Name: Ada's review of In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
Item: In an Absent Dream
Rating: 4
Author: Ada

Seanan McGuire

A stand-alone fantasy tale from Seanan McGuire's Alex award-winning Wayward Children series, which began in the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List Every Heart a Doorway This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. The Wayward Children Series Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky Book 4: In an Absent Dream

In an Absent Dream

A stand-alone fantasy tale from Seanan McGuire's Alex award-winning Wayward Children series, which began in the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List Every Heart a Doorway This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. The Wayward Children Series Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky Book 4: In an Absent Dream At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Beck Krystal

No one serves their friends by grinding themselves into dust on the altar of compassion.

zilver 

cláudia

I really liked exploring Lundy's world. It was definitely a step-up from the previous book. I loved the connections and relationships that she built. I also loved the ending which was a surprise since I did not like most of the endings in the other books. Overall, very nice.

Okay this was was better than the last I feel so sorry for our main character and omg I loved getting to know lindy more. Getting see her door amd word and what happened

Samantha King

Sarah Sammis

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire is the fourth in the Wayward Children series. Like the second book, Down Among the Sticks and Bones it serves as a backstory of one of the students. This book covers the adventures of Katherine Lundy in the Goblin Market over the course of ten years.

Katherine Lundy is presented at the start of the novella as the middle child with an older brother and a baby sister. She doesn't want to be a Kate or a Kitty or anything but Katherine. She likes rules. She likes knowing the plan. She prefers to read and it is reading that sends her in the direction of the Goblin Market.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2019/comm...

S/M	Utopia	Labyrinth	99FF99

The goblin market was fascinating but I wasn't quite as interested in Lundy as a character

fatru tamzil

Every single one of this novella that I read is mlre exquisite than the last and this one is my favorite so far.

Denaiir

I always look forward to a new book in this series because the worlds and the writing style are amazing, the characters are endearing, but i wasn't really excited about Lundy's story. I really didn't like her in the first book, she's actually the only character I didn't really enjoy reading about in the first 3 books. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I quickly became attached to the character, who as usual is a misfit because of her parents' actions (or lack thereof) 

The Goblin Market was another enchanting world that I loved reading about even though it spoke to me less than other settings such as the Moors. 

I love this series to pieces and I hope we get more!

Krystyna 

I LOVED this book! This may be my favorite in the series so far. I loved that the main character was a bookworm and I loved the Goblin Market. I really liked the idea of fair trade as a form of currency. What may be fair to one person may not be fair to someone else; so, it kind of evens the playing field for everyone. I really liked getting Lundy's background. As always, I loved the writing in this book and it has some great quotes. This series is one of my favorite series of all time! Also, the cover is gorgeous!

Alexa M

I’m torn because I love Seanan’s writing so much but the pacing of this was... off? I feel like we didn’t get much adventure/plot as the others. Still had fun reading this tho!

“Home always shrinks in times of absence, always bleeds away some of its majesty, because what is home, after all, apart from the place one returns to when the adventure is over?”

Lundy…this one broke my heart truly, this may be my favourite book in the series yet! The Goblin Market with all its rules and fair value my favourite setting, I just adored this one so much!

dija

This made me feel something i dont know what it is but it made me feel it.

Izza

Emelie

Had literally no depth in it what so ever!

Riley

Elisa Bieg

I know I will be in the minority in not liking this, but I truly think the author jumped the shark here.

I found the world building contrived and the pacing a bit off. The story itself was, in my opinion, depressing and not really following a logical progression, or one that made complete sense.

The main character was a little one-dimensional and I found it frustrating because things kept happening but somehow it brought us back to the same point, again and again.
And maybe that was the point. Maybe there is a running commentary about trying to stop time and all that. But if so, I feel like this wasn’t the best way to put that message across.

I loved the first book in this series and have been listening to the audiobooks since; and while I didn’t enjoy any of them quite the same way I enjoyed that first book, I still found myself intrigued and curious to know the backstory of these characters, each one so interesting in their own right.
This one will be my last, I think. I know this is a very beloved series, but I guess it’s not for me.

Atmospheric, adventurous, and intriguing. This is the backstory of Lundy and her time in the Goblin Market. Based on the poem by Christina Rossetti. So the alluions to classic and gothic literature continue, but the tone and the main character are distinctly modern. This is a logical world of rules and functions on a barter system. The worldbuilding is interesting and the concept of fair value is discussed and developed pretty well, given the page limit of a novella. The pace of the story keeps moving and it is a smooth, quick read as you would expect. Very entertaining. Lundy is the character focus and the growing complications of making her final choice which world to spend her adult life in is interesting.

Cheryl Hedlund

Livia

Ahh, i just realized that i found the prequel stories to be more enjoyable than the original timeline.

My one complain is that the ending happened a bit too quickly and i would like for it to happen longer. Otherwise, i LOVE this book so much.

Maggie Gordon

I found my door and everything hurts. In short, this is the best volume of an outstanding series. Definitely provides fair value for my broken heart...

Charlotte J. Ruth

I read this book in one sitting. 

The Wayward Children series has quickly become one of my comfort series. The world is so whimsical and magical, making it easy to slip into. 

I’ve listened to the audiobooks for the first 4 books, all of which I loved. I highly recommend the audiobooks for short and easy reads: this one only took me 4 hours to listen to. 

In my opinion, out of the four books I’ve read thus far, this is the best installment in the series. This book explores gender norms, societal expectations, escapism, and more. I adored the setting of the Goblin Market and found it a fascinating word to explore. 

Seanan McGuire is great at making you experience a wide variety of emotions in a span of a couple of hours😭😭 the ending had me internally grieving and sobbing

I would love to read this series physically upon reread, but I will still listen to the audiobooks while reading because they’re all phenomenal (especially Every Heart a Doorway and In an Absent Dream)!

Celeste Richardson

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. 

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. While I appreciate the gift, the giving of it in no way impacted my opinion.

“Your name is your heart, and you don’t give your heart away.”
In an Absent Dream is heartbreaking in the most beautiful way. McGuire gives us a story that early readers of the Wayward Children series already know ends in tragedy, but she does so in a way that maintains both interest and, amazingly, hope. I honestly didn’t