Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review is spoiler-free!

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children #3
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Release Date: January 9th 2018 by tor.com
Format: Hardcover, 174 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

I think I definitely enjoy these stories from the current happenings of Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children than I do the ones we get explaining backstories, but only just. This one I liked especially because we got to 1) meet a new character (Rini) and 2) explore some of the worlds we’ve heard about but after the kids had already been there. It was a really cool way to see them!

In this one, we’re following some of the kids from the first book that was set in a current time (which would be Every Heart a Doorway) and some kids we haven’t met before, who arrived after the first book had taken place. I enjoyed meeting the new characters along with seeing some familiar faces, and I felt like it was a lot easier to connect to the story, as short as it was, because those familiar faces were there to help ease in the new ones.

(I won’t say who the old ones are, because that would tread spoiler territory depending on who I mentioned.)

Speaking of short, though, that still is my only gripe concerning these books. It’s almost a half-gripe, because I do find myself enjoying that I can pretty much knock these out in a day if I really want to. However, because of the length, I feel like we miss out on some details I would really like to read about in favor of keeping the story moving. This is a lot more prevalent in the ones where we go back in time (yeah, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, I’m looking at you), which is where I get the most disappointed, but it does still manage to happen at least a little in the other books. I suppose that just means it’s a story for another time, but then that relies on McGuire going back at some point and giving that story, which we don’t know will happen or not.

Aside from that, though, I really do love these books. They’re creative and whimsical and the cast is always so eclectic that I don’t really see what comes next even if I think I know what to expect. And the main world in this one was so cool! I loved the details and the journey they took, along with the ones of the other places we got to see.

(I’m trying not to give too many details, can you tell?)

All in all, a good addition to the story and definitely one with a plot point I was thrilled to have, and I can’t wait for the next one where we get to go further.

Thanks for reading!