 Written by: Seanan McGuire Published: January 9, 2018 by Tor Book (Macmillan) Synopsis: Beneath the Sugar Sky returns to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the "real" world. Sumi died years before her prophesied daughter Rini could be born. Rini was born anyway, and now she’s trying to bring her mother back from a world without magic. |
I have been absolutely loving this series. I had been meaning to read the first book for ages and when I finally did I was glad that I could marathon the rest of the series and this was another great offering in a series that I am loving more and more with each book.
On of the best parts of this book is the setting. Not only do we get to return to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children but we also get to explore who more worlds of the students. First, I really being able to return to Eleanor West’s after a book completely away. The school is definitely interesting and I want to learn more about it and its inhabitants so it was nice to be back. But the real treat was being able to see two more world. First we get to go to the Land of the Dead, Nancy’s world. We didn’t spend a lot of time there but it’s definitely an interesting world and it was fun to see the place where Nancy belongs.
The best world however was Confection, the world that Sumi went to. Confection is such a strange and interesting place. It’s as if Candy Land and Narnia had a crazy baby made of nothing but baked goods. It’s the first “nonsense” world we have been able to visit which in and of it self was cool. Because seriously, this world was nonsense and had all kinds of crazy rules. But it did have rules which I appreciated. It was fun and strange but it made sense in its own weird way. I also really liked the way it tied back to the larger world of this series. There was a lot more big picture stuff to this world and this book which I liked.
Speaking of big picture stuff, the plot of this book was fantastic! My criticism of the last book was that it didn’t really have much of a story but this one definitely did. It was much more of a high stakes adventure. It had that classic high fantasy vibe where it contained this epic journey to save the world and the person you love thing going for it. This one definitely reads most like a classic world within a world fantasy story. But it was also the story in the series that had the most cohesion. It had a very distinct start and a clear resolution. It was an independent story and impacted the larger plot of the series. As a plot-driven reader I really liked this about the book.
As far as the characters they too were fantastic. This series is full of diverse and complex characters that you cannot help but fall in love with. Going back to Eleanor West’s meant we are able to check back in with some of the characters we met back in book one. I loved being able to see more from Kade and Christopher. They both have interesting backstories and fantasy worlds that I would like to visit. But the character I liked most in this book was Cora. She’s a new student at the school and insanely relatable. She’s plus size, insecure, and anxious. Being in her head hit very close to home sometimes. But what I liked most about her was that she wasn’t a stereotype. She was constantly surprising people with her inner and our strength and I loved that about her. She’s just one example of a great character in this series.
The other cool this about this book is that it’s the first time that we got a main character who is from a world beyond Earth. In this book we had Rini, who is Sumi’s daughter and is from Confection. It was so fascinating seeing how she is different and similar to her companions from the school. Plus in general she was really fun and bubbly, but still vulnerable. Through Rini we explored one more idea of belonging. I mean throughout this book she is literally being removed from existence. Plus through her we also had a lot of exploration of family and friendship which I enjoy about this series.
I seriously loved this book. It might be my favorite in this series. It had some of he things I loved about the first book combined with things I loved about the second book. It’s got amazing worlds, a thrilling plot, and complex and relatable characters. The series is getting better and better and I really hope there is more coming because I am not ready to let it go.
I give Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire 10 out of 10 stars
Have you read Beneath the Sugar Sky? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!
I didn't even know there was a third book. I'm adding it to my TBR right now!
ReplyDelete