underbaked sequel

[psocoptera]

Love Sugar Magic: A Sprinkle of Spirits, Anna Meriano, 2019, followup to A Dash of Trouble which I talked about here. Not as good as the first one, going for more of a Coco vibe than Edward Eager, but repetitive in the main action (we have to find the wandering old undead people! we have to find them again!) and then flubs the big emotional reunion bit at the end with a paternalistic decision that it wouldn't be good for a character's grieving process and so has to be denied to her. Meh. If you don't think a kid getting to see their dead mom one last time would be emotionally healthy, maybe don't set up your whole plot around a kid's desperate desire to do that in a world where it's magically possible? I like the developing complexity of the sisters' characters and relationships, though, and the inclusion of little bits of Spanish, and I think Junie liked it, and I can report that we finally made the Bread of the Dead from the first one and it was good and Junie enjoyed making it. So I'm sure we'll read the next one if and when it comes along.