I think this was a really good follow up to Over the Woodward Wall. These books remind me of Alice in wonderland with all the whimsy and fun characters. I would recommend it as a middle grade for adults

This is a wonderfully creative author who has the ability to create a space that challenges your thinking and brings back the openness to ideas and thoughts that we have as children. The story keeps you engaged and makes you care about these characters in a highly emotional way. Love all of these books
Full review on YouTube

I love Seanan McGuire's works and the Up and Under series is no exception. I missed Avery and Zib so much, I flew through this whimsical read. Will definitely be continuing this series.

A whimsical and entertaining sequel to an equally compelling beginning.

I flew through this and read it in one sitting.

In the second book in the magical "Up-and-Under" series, Along the Saltwise Sea, Avery and Zib still need to find their way back home. After walking the improbable road in the first book they get to sail across the kingdom of the element Water in a pirate ship.

Unfortunately, I thought this book suffered a bit of middle-book-syndrome; not much happens to propel the story forwards

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Well, I read this book over a year ago, September 2021 according to Goodreads. So, again, oops for taking this long to get a review written. I imagine that’s going to be a reoccurring theme for a little while. I am behind on so very many reviews.

But Seanan McGuire is honestly one of my favorite authors, so picking up her writing as A. Deborah Baker, especially since all of these novellas tie into her Alchemical Journeys series, which I dearly love was an absolute must for me. And since they’re novellas, I read them very quickly.

Which I believe was definitely the case with this installment in the Up and Under series. I wanted to know what was going to happen next to Avery and Zib and Niamh and the Crow Girl. I also wanted to see what all plot threads I could pick up that would tie in with Middlegame and Seasonal Fears. I do like that we get excerpts of the novellas in the main book series, and I do like that there are some elements that tie-in together or mirror each other.

Avery and Zib’s adventure continues to be an interesting portal fantasy tale, with so many twists and turns and new characters and friendship. Plus there’s danger and new obstacles and revelations.

Honestly this Up and Under series is one that feels like it could fit in any age category. Obviously in the Alchemical Journeys series, these books are children’s books. In our real world though, these books are found in the adult fantasy/sci-fi area of bookstores. But they obviously could appeal to a wide variety of people. I enjoy the whimsy and fun of following Avery and Zib through this world where the impossible and the odd are possible and normal.

So yeah, this is a quick story that is well worth the read.

Along the Saltwater Sea is the second book in the middle-grade series The Up and Under by A. Deborah Baker. The premise is pretty simple, in that two children get transported to a magical world where they have to find their way back home. The characters are interesting and entertaining, and I think that my younger self would have loved this book. I also think that I would have really related to Zib.

Except I wish that Zib would have been a bit more. See, Zib questioned their gender identity and then just completely brushed it off. There should have been even one more sentence, some sort of something not a complete dismissal of their own feelings. Younger me would have needed that, and it was disappointing that the author didn’t just give it a bit more. She could have easily done so without parents even noticing or cis kids losing their ability to relate to Zib. Or, don’t mention it at all. The dismissal hurt.

Beyond that, it was a fun book. I didn’t realize it was the second in the series so I put it down and read the first book beforehand. However, I honestly could have just read the second. The whole first part of the book is a summary.

Just like the first one, this story feels so unique.

Again, I loved the characters, world, and story. It kept me on my toes once again as the characters navigated the world.

I recommend this one to fans of fantasy short stories!

I love the cover for this book (I am a huge cover buyer) and I think the style, colors and illustrations are absolutely amazing! I also really enjoyed my adventures with Avery and Zib

The sequel to Over the Woodward Wall, Along the Saltwise Sea continues the journey of Avery and Zib. They are stuck in a land, reminiscent of the classical Wonderland, following the Improbable Road to get home. But not all paths are straight.

Baker instills their whimsical, fairytale narrative to invite readers into a world much beyond what we know. The narrators voice is straightforward in a very amusing way, not shying away from the ridiculousness of the tale. A fantastic followup to a wonderful series of wholly engaging novellas.

Another great adventure in the Up and Under, this time featuring swashbuckling pirates! I loved seeing the character development between the main characters as well as the new friends they've collected on their travels! Equally magical and creepy, A. Deborah Baker does a great job of continuing this quest!

Along the Saltwise Sea follows the children from A. Deborah Baker’s (Seanan Mcguire’s) Over the Woodward Wall. Two adolescents—conformist Avery and adventuresome Zib, have found their way into the Up-and-Under, a magical world, via the aforementioned wall. Here they encounter all manner of creatures, from sarcastic owls to evil Pages to Niamh the drowned girl, and a girl composed of a murder of crows. Of course, they’re given a quest to fulfill to return home.

Along the Saltwise Sea adds even more delicious elements to their story: pirates! An intelligent ocean! A mysterious passenger!

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.

