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Another fantasy audiobook from Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, which began with the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Every Heart a Doorway.Beneath the Sugar Sky, the third audiobook in McGuire's Wayward Children series, returns listeners to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children in a contemporary fantasy for fans of all ages. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the "real" show more 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.
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Rini, Sumi's daughter, arrives with a splash in the turtle pond behind Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children; she has come from Confection to save her mother, Sumi. Kade, Cora, Nadya, and Christopher accompany Rini on a journey to gather her mother's skeleton and spirit and return to Confection for the final piece - her Nonsense - and to overthrow the Queen of Cakes. On the way, they visit Nancy and the Lord of the Dead, and they return with as many students as they left with - but different ones. Cause and effect don't operate the same way in Confection as elsewhere, but ultimately, Rini and her friends bring Sumi back and set things right.
Quotes
"We try to make things make sense, even when they're never going to." (Christopher, show more 32)
"Only one way to find out," said Kade, and started walking.
"Why do people always say that?" muttered Cora, trailing along at the rear of the group. "There's always more than one way to find something out. People only say there's only one way when they want an excuse to do something incredibly stupid without getting called on it." (56)
"We don't go where we're not meant to be, even if we sometimes get born the wrong place." (Kade, 61)
Elsewhere was a legend and a lie, until it came looking for you. (77)
"Sometimes that's all you can do. Just keep getting through until you don't have to do it anymore, however much time that takes, however difficult it is." (Kade to Cora, 130)
"...what we've found is that there are worlds TO and worlds FROM....Every world gets to make its own rules. Sometimes those rules are going to be impossible." (Kade, 131-133)
There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door. (174) show less
Quotes
"We try to make things make sense, even when they're never going to." (Christopher, show more 32)
"Only one way to find out," said Kade, and started walking.
"Why do people always say that?" muttered Cora, trailing along at the rear of the group. "There's always more than one way to find something out. People only say there's only one way when they want an excuse to do something incredibly stupid without getting called on it." (56)
"We don't go where we're not meant to be, even if we sometimes get born the wrong place." (Kade, 61)
Elsewhere was a legend and a lie, until it came looking for you. (77)
"Sometimes that's all you can do. Just keep getting through until you don't have to do it anymore, however much time that takes, however difficult it is." (Kade to Cora, 130)
"...what we've found is that there are worlds TO and worlds FROM....Every world gets to make its own rules. Sometimes those rules are going to be impossible." (Kade, 131-133)
There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door. (174) show less
One of the rules at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children is No Quests -- but what else can you do when a girl falls out of the sky and into the turtle pond, wearing a dress made of cake and claiming to be the daughter of a student who died? Rini's mother was supposed to save Confection from an evil queen, then marry her true love and return to his candy corn farm to, well, make a baby -- but that didn't happen, and now Rini is disappearing by inches, and she's come to Miss West's to find out what happened to her mother. Is it possible to bring someone back from the dead?
This was a fun romp, but it's the immediate sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, and I was lacking context since it had been so long since I read that one that I show more didn't remember all of the characters. So, while some of the books in this series do stand alone, this one benefits from having the background information provided by at least the first book in the series. I enjoyed it in spite of some momentary confusion. show less
This was a fun romp, but it's the immediate sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, and I was lacking context since it had been so long since I read that one that I show more didn't remember all of the characters. So, while some of the books in this series do stand alone, this one benefits from having the background information provided by at least the first book in the series. I enjoyed it in spite of some momentary confusion. show less
Criminally underrated! This series should be required reading for every YA fantasy fan. The nonsense McGuire builds here is so delicious: she walks you right up to the edge of unbelievable and then laughs at you, because of course it makes sense. It always made sense!
Seeing Nancy back in her element was a joy, and every new corner of this universe rewards exploration. But the real standaout is new character Cora, who I will always carry close to my heart. The portrayal of her fatness and her experience of the world, the reasonable, unflinching suspicions about how people see her, is some of the most refreshing and kind writing I've encountered on the subject.
Minor critiques: Rini reads more as a plot mechanism than a full character, show more though who cares honestly. I also wished Layla's Muslim identity extended beyond the cultural into real belief, it would have made the whole thing even more nonsensical, funny, and rich.
Someone please release all the novellas in a box set!!!! show less
Seeing Nancy back in her element was a joy, and every new corner of this universe rewards exploration. But the real standaout is new character Cora, who I will always carry close to my heart. The portrayal of her fatness and her experience of the world, the reasonable, unflinching suspicions about how people see her, is some of the most refreshing and kind writing I've encountered on the subject.
