Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★

i’m sad to report that Beneath the Sugar Sky is, as other reviewers have pointed out, by the far the weakest of the first three installments. after an amazing beginning and even better sequel (prequel?), i was super excited to revisit some of my favorites from the first book, but this just… didn’t do anything for me. for all that the book emphasized the high-stakes nature of their adventure, nothing really felt high-stakes. everything was solved without much of a struggle, and even moments where there could have been good angst and brutality were lacking.

also — i liked cora most of the time, but as a fat person there were a lot of things that didn’t come across the way i assume mcguire wanted them to when writing a fat character. it was jarring to have some really poignant observations about body image and fatphobia thrown in with a takes that just felt… off? demeaning? i know i'm not the universal authority on all things fat, and i really did like cora's character, but some aspects of her worldview on living as a fat person weren't to my taste.

with all that being said… NANCY!! KADE!! CHRISTOPHER!! nancy my girl i love her so much and i’m sad that we’ll likely never see her again