After finishing Over the Woodward Wall, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this and continue on the journey with Avery and Zib to see how they fared in their search for the Queen of Swords with their trusty companions Crow Girl and Niamh and whether or not they would make it home!

This time the group find themselves indebted to a Pirate queen and must endure a period of employment on her ship and from then in the story gave me Peter Pan/Treasure Island vibes and I absolutely loved it; nearly as much as Zib and definitely more than Avery and the Crow Girl.

As usual the crew got themselves into all sorts of trouble and chaos but Baker ultimately kept the message of friendships and loyalty clear in her writing. Unfortunately they still haven’t got home, nor found the Queen of Swords… so their quest continues!

This sequel was good, but was also for me, not as exciting as the first instalment but still ultimately an enjoyable read.

(english review on Instagram)
Connue sous son vrai nom, Seanan McGuire, j'étais impatiente de lire cette série de livres que l'autrice a écrit sous un pseudonyme.
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C'est au cours d'une aventure enchantée et quelque peu frissonnante et aux côtés des deux protagonistes, Avery et Zib, que l'autrice nous emmène. Bien que vivant sur la même rue, rien d'autre n'aurait pu amener les deux enfants à se côtoyer. Ils ne vivent pas dans le même type de milieux de vie, n'ont pas la même manière de vivre ni la même personnalité. Pourtant, alors que chacun se rendait à l'école, ils vont subitement être obligé de faire un détour sur leur chemin et en un claquement de doigt, les voilà dans un univers aussi beau qu'hostile : l'Up-and-Under.
Pendant que les enfants vont devoir se retrouver et s'entraider, on croise plein d'autres personnages intéressants et on apprend à connaître plus l'univers dans lequel l'autrice nous plonge.
L'histoire est dynamique et captivante. Le lecteur a envie de comprendre comment et pourquoi Avery et Zib se retrouvent dans cet univers étrange. Chaque phrase est percutante et les mots semblent bien choisis. Le récit a des airs des contes du Magicien d'Oz et d'Alice Aux Pays Des Merveilles, mais l'autrice se démarque.
Après la fin abrupte du premier tome, ça a été un plaisir pour moi d'enchaîner avec le second. J'ai dévoré cette suite. Avery et Zib partent pour une nouvelle aventure, aux airs de piraterie. Encore une fois, on explore le vaste univers construit par l'autrice et on n'arrive pas à lâcher notre lecture avant de l'avoir fini.

I found book two of the Up-and-Under to be a delightful continuation of the first.

These books are (as I understand) referenced in McGuire’s *Middlegame*, in much the same way as Fillory in Lev Grossman’s *Magician’s*. I have not read *Middlegame*, nor anything of McGuire’s aside from short stories in a few anthologies. I didn’t even know A. Deborah Baker was a pen name when I read the first book. So I can’t really speak to how this reads for fans of *Middlegame*.

This book provides more of what I loved about *Over the Woodward Wall*: a delightful middle-grade story of two children who found their way to Faerie by climbing over a wall that wasn’t supposed to exist (instead of going out the back of a wardrobe, through a looking glass, or down a rabbit hole.

It’s book 2 of the series, with book 3 coming out in October according to Goodreads (take that for what it’s worth). I don’t know if book 3 is the end or it’s going to be longer than that. If you liked *Over the Woodward Wall* I expect you’ll like this one. If you didn’t like OtWW (and opinions seem to be divided) you’re not going to find anything here to change your opinion as far as I can tell.

But for me, the series is a delightful return to the feelings of wonder I remember feeling curling up with Narnia as a kid. They’re novella-length, so they’re not big time commitments, and I would say that picking up book 1 is a very good investment for the time.

A great follow up to Over the Woodward Wall. I love seeing Avery and Zib's continued adventures. They are both such compelling characters. It is interesting, having read the Wayward Children series, seeing similarities between the two stories.

I love all of Seanan McGuire’s books, and this was no different! Along the Saltwise Sea was a fun and lovely middle grade read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this title. Full disclosure - I let this go to archive without downloading it (oops!) I ended up purchasing the physical book after enjoying the first in the series so much, so that is what I read for this review.

First off, I just love A. Deborah Baker's (Seanan McGuire''s) writing style. This series and story is so magical, whimsical, and adventurous. How can you not love learning new "impossible" things about the Up and Under? Avery and Zib and still just as charming as ever, and I loved that we still got to follow Crow Girl and Niamh too.

For me, this one was a bit harder to follow than the first in the series. There is just a LOT going on, and many characters to keep track of. It's hard for me to remember which Kings are kind and which aren't, which pages we have met and which we haven't, and so on. I really appreciated the first chapter being a summary of the first book, as it did help me remember details from a book I hadn't read in months. Even though it was a lot, I'm not sure what the author could have done differently (perhaps giving the Kings/Queens more distinctive names?)

Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to picking up the next book in the series when it is released.