Review: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

I absolutely adore these books.

This is the third book in this series, but oddly I think you only *need* to read the first book to understand what happens in this book, and I am not even sure that is totally true. This story follows Cora, a girl who has recently been returned to our world after having been a mermaid. She is now a student at Eleanor's School for Wayward Children, and one morning she goes outside to meet up with the only friend she has made at the school so far, and as she does that, a girl clothed by cake falls out of the sky and into the pond. Shenanigans ensue.

My very favorite thing about this series, and an aspect that makes these books so weird to rate, is that the structure is so interestingly done. Each book contains a complete journey for the focal character and often for other side characters in that story. The series jumps around to different focal characters as well as jumping around in time. So far, each book has added to past books, both the main and side plots. You get context to old characters as well as meeting new people. I am sure I am reading bits and pieces that will become important for future books, and that people I never thought I would see again will rear their heads in future books. It is a truly delightful and ambitious way to structure a series.

I did really enjoy this book, I loved getting to go to Confection in the second half, and I especially loved going to the Halls of the Dead, I wanted that so much at the end of book one, and I am so excited we got to go see it. I hope Layla is someone we get to see more of later down the line; I would also love to meet someone who comes through a door and ends up on Earth later as well.

Cora was a really excellent focal character; she was a mermaid, and before that, she was living a life very affected by fatphobia, and she is worried about that being at play in her new life at the school. She was really an interesting character, and I loved being inside her head. I thought her emotional journey was done really well. I particularly liked that all three of the focal characters so far have had such different conclusions to their stories; it really keeps this series from being stale.

I am obsessed. I am excited to continue.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.