Scan barcode
A review by bluejayreads
Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
5.0
This story is set after the events of the first book, Every Heart a Doorway, and it brings back several of the characters from that - namely Christopher and Kade, although Nancy does make a small appearance. The main character is a new one, though: Cora, a fat girl who went to an underwater world and was a mermaid before accidentally ending up back in our world. I say Cora is the main character since she's the one whose thoughts we get to hear, but really everybody in the adventuring group plays roughly equal parts.
The adventuring group consists of Kade and Christopher, who we met in Every Heart a Doorway; Nadya, who must have been in Every Heart a Doorway but who I'd completely forgotten about; Rini, who we've never met, daughter of Sumi, who we have; and Cora, who's competely new. It's a short book so there's not a lot of space for character development, but you still get a fair bit from Cora - mainly her feelings about her fatness from being bullied about it, which was relatable to me as a fat person.
The story leads the group through several worlds, including Nancy's Underworld (where we briefly get to see her again) and Confection, the world Sumi/Rini came from, which is ... wild. It is, after all, a nonsense world. I don't want to spoil the fun of finding out about it, but I really liked that we actually get the origin story for Confection and how it became the way it is.
The whole plot is the group trying to track down the different pieces of Sumi, who was murdered in the first book, so they can bring her back to life so she can save Confection from a tyrant and also get married and have Rini. I never lost interest in the book, but the stakes never seem really high - the only real consequence of failure is that Rini would disappear. Despite the fact that they are trying to literally put a dead girl back together, this book is a lot more light and fun than the other ones. Less gore, less death, and a lot of baked goods.
I think I liked the previous two books better, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this one and definitely intend to finish the series.
The adventuring group consists of Kade and Christopher, who we met in Every Heart a Doorway; Nadya, who must have been in Every Heart a Doorway but who I'd completely forgotten about; Rini, who we've never met, daughter of Sumi, who we have; and Cora, who's competely new. It's a short book so there's not a lot of space for character development, but you still get a fair bit from Cora - mainly her feelings about her fatness from being bullied about it, which was relatable to me as a fat person.
The story leads the group through several worlds, including Nancy's Underworld (where we briefly get to see her again) and Confection, the world Sumi/Rini came from, which is ... wild. It is, after all, a nonsense world. I don't want to spoil the fun of finding out about it, but I really liked that we actually get the origin story for Confection and how it became the way it is.
The whole plot is the group trying to track down the different pieces of Sumi, who was murdered in the first book, so they can bring her back to life so she can save Confection from a tyrant and also get married and have Rini. I never lost interest in the book, but the stakes never seem really high - the only real consequence of failure is that Rini would disappear. Despite the fact that they are trying to literally put a dead girl back together, this book is a lot more light and fun than the other ones. Less gore, less death, and a lot of baked goods.
I think I liked the previous two books better, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this one and definitely intend to finish the series.