Minor critiques: Rini reads more as a plot mechanism than a full character, show more though who cares honestly. I also wished Layla's Muslim identity extended beyond the cultural into real belief, it would have made the whole thing even more nonsensical, funny, and rich.
Someone please release all the novellas in a box set!!!! show less
Cora just returned from a mermaid world, where she was a hero and no one cared about the size of her body. She longs to go back, which is why she ended up at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. Her worries about fitting in are sidelined when a teenage girl in a cotton candy dress just…falls from the sky? The girl claims she is the daughter of Sumi and has arrived to get her mother back, but Sumi died last year and was only a teenager herself. To figure out what’s going on the students will need to travel to a Nonsense world, which is not a fun prospect for those who are more accustomed to Logic or Reason.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this third book, after the second book was a flashback. I was delighted to see my show more friends Kade and Christopher and Nadya again, and to meet Cora. It has the perfect amount of overlap with the first book while still being something new. I’m super excited to keep going in the series! show less
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this third book, after the second book was a flashback. I was delighted to see my show more friends Kade and Christopher and Nadya again, and to meet Cora. It has the perfect amount of overlap with the first book while still being something new. I’m super excited to keep going in the series! show less
Rini appears in mid-air, falls into the school’s pond, and then demands to be taken to her mother, Sumi.
Absolutely fantastic. I loved (and thoroughly related to) the viewpoint character, Cora, who is fat and always expects people to react first and foremost to her appearance, and is often surprised when they don’t at the Home for Wayward Children.
Content warnings: internalized fatphobia, discussions of fatphobia, brief fatphobia (also discussions of dieting and other controlling behaviors) by antagonist, discussions of racism
Absolutely fantastic. I loved (and thoroughly related to) the viewpoint character, Cora, who is fat and always expects people to react first and foremost to her appearance, and is often surprised when they don’t at the Home for Wayward Children.
Content warnings:
I want my door the way a fish wants water.
I want to believe that somewhere I could belong - a world with endless books to read and catalog and stroke and love. A world where a quiet girl with antiquated ideas about propriety and rules doesn't have to force herself to be somewhat "normal" for the sake of others.
The Wayward Children series has, in so many ways, improved my life. From Nancy's joy in the quiet to Kade's contentment being where can be himself, from Christopher's unabashed love of the dancing dead to Sumi's hyper Nonsense.
This book does not come out until January, so pray wait a little longer for a full review. Or, if you're in Confection, the journey is but a day's walk away.
----
These books aren't published linearly. DOWN show more AMONG THE STICKS AND STONES takes before EVERY HEART A DOORWAY while BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY is a direct continuation of EVERY HEART. I'm not convinced that you should read them linearly however.
Knowing how Jack & Jill wound up as they were in EVERY HEART does not change the fact EH was Nancy's book. Just as the reappearance of Kade, Christopher, Nancy and Sumi in SUGAR SKY doesn't make this any less Rini's book.
These aren't telling the story of how point A got to point B, they're telling the story of how these kids found where they belong.
Rini knew her place in the larger fabric of Time and Space. BtSS wasn't about her finding it - if was about her fighting to keep it in a way that others could not. They came from the real world, they had to justify to whatever power sent them in the first place why their birth world was not their home. All Rini had to do was bring her mom back the dead so she could marry her dad and have Rini.
That's hella lot simpler.
If the first book was a mystery wrapped up in a young girl's struggle to figure out what was right for her, and the second was a gothic wrapped up in two sisters separating their identity from each other and how how they were seen, this book is about the contradictory nature of "normal" being conflated with fact.
I was happy to see Nancy, to see she was happy and cherished. I was sad for Kade who was still rather in crush with her and maybe still felt left behind. I hope to see Chris find his way and for Kade to implement some of those ideas about the true intersection of Nonsense and Logic.
And way to go Rini, two out of two fictional Rini's have traveled back to help save their mother now. show less
I want to believe that somewhere I could belong - a world with endless books to read and catalog and stroke and love. A world where a quiet girl with antiquated ideas about propriety and rules doesn't have to force herself to be somewhat "normal" for the sake of others.
The Wayward Children series has, in so many ways, improved my life. From Nancy's joy in the quiet to Kade's contentment being where can be himself, from Christopher's unabashed love of the dancing dead to Sumi's hyper Nonsense.
