so glad that I was able to pick up Beneath the Sugar Sky as an eARC. It was fast paced and very clever, will all the odd little details and turns that McGuire is known for in her writing. It can stand alone, but I think readers will find it more valuable to start with Every Heart a Doorway, so that you can get the full picture of the fascinating worlds McGuire crafted in her writing.

I was also so pleased to see Cora presented as a fat character who is just fat and dealing with how the world is reacts to her size. It was so deftly handled and I hope to see more of her in the future.

Tagged this as queer themes & trans as one of the characters is trans and there are queer characters visible in the world, but it's not a particular major thing in this novel.

Seanan McGuire does it again. The character development and world building is note worthy. The third installment in the Wayward Children series continues the adventure and takes us into new territories.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for this eARC.

The third in the Wayward Children Series, <i>Beneath the Sugar Sky</i> takes us back to the Eleanor West Home for Wayward Children and then off on a quest, through doors into other worlds. We met Sumi and lost her in the first book, and when her daughter shows up at the school, disappearing bit by bit because her mother's murder seems to have prevented her birth in their candy-covered nonsense world, students at the school set of to save Sumi, her daughter, and her world.

I love each entry in this series. This one is no exception - we get to go on a journey with some familiar and some new characters, and we actually get to see some of the worlds mentioned in the first book. Each of these books is short, under 200 pages, but <i>Beneath the Sugar Sky</i> was the first one that I thought needed to be a bit longer. I would have loved room for Cora's story in particular to breathe a bit more (and please tell me she gets to go back to being a fierce mermaid).

As with each of these books, I so appreciate the diversity on display here - students are of different races, religions, sexual orientations, ability, and weight (particularly important in this book). This never makes the book feel like an after school special though, because Seanan McGuire incorporates these things so smoothly and makes the books fun, even through the thread of sadness and longing the students share because they aren't home.

I will certainly read more in this series if Seanan McGuire writes them (I'd love a story about Kade's studies into magical worlds) - this premise is so juicy and has been handled beautifully yet again by McGuire.

I love this book. The world building is fantastic and they're swift and engaging reads. Beneath the Sugar Sky continues threads from the first and second books and takes us to both new and familiar worlds. We get to revisit characters and meet new ones. There isn't much that can be said without massive spoilers, but I really enjoyed Beneath the Sugar Sky. Also, the covers for this series are great! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more books in this world!

This was another great installment in the Wayward Children series, this time focusing on Sumi, from the first book, and her daughter, Rimi, from the land of Confection. As usual, McGuire finds a way to make something seemingly lighthearted full of meaning and poignancy. I hope there will be more books in this series. Highly recommended!

(This review will contain spoilers for "Every Heart a Doorway", if you're concerned about being spoiled for any plot points then maybe stop here and just know that yes, this book is well worth your time!)

"Beneath the Sugar Sky" is the third installment in Seanan McGuire's consistently excellent Wayward Children series of novellas. For anyone who is new to the series, it explores the lives of children who find themselves falling into magical worlds. Most importantly, it focuses on what happens to these children once their adventures are over and they are (usually unwillingly) deposited back in the "real" world. Sugar Sky follows after "Every Heart a Doorway", revisiting the students who remain at Miss Eleanor's school as they engage in a quest to save the life of new character Rini by restoring her mother Sumi (who died before Rini was born, making her existence rather awkward).

Sugar Sky features both new and old characters. We get to spend a lot of time with Kade and Christopher, which should definitely please fans of the first book. Joining them are newcomers Cora, Nadya, and of course Rini. Seanan McGuire is always conscious of making sure her books are full of the kinds of representation that are severely lacking in many other stories. Readers of the series so far will remember that Kade is trans, and is also acknowledged as the hottest guy in school. Cora is fat, and exhibits sever anxiety because of this, yet it is made clear that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her and that in her own magical world Cora is valued just as she is.

A significant part of this story takes place in Sumi's magical candy kingdom, a world that is entirely composed of baked goods, candies, and any other form of sugar you can imagine. It is bizarre and almost sickingingly sweet to read about, but what shines through is the idea that this fantasy world is one of many, and although it isn't for me, it is the perfect home for another lost child. What the Wayward Children series tells us is that there is a place for everyone, and that you shouldn't have to alter yourself to fit into someone else's place, or someone else's idea of who you should be.

