Alex, Janelle and Marzie Read Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky, Part 1

The Baker, illustration by Rovina Cai, for Beneath the Sugar Sky

Our last discussion covered the second book in the Wayward Children series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, which was the backstory of Jack and Jill's lives before they arrived at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children. Beneath the Sugar Sky finds us back at the school, with newly arrived Cora, a mermaid girl, and some of our usual favorite students like Christopher, Kade, and Nadya, who is, let me remind you, a Drowned Girl. On a cool afternoon in which Cora and Nadya are enjoying the pond on school grounds, everyone is stunned by the arrival of Rini, a young woman dropped from the future (no, literally), who says she is Sumi's daughter. You remember Sumi, of the ever moving hands, from Every Heart a Doorway? Yes, that Sumi. The one Jill murdered. When she was still a teenager. So how on earth...? Such Nonsense, you say. And you wouldn't be wrong. Only Nonsense could explain bending time and space this way. And only a gifted Baker could make it all right.

Here's my review of Beneath the Sugar Sky from 2017, which I've bumped to 4.5 stars after my reread:

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars!

"All you have to do is believe... There is kindness in the world, if we know how to look for it. If we never start denying it the door."

This is the third book in the Wayward Children series. I have to admit that much as I enjoyed Every Heart a Doorway I have enjoyed the successor books much more. Part of it lies in my growing appreciation for some of the characters (especially Kade, whose sardonic humor is wonderful) but also in my enjoyment of the diverse and imaginative worlds that McGuire has created. Rini's search for her mother Sumi takes us from Eleanor West's school to Nancy's world and into Confection. It dances with time- present, past and future- in delightful ways.

This series is a children's series for young adults or adults. That has probably never been more so than in this book. We can raise the dire warning flag on some more adult language and on the amusing (at least to me) fact that the word "vagina" is high on the list or words used by Rini, one of the central characters. I am sure that's all likely to get this book banned somewhere in Texas. Then of course there is the fact that this entire series is one great big LGBTQ/marginalized children/disabled children confection. A series for all of us who ever felt we didn't fit. For those waiting for their door.

My feelings are pretty much unchanged from last year but I have to say that I found Rini more irritating this time around, and I loved the Baker even more. I listened to the audiobook, read by Michelle Dockery, and there are some portions of the book, such as the scenes with the Baker, that I love to listen as I would a fairy tale or bedtime story. I did feel that this book didn't flow together with the rest of the series. The previous two books were so strongly linked, and this story, though Sumi is a central component of the story, feels less so.


So let's get down to our discussion!


Alex, Janelle and Marzie Read Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

Part 1

Alex: Beneath the Sugar Sky is the third in the Wayward Children series, and while I adore Cora, this is not my favorite book in the series. What are your initial feelings about BTSS?

Janelle: My initial feelings were that it was just too much time spent in Nonsense than I liked. I like the Moors, and Logic, or Reason. But on second reading (done earlier today) I liked it a little better. Though I do feel it is oddly padded.

Marzie: On listening to the book all the way through, for the second time, I feel as if Rini is too shrill at times. I really loved Nadya, and I loved seeing Nancy again. Having more than a few friends and family that struggle with the hideousness of other people when dealing with their body weight, I really like having Cora, a character whose weight is an advantage in her portal world.

Alex: Rini drove me effing bonkers. She was SO WHINY and DEMANDING, and I just wanted to smack her with a wooden spoon to get her to Just. Be. Quiet.

Janelle: I liked Cora, too, especially given her real struggles with her weight, and also the judgment of others -- but goodness. I didn’t care much about Rini.

Alex: Cora is the character that I desperately want to see more of in fiction. She’s fat but she’s healthy and capable, and she gets to shine.

Janelle: What I do love about the book is that I feel like it is both the final book in a trilogy in that we get resolution for characters from book one, and also it is a springboard (I hope!) for other books in the series. I really want to see where the series goes from there.

Marzie: I loved the fact that in this book you can repair things that seemed irretrievably broken. They correct the damage done to Sumi and Rini. I also adored the Baker and the philosophy of the Baker's role. And as I said, I enjoyed Nadya. I like her wry humor. And as writer Cara Liebowitz says, Nadya gets to be a person with a physical disability who went to a world (Belyyrreka) where her disability doesn't matter. But I’m not sure I feel it closes a trilogy, as in an Act 1. I actually sort of feel like this book is an awkward middle child book in comparison to the first two, which are so very connected and rich.

