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

No sign of Jack and Jill in this installment, except for a reference to the events in the first book, and while I was a bit disappointed since I wanted a lot more of them after Book Two, the storyline here definitely made me feel a lot better about it fast.

A girl falls out of the sky into the turtle pond at Miss West’s Home For Wayward Children, and demands to see her mother, Sumi. Only problem is, Sumi died at the hands of a serial killer before she could return to the realm of Confection and fulfill her destiny, a destiny that includes defeating the evil Queen Of Cakes before settling down with a candy corn farmer and giving birth to her daughter, Rini. As Rini begins to disappear, Back-To-The-Future-style, four intrepid students decide to assist her on a quest to recover her mother and put Confection back in order.

This was another great novella in the series, probably a bit lighter in tone than the first two books. I did like the inclusion of The Baker, tho I differ with Seanan McGuire (or at least the viewpoint of our heroes) that The Baker is necessarily a god by virtue of being able to access things others can’t. I very much understood The Baker’s refusal to ascribe divinity to herself simply because she had resources and knowledge others didn’t, and the perpetuation of a thought system otherwise lends itself to a dangerous elitism that allows for cargo cults at its mildest and outright religious fascism at its worst.

The really nice thing about this series is that it prompts you to think about things like that. I do hope Ms McGuire writes more of these: I hear she has material for at least four more! Here’s hoping that at least one of them continues the adventures, such as they were, of Jack and Jill.