Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children may resemble a boring boarding school but there is more to the school that meets the eye. It is a special kind of school, a magical school, where students who have experienced fantastic adventures are slowly reintroduced in to the “real” world.

One of the students was a girl named Suni. Suni was supposed to be the savior of the sugary magical land Confection; she was to defeat the Queen of Cakes, marry, and have a daughter named Rini. Unfortunately, Suni was killed before any of these things could happen.

And yet Rini was born anyway.

With Suni gone and not having returned to Confection, the timeline is trying to correct itself. This means that Rini is slowly disappearing and Confection is slowly crumbling. It will be a race against time for Suni’s friends, both old and new, to try and make things right.

Beneath the Sugar Sky is the third and most recent installment in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. It picks up about a little over a year after the ending of the first book. Some students have left the school while some have remained and new ones have joined them, one of them being Cora.

Previously, McGuire touched on different ethnicities, skin colors, gender identities, and sexualities. Now the subject of body image and it’s accompanying anxiety is added to the mix through the character of Cora. In our world, Cora is seen as obese. Her weight seen as an affliction and something to be ashamed of, whereas in the underwater world she traveled to her weight was seen as a boon. The layers of fat that were a point of shame for her here were a point of pride among the merpeople she met. In returning to our world, Cora must once again face the negativity.

Unlike the first two books (Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones, respectively) Beneath the Sugar Sky has a lighter feel to it. While there are some darker elements – the cemetery scene immediately comes to mind – it does not continue throughout the entire story. Much like the world of Confection, there is a lighter feel to the prose in this latest installment.

That is not to say the book is all light and frivolity. It is actually a meshing of darkness and light. It is a tale of friendship and love, even when we do not know the person we are trying to help.

Yes, there are a few confusing elements but they are minor compared to the overall tale. Alas, I cannot go into them too much as to do so would ruin the story itself as they are a key part to the plot. I myself had to reread a handful of passages a few times just to make sure I had everything straight in my head.

I do recommend readers read the previous books before delving in to Beneath the Sugar Sky. At the very least they should read the first book, Every Heart a Doorway as characters in that book return here. Other than that, I absolutely recommend this one to my readers. I tore through it in a single evening and am sure you will do the same. I cannot wait for the next installment.