Alex: I’m with Marzie, this book kind of feels like book 2 in a trilogy, not a completion. I think the next book “at the school” will explore what happens when Sumi comes back to the school. Hopefully, Cora will find her door.

Janelle: I kind of think the next books will deal with Jill, and why she was able to do what she did. I got this feeling as I was re-reading today that maybe some of the later books will repair what Jill was breaking but in different ways.

Alex: Come Tumbling Down will assuredly be about Jack and Jill, but I’m not sure how. Seanan had mentioned that the books were going to alternate between a backstory book and an “at school” book, and CTD comes after In An Absent Dream which is a backstory book.

Marzie: That’s why I say this book is the awkward middle child. After Lundy in IaAD we are headed, based on the title, back to the Moors I thought, but wow, if Jill goes back to Eleanor West's school, I am totally leaving the school if I’m Eleanor and Kade. LOL

Alex: I’d leave too! Jill is the Worst.

Janelle: But SUCH a fun character.

Marzie: But I’m NEVER forgiving Jill for killing Alexis, guys. Ever. On another note, do you think we will see more of Nancy in later books?

Janelle: Yeah, I think we will see Nancy in Kade’s book.

Alex: I honestly think Nancy’s chapters are done - if we see her again it will be little cameos, but I think she’s done and I am happy leaving her to her solitude and stillness.

Marzie: I kind of think she might be done, too, but Kade cares for her, so perhaps we will see some aspect of her in his book.

Alex: I don’t really see much how she’d fit in his book, but I think we’re in Speculation territory at this point.

Marzie: Wow, for a minute there I read that and thought "Speculation" was a Logic world and wondered how I missed that one! (Readers, check out Tor.com's recent article on the Known Worlds of the Wayward Children series.) What I’m hoping is we don’t get more Rini. I will enjoy more time with Sumi. Never a dull moment, that one.

Alex: I was happy to see Sumi alive again, and am looking forward to more of her antics the next time a book is set at the school.

Janelle: I also hope not to see Rini. I just don’t like Nonsense.

Marzie: Personally, I’d go nuts in Nonsense because a lot of Nonsense seems unfair and quixotic. Also, too much sugar in Confection for me. Nonsense doesn't seem compatible for Ravenclaws like me.

Alex: I disagree that nonsense is incompatible with Ravenclaws! Case in point: Luna Lovegood is absolutely in a Nonsense world.

Marzie: You’ve got me there on that one. Luna is definitely in a Nonsense world of her own, complete with snorkacks and wrackspurts.

Janelle: Yeah, Luna could be a Nonsense deity.

Marzie: LMAO! (I should point out my Ravenclaw-emblazoned car is called Luna and have a set of spectrespecs to go with my Ravenclaw robes. So I really should have known better.)

Janelle: Speaking of deities, I absolutely adored the idea of the Baker, and what that portends for the series as a whole. Mostly, we have seen the kids who come back and are exiled from the worlds from some reason or other. But it’s interesting to see that the kids who find their doors can gain a godlike power over their world. I wanna see that idea developed further.

Alex: I LOVED the Baker! She was fabulous, and I love that she was so no-nonsense about all of the Nonsense. She just did things because they should be done and they worked because she believed they would.

Marzie: Well, she was one of the things I liked best about this book. And I love that Rovina Cai illustration of her, mixing her batter. I like the whole philosophy involved with that character and the role she fills regarding creating things in her world that need to be there. And that’s true Janelle, the idea a person's doorway is also a way to have powerful control over their (portal) world is quite unique.

Alex: Those illustrations are so gorgeous.

Rini falls from the sky, illustration by Rovina Cai, for Beneath the Sugar Sky

Check out Part 2 of our Buddy Read Discussion over on Alex's blog where we discuss whether the Baker is a god, the quest aspect of this book, the bravery of these children, and thoughts about where the series heads next. 

We will be back in about three weeks with our discussion of In an Absent Dream, the fourth book in the Wayward Children series, which releases on January 8th, 2019.

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