This book does not come out until January, so pray wait a little longer for a full review. Or, if you're in Confection, the journey is but a day's walk away.
----
These books aren't published linearly. DOWN show more AMONG THE STICKS AND STONES takes before EVERY HEART A DOORWAY while BENEATH THE SUGAR SKY is a direct continuation of EVERY HEART. I'm not convinced that you should read them linearly however.
Knowing how Jack & Jill wound up as they were in EVERY HEART does not change the fact EH was Nancy's book. Just as the reappearance of Kade, Christopher, Nancy and Sumi in SUGAR SKY doesn't make this any less Rini's book.
These aren't telling the story of how point A got to point B, they're telling the story of how these kids found where they belong.
Rini knew her place in the larger fabric of Time and Space. BtSS wasn't about her finding it - if was about her fighting to keep it in a way that others could not. They came from the real world, they had to justify to whatever power sent them in the first place why their birth world was not their home. All Rini had to do was bring her mom back the dead so she could marry her dad and have Rini.
That's hella lot simpler.
If the first book was a mystery wrapped up in a young girl's struggle to figure out what was right for her, and the second was a gothic wrapped up in two sisters separating their identity from each other and how how they were seen, this book is about the contradictory nature of "normal" being conflated with fact.
I was happy to see Nancy, to see she was happy and cherished. I was sad for Kade who was still rather in crush with her and maybe still felt left behind. I hope to see Chris find his way and for Kade to implement some of those ideas about the true intersection of Nonsense and Logic.
And way to go Rini, two out of two fictional Rini's have traveled back to help save their mother now. show less
A solid two-thumbs up! McGuire’s crafted another lovely fantasy and critique-of-fantasy, with both familiar and new characters, and a deepening of the world-building to boot. There’s a fat girl! A girl with a prosthetic hand! More info on character backstories! Multiple portals! Candy! Several metaphorical knives to the gut!
This is the first Wayward Children book that doesn’t stand alone, the first to hint at a series arc, and the first that didn’t feel too short to me. I wanted more sleuthing in the first book, more sense of the time-span in the second, but this? Just right. The Goldilocks book. Even if I do want to explore the land of Confection more because it’s seriously delicious fantastic.
All that said, though, this show more didn’t quite hit my “ooh” button enough for me to enthuse about it. It’s a good book, just not a Good Book. I blame my usual problem with short fiction—long enough for me to like it, not long enough for me to get sucked in. I do recommend it though, but not as the entry to the series. Go read Every Heart a Doorway first.
Warnings: Fat POV character with realistic body-image issues, if such a thing might trigger you. One fat-shaming character. show less
This is the first Wayward Children book that doesn’t stand alone, the first to hint at a series arc, and the first that didn’t feel too short to me. I wanted more sleuthing in the first book, more sense of the time-span in the second, but this? Just right. The Goldilocks book. Even if I do want to explore the land of Confection more because it’s seriously delicious fantastic.
All that said, though, this show more didn’t quite hit my “ooh” button enough for me to enthuse about it. It’s a good book, just not a Good Book. I blame my usual problem with short fiction—long enough for me to like it, not long enough for me to get sucked in. I do recommend it though, but not as the entry to the series. Go read Every Heart a Doorway first.
Warnings: Fat POV character with realistic body-image issues, if such a thing might trigger you. One fat-shaming character. show less
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- Canonical title
- Beneath the Sugar Sky
- Original title
- Beneath the Sugar Sky
- Original publication date
- 2018-01-08
- People/Characters
- Rini Onishi; Kade Bronson; Cora Miller; Christopher Flores; Nadya; Nancy Whitman (show all 8); Eleanor West; Sumi Onishi
- Important places
- Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children; The Halls of the Dead; Confection
- Epigraph
- Sugar, flour, and cinnamon won't make a house a home, / So bake your walls of gingerbread and sweeten them with bone. / Eggs and milk and whipping cream, butter in the churn, / Bake our queen a castle in the hopes that she'll... (show all) return. -Children's Clapping Rhyme, Confection
- Dedication
- For Midori, whose doorway is waiting
- First words
- Children have always tumbled down rabbit holes, fallen through mirrors, been swept away by unseasonal floods or carried off by tornadoes.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door.
- Publisher's editor
- Harris, Lee
- Original language
- English
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