As always, the worst part of reading this arc is that I now have to wait even longer for the next Wayward Children story. This series is excellently written, entertaining, and full of acceptance for anyone who has ever wanted to be part of a fantasy story.

This companion piece to "Home For Wayward Children" is a beautifully written, compulsively readable book. Familiar characters mixed with new worlds and new friends come together to make a very readable story with a plot that will keep you reading quickly. I am not sure if this is the last in a trilogy but would read more if this series continues.

The third installment in the Wayward Children series wasn't quite as overwhelmingly amazing as the first two, but I enjoyed getting to further explore the dynamics between the various portal worlds, and it was no doubt another solid entry in a delightful tale.

The third in McGuire's Wayward Children series returns to Miss West's, then travels through several other realities on a quest to save Sumi's world, Confection, from the disasters wrought by her death. The new character, Cora, is a delight, and Confection is convincingly strange, as befits a Nonsense world.

Well worth reading, but not as wonderful as the others in the series.

So, for those of you who, like me, are not-so-patiently waiting for another story of the Wayward Children, and were bummed to learn that you’d have to wait til January for your next fix, well…it is worth the wait. Seriously, it is worth it. I know, waiting is hard. Waiting is the worst. I hate waiting. Waiting is, as the song says, the hardest part.

But! The wait is totally worth it, because Beneath the Sugar Sky is fantastic. Once again, I do not understand what magic Seanan McGuire possesses that makes her capable of getting so much story, character development and representation into less than two-hundred pages. I wish I had that magic, but I do not. Maybe I will someday? (No, that’s not happening).

While Every Heart introduces us to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, and Sticks and Bones gives us the in-depth backstory of Jack and Jill, Beneath the Sugar Sky takes us back to the school. We get to learn a little more about the students we met in Every Heart, like Kade, Eleanor’s nephew and Goblin Prince, and Christopher, beloved of the Skeleton Girl. We are also introduced to a few newer students, including Cora, our main POV character, who got to spend some time being a kickass mermaid hero in an underwater world, but now that she’s back in our world, she’s back to being seen as she is on the surface: a fat kid. Nadya, like Cora, also found a door to an underwater world (albeit much different than Cora’s world), where she was known as The Drowned Girl. Since their worlds were similar, Cora and Nadya become de facto friends. They’re hanging out around the turtle pond when, out of nowhere, a girl called Rini falls out of the sky. Rini is looking for her mom - Sumi.

Except, spoiler alert, Sumi died in Every Heart a Doorway. And she definitely did not have any kids.

Confection, the world Sumi’s door led her to, and the world Rini is from, is a nonsense world. Time doesn’t exactly follow the rules there. In one timeline, Sumi died before she got a chance to return to Confection, in another, she went back to her candy corn farmer and had Rini. One timeline is screwing with the other - Rini is disappearing in a Looper-esque manner and things are going henshit in Confection. So Rini teams up with Cora, Nadya, Christopher, and Kade to somehow bring Sumi back to life, reestablish her timeline, and make everything right in Confection again.
We get see a lot of Confection in Beneath the Sugar Sky. It sounds awesome, but after a while, just reading about all the sugar within the land of Confection kind of made my pancreas hurt. Confection is like the unholy love-child of Candyland, Wily Wonka’s chocolate factory, Sugar Rush from Wreck-It Ralph and The Land of Chocolate.

Mmmm, chocolate.

Essentially, just reading about Confection made me worry I was going to end up with some extra cavities. Come January, do not read Beneath the Sugar Sky with a stash of clearance Christmas candy on hand.

So for those of you who are eagerly awaiting another Wayward Children story, your patience will be rewarded. Like Every Heart and Sticks and Bones, it’s short, but it is chock-full of awesome characters and amazing worlds. I kind of wish I hadn’t read Beneath the Sugar Sky so early because, well, now the wait for a fourth installment is going to be even longer. But, then again, who knows, by January, I will probably have forgotten everything and will have to read it again…

The third title in the Wayward Children series lives up the high standards set by its predecessors. This books was fun, imaginative, and thoughtful. All of the Wayward Children books are some of my overall favorite books.