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Beneath the Sugar Sky  By  cover art

Beneath the Sugar Sky

By: Seanan McGuire
Narrated by: Michelle Dockrey
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Publisher's summary

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" 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.

©2018 Seanan McGuire (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2019 YALSA Amazing Audiobook

"This gothic novel is ideal for fantasy fans who have longed for a world of their own, as well as readers looking for books with diverse casts." —Bookish

Girl Interrupted meets Grimm's Fairy Tales. Let it in and it will touch your heart and open your mind.” —Geek Syndicate

Featured Article: 16 of the Best Fantasy Authors Ever


There is no feeling quite like falling in love with a great fantasy listen, doing a little digging, and joyfully discovering that the author has an extensive catalog of audiobooks for you to dive right into. Fantasy as a genre is particularly blessed with a wealth of diverse authors writing all different kinds of stories. From classic epics to standalone novels that were published in the last few years, it's the perfect genre for losing yourself in a full day’s worth of listening. These brilliant fantasy authors will transport you to another world—whether a parallel universe or a post-apocalyptic version of Earth.

What listeners say about Beneath the Sugar Sky

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    5 out of 5 stars

Another excellent story from the Wayward Children

Life at Miss Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children continues, even after one student murdered another, her sister took her away back through their door to the Moors, and new students have arrived. Two of the new students are Cora, whose door went to a water world where she was a mermaid, and Nadya, who went to a different water world, where she was a Drowned Girl. They were both in their different worlds, heroes.

One day, while they're out on the grounds together, a young woman named Rini drops from the sky into the school's pond, and demands to be taken to her mother, Sumi.

Sumi is the student who was murdered, years before she would have given birth to her prophesied child.

Awkwardly, Rini is gradually melting out of existence, as the time since her mother's failure to return to the world of Confection grows. Also, it's not just her own existence that's at stake. Sumi had defeated the Queen of Cakes and freed the world of Confection from her tyranny. With no Sumi, the tyrant queen has returned and resumed her tyranny.

Rini absolutely rejects the idea that mere causality can be allowed to interfere with her mother returning and saving both her, and their world. One student, Christopher, comes up with an idea, and soon Christopher, Kade, Nadya, Cora, and Rini are off on a mission, along with Sumi's bones. What follows is fascinating, bizarrely logical, moving, and surprising. Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Short

And a bit preachy. But it's a decent story when it doesn't get bogged down in telling you what to think. Several of the students of the Home for Wayward Children go on a quest to save Sumi, who died in book one. And that's about it. There's some nice world-building - they get to visit Nancy's world and learn a little about that, plus they learn more about Christopher's world of bone people. We get two new characters from water worlds, but don't ever really learn much about them, despite one being a main character.

Character development is weak overall - the author falls into the habit of telling rather than showing, and that's especially true for the mc, Cora. We're told ad nauseam that she's fat and has been harassed for it, but really nothing else about her, which is basically the opposite of how the character, or any fat person, wants to be seen. So kind of a well meaning fail in that regard, and readers with body image issues should know to brace yourself.

But the story did move right along and the world-building is really wonderful. It's a bit overpriced for the length, a bit flat on the characters, and preachy, but enjoyable, so a solid three stars.

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What a tear-jerker!

I sometimes wish these books were longer, they have such wonderful world(s)-building... but I suppose the characters wish for that too.

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3 people found this helpful

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Meh

Ehhhhh I don’t think this book is as good as the previous two in the series. I liked that it was a sequel to Every Heart A Doorway, rather than a prequel, and I loved that we saw Nancy again, but the book itself didn’t fully hold my attention.

I can’t remember if we were told an age for Rini, but I thought she was around the same age as the other characters so 16-17, but the narrator made her sound like a whiny child half the time, which made taking her seriously and actually listening to the audiobook a bit of a frustration.

The plot itself also felt like nonsense. Considering that they spent half of the time in a nonsense world, that’s probably the point, but it just felt lacking in general.

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you've gotten this far

you've gotten this far and you're reading seanan mcguire, you know the stories are unique and insightful and poignant. you know you want to keep reading

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  • Overall
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Sweet!

A great adventure to save Sumi! This is an excellent story of found family and traveling through different doors. I really enjoyed it. The sweetness of the confection world is giving me diabetes, but such a good story. 😂 I love the future and past parts of this story. I really liked that I had to keep up with all the worlds and times.

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    4 out of 5 stars

was almost my favorite

I loved this. We get to see old faces again. Going to all of the different worlds was really cool. My only complaint is how much one character was getting comments on about her weight. Which to me took away from the story because it did it so often. It didn't add anything to the story and was very annoying.

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  • Overall
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Another great story

I loved this story with all its twists and turns and locked and unlocked doors. Great installment t

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Character Ages Confusing

The narrator's shrill and childish portrayal of nearly all female voices made the characters come across as children. They're supposed to be teenagers. It was increasingly difficult to listen to as the story progressed. A few reviews said this installment was preachy and I can't help but agree. It was off-putting and abrasive at times, and with the strange whininess of character voices it was a medley of Meh. It was also quite odd how the narration of Christopher sounded more masculine than Cade, when in the first installment of the series, Cade had just as much masculinity in his voice as Christopher. Just some uncomfy narration choices were made in this audiobook that have me cringing and wishing it was over already...

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Great book and series! But had a hard time listening

I absolutely love this book and the entire series. It’s really difficult for me to “put down the book.” I have definitely lost sleep listening! I really love each World, character, and story.

I will say, however, that the narrators voice for Rini was like nails on chalkboard for me. The narrator is an amazing narrator, but the voice for Rini was so “cringey” that it made it hard for me to finish this book. The high-pitched demanding voice of Rini might be one of the worst sounds I’ve ever heard. Again, this has nothing to do with the narrator, she did a fantastic job. It’s just that one character that makes it really hard for me to listen. I even have to turn down the volume of the audiobook while Rini is talking because I can’t stand it. Other than that, this was a fantastic story, and a great narration of the story!

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