Beneath the Sugar Sky
Ratings205
Average rating3.9
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Children have always tumbled down rabbit holes, fallen through mirrors, been swept away by unseasonal floods or carried off by tornadoes. Children have always traveled, and because they are young and bright and full of contradictions, they haven't always restricted their travel to the possible. Adulthood brings limitations like gravity and linear space and the idea that bedtime is a real thing, and not an artificially imposed curfew. Adults can still tumble down rabbit holes and into enchanted wardrobes, but it happens less and less with every year they live. Maybe this is a natural consequence of living in a world where being careful is a necessary survival trait, where logic wears away the potential for something bigger and better than the obvious. Childhood melts, and flights of fancy are replaced by rules. Tornados kill people: they don't carry them off to magical worlds. Talking foxes are a sign of fever, not guides sent to start some grand adventure.
But children, ah, children. Children follow the foxes, and open the wardrobes, and peek beneath the bridge. Children climb the walls and fall down the wells and run the razor's edge of possibility until sometimes, just sometimes, the possible surrenders and shows them the way to go home.
Beneath the Sugar Sky
Wayward Children
Every Heart a Doorway
Every Heart
I like existing. I'm not ready to unexist just because of stupid causality. I didn't invite stupid causality to my birthday party, it doesn't get to give me any presents.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Every Heart
Every Heart
Down Among
Beneath the Sugar Sky
Every Heart
Down Among
There was a door there, tall and imposing, the sort of door that belonged on a cathedral or a palace; the sort of door that said “keep out” far more loudly than it would ever dream of saying “come in.”
exactly
Indexed
Beneath the Sugar Sky
3.5 stars
If I'd read this as a standalone, it would've been a solid 4-star read. It's still a good book—but compared to the earlier entries in the series, it lacks some of the magic that made the first two feel so special.
I read Every Heart a Doorway for the first time last year and I wrote a review for it which you can read here. I did a reread of it this year and read the rest of the books that are currently out including the short stories. I read them back to back so they kind of all got scrambled in my brain so I thought I would just write a review on the series as a whole. These books are weird but in the best way. You definitely have to suspend disbelief but if you can do that I guarantee you will have fun with this series. I love how many worlds we get to learn about in this series. Some sound delightful and some no so much. I loved the characters some more than others of course. These are all novella length. For the most part I felt like we got a full story and I wasn't left feeling like I was missing something but at the same time I wanted more from each of the stories. Not because I felt like I was missing something I just wanted to know more about the characters and what happened after the ending of the book. We do get that answer for some of the characters in proceeding books so that was good. I've enjoyed each of the stories equally. I don't think I could pick a favorite but I do have favorite characters some of which I am still waiting on stories for so I hope those are coming. Overall I had fun reading these with Destiny and I can't wait for the next release.
I loved visiting Confection and the race to fix the world! I also love the back and forth between worlds and characters that we get in this series. We don't settle in one place, but instead we see adventures here and there for various characters and various worlds.
Ah. I am so in love with this series.
This series is so cool! I liked venturing into a ‘nonsense' world for this entry and trying to follow along with everything going on. It is just pure magic and so fun to read through.
Another charming entry into this beautiful series. Confection is the closest I've come to actually wanting to visit one of these worlds and the Candy Corn Farmer sounds like a babe, ngl
4 dresses made of cake out of 5.
A great story that led me to consider my experience and perception of expeiences with greater criticality.
Could've been 4⭐️ but the disability rep isn't good. I liked this world though. I didn't like the fat rep either, but that's not my wheelhouse. I definitely feel comfortable talking about the disability rep though.
Rini lands in a pond behind Home for Wayward Children. She comes from the Land of Confection. She finds out that her mother Sumi died in this land before she was conceived. That is why she is starting to disappear. She must race to undo her mother's death so she can exist. This was such a fun episode in this series. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Based off of the fact that this was a story centered around Sumi, it is fitting that there was a lot of nonsense in this book. But nonsense that has some logic to it. This one was a little hard to wrap my head around with the time travel/timey wimey stuff. But it was good.
