Review: Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire

Title: Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3)

Author: Seanan McGuire

Published by: Tom Doherty Associates (TOR)

Released: 2017

Source: Library

Summary:  Beneath the Sugar Sky returns to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the "real" world. 

Sumi died years before her prophesied daughter Rini could be born. Rini was born anyway, and now she’s trying to bring her mother back from a world without magic. ( Synopsis from Goodreads )

My Thoughts: I'm going to be unpopular about this, but I didn't find anything particularly spectacular about this story. It was okay, it was fine, but I'm not feeling the hype the majority of the book world feels for this series. 

In a sense, I felt like I was getting preached at, which I HATE HATE HATE when it comes to books. I expect to be given a story that I will fall into and enjoy. I don't like it when I can see the slant, the subliminal messaging being blasted at me. Beneath the Sugar Sky was just screaming LOOK HOW DIVERSE I AM! I mean that's fine. I'm all for diverse reads, I just don't like being beat over the head with it. I want to love a character because they are a good character, not because they fit into all these diverse categories.

What I did like is that Beneath the Sugar Sky kind of looped itself back around to events from the first book. I enjoyed getting to see characters that I'd already been introduced to. It was fun seeing Nancy again, even though I still don't get the lure of being a living statue. It was fun seeing Rini's Daughter, and learning that they were somehow going to bring her back. I like Seanan McGuire's writing. I like the illustrations that randomly popped up, even though they were very sparse.

I didn't really feel anything for the main character Cora. She was always thinking about how people were judging her for being fat. All she focused on was Fat Fat Fat. I think that fat mentality is something she needs to work on in herself, because it seemed to really bother her way more than it bothered other people. I'm not saying she needs to become a skinny minny, but she just needs to learn to like herself.

I didn't feel like the Candy Land world was that unique. I've seen it before. It reminded me a lot of Wreck-it-Ralph.

I really think the first two books were stronger than Beneath the Sugar Sky. This one had a protagonist that I just didn't really care about. 

And my main complaint that I've had through the whole of this series is that every single one of them is too short. The quest felt so rushed in Beneath the Sugar Sky. It needed more time, more development of the characters, for certain aspects of the plot to not resolve themselves so easily. The characters needed more of a challenge, which needs more time and pages.

I enjoy this series, but I don't love it. I don't necessarily get the hype. I'll still read more of them because I'm interested, but I don't ever see it becoming a 5 Star, Favorite Series for me.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5

Needs More Sugar.