Beneath the Sugar Sky

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Michelle Dockrey

Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins

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

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

A Wonderful Delight

Seanan McGuire has a knack for making me cry and smile at the same time. This book is no exception. Michelle Dockrey does an amazing job reading, which comes as no surprise to anyone who has heard Michelle read before.

This is the best.

The books in this series just keep getting better and better! I relisten to them often.

Wonderful fairy tale with a modern touch.

Wonderful fairy tale with a modern touch. Characters are well defined, and enhanced by the voice talent.

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.

Wonderful, but I miss the author

I enjoyed the book, both the story and the narration. However, I really loved the narration by the author of the other two books and missed that voicework here.

Superb!

I was excited when I got the pre-order notice for this sequel, since I LOVED Every Heart a Doorway and then thought that the next-published prequel, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, managed somehow to exceed Heart in every way. And yes! I had to wait for just the right mood, to make the most of the opportunity - but when the time and whimsy were right, Beneath a Sugar Sky did not disappoint! It simply made me happy to listen, even when the protagonists were struggling, and part of it was that the protagonists felt so real that it was if I knew Kade and Christopher and Sumi and Miss West at summer camp and felt glad to be back among them and meeting new friends too. I can't think of the last book in which the people in it were so real and three-dimensional, without becoming too complex for their ages or experiences. And the worlds were truly, deeply, original and inspired, and they too were so detailed that they felt real, like strange foreign lands that you can visit but will never be home.

A quick note about the narrator: she was terrific - but Seanan McGuire was so magical a narrator for Sticks and Bones that no one could match her, and I was just a little disappointed that she didn't read this one too. I also didn't much care for the voices of Sumi and her daughter, but the narrator nailed them so Sumi sounded exactly as she had in Heart, and her daughter sounded very similar. And those matched their personalities - abrupt, a little high, a little whiny, and usually demanding. So the narrator was excellent, and I almost feel guilty giving her just four stars.... but finally I engaged in a little "grade deflation" to express again the gap between a really good narrator - and Ms. McGuire herself in Sticks and Bones.

Last but not least and in proof of Ms. McGuire's writing talent: this book would, I think, work just fine as a first read or as a stand-alone novel. But really, don't cheat yourself - get all three!

McGuire Does It Again

The latest in the Wayward Children series manages to circle back through the stories of the previous books while still being standout and stand alone. It's a great listen and Dockery does a great job of capturing the various voices and keeping you enthralled with the twists and turns of the tale. If you enjoyed the previous books in this series, you'll definitely love this one.

Wonderful

Wonderful as usual. The only negative thing I have to say about this series is that it is so short! I have never wanted more from a series than I have this!