Beneath the Sugar Sky
While I enjoyed this book, it didn't quite grab me the way the first two books in the series did. This one is a fun adventure in which a group of students at Eleanor West's school travel through several worlds in an attempt to resurrect a student who died before her time. It's got a couple of new faces and a couple of old favorites and it delves deeper into the underlying logic (or lack thereof) of these worlds.
I think that's the crux really. This story felt more like table-setting. McGuire is currently contract to write eight books in this series (of which five have been released), and there's every possibility that the series will extend beyond that. So she needed to spend some time establishing the rules and the map. It was interesting, and I'll certainly be grateful for it as the series progresses, but in the meantime it slowed this story down a bit. A lot of scenes boiled down to new-girl Cora asking questions and resident-expert Kade answering them with long-winded exposition.
It's a necessary step in a long series like this, and really McGuire handled it well. We get to actually see a few worlds to illustrate all of Kade's points. The quest itself is fun, even if you're pretty sure you know how it all ends.
There's also a weird tension between the inherent tragedy of this world - a bunch of misfits discover a sense of belonging only for it to be snatched away - and McGuire's desire to give all her characters happy endings. It's something I've been noticing in her Incryptid series, too, and I wonder if that theme will get more play here. If knowledge will somehow become the key to these kids finding their way home.
At any rate, I'm really excited about the next two books, which bring back some beloved characters from the first book. And I'm sure I'll come to appreciate this book more as time passes and I get deeper into the series.
I think that's the crux really. This story felt more like table-setting. McGuire is currently contract to write eight books in this series (of which five have been released), and there's every possibility that the series will extend beyond that. So she needed to spend some time establishing the rules and the map. It was interesting, and I'll certainly be grateful for it as the series progresses, but in the meantime it slowed this story down a bit. A lot of scenes boiled down to new-girl Cora asking questions and resident-expert Kade answering them with long-winded exposition.
It's a necessary step in a long series like this, and really McGuire handled it well. We get to actually see a few worlds to illustrate all of Kade's points. The quest itself is fun, even if you're pretty sure you know how it all ends.
There's also a weird tension between the inherent tragedy of this world - a bunch of misfits discover a sense of belonging only for it to be snatched away - and McGuire's desire to give all her characters happy endings. It's something I've been noticing in her Incryptid series, too, and I wonder if that theme will get more play here. If knowledge will somehow become the key to these kids finding their way home.
At any rate, I'm really excited about the next two books, which bring back some beloved characters from the first book. And I'm sure I'll come to appreciate this book more as time passes and I get deeper into the series.
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