Growing up fat had meant an endless succession of diets suggested by “helpful” relatives, and even more “helpful” suggestions from her classmates, ones that suggested starvation or learning to vomit on command.
This is my least favorite so far in the series though I loved some of the world descriptions in this.
Okay I loved the characters but the story was kinda weird (nonsense, as you would say). The narrator's high pitched voice for Rini really grated on my nerves so this only gets 3 stars.
I was very happy to see Kade and Christopher and Nancy again. Cora was introduced but didn't have much role. I liked her.
3.5/5. A little on the fence on this one. It had a pretty fun quest-like adventure where our heroes from the School go on a journey towards Confection in order to put Sumi back together again, but I felt that it was a little bogged down by some didactic aspects that felt a bit too heavy-handed imo.
I think some part of my experience of this book was dampened a little by the audiobook narrator's interpretation of Rini's voice. While the narrator was pretty good for the most part, she made Rini sound rather high-pitched and whiney, and since Rini is such a central character for this story, it got really grating really fast.
There also didn't seem to be a central protagonist per se, with each character taking turns in the spotlight. I get what the intention was behind that but it also made me feel like I couldn't really root for any one of them. Cora was perhaps the closest to being a protagonist. While I also get the intention of why we had to dwell so much on her insecurities, it also felt like she was a bit too defined by that. Again, I get the intention - childhood bullying and fat-shaming can be traumatizing and it's not easy to break free from those memories - but at the same time I thought it did her character a disservice to make it seem like that was literally all she could think about, if she wasn't bemoaning her lack of friends. We see so much of Cora's fears of what she might hear her new friends say about her physique in association with the candy world of Confection around them that, ironically, it becomes all we do associate Cora with, just in the opposite direction. IMO, a single or a few mentions of this to provoke thoughts amongst readers would've been just nice to raise that awareness which I agree is important, but to continually dwell upon almost nothing else was excessive. (I almost feel a bit afraid to mention this in my review because it kinda feels like I could get cancelled for having a different opinion on how I would like representation to happen in books)
Confection sounds like a diabetic nightmare and as someone who doesn't like sweet things that much, the thought of having to swim in a soda sea almost makes me a little nauseated.
Overall, a very short and sweet (hah!) novella. I look forward to continuing the series.
Very heartwarming fantasy - cutesy, whimsical with a bit of darkness.
3.5 rounded up to 4
Goodreads really need to add the 1/2 star functionality - geesh.
Just like the other books in this series, I loved the story and it was yet again way too short. The omnipotent narrator is great as well. The only reason why this isn't 5 stars is because of Cora.
In general, I liked her as a character, but she just keeps going on and on about being fat. Like I get that this is a trait of hers, she is very self-conscious and aware of the way some people might view her because of her weight. I think that's a solid thing to add and that isn't at all the problem. But fuck did she really mention/think about it at every possible fucking turn. It made me so tired of her. Like it's her entire personality. The whole time the book is going on and how she isn't her weight, she can't control it and it doesn't define her and then the book literally defines her by that struggle around people because of her weight anyway.
Didn't love that. Otherwise loved the book, the ending definitely made me cry
Still love this series. I feel like these are the types of stories I would love to be able to write. Seanan McGuire creates fantastical worlds where kids, who have real issues, get to have adventures, but with very high stakes.
Loved every minute. McGuire returns to the children of the first book, and continues their story in an adventure that spans several worlds, but also introduces us two some new characters. Time travel and non-linear timelines can get messy, but it's very well handled, as is the internal “logic” of the nonsense candyland that we spend most of our time in.
Highly recommended to anyone who loved the first book, especially if you loved it more than book two. Not quite a standalone book, you should at least read “Every Heart A Doorway” before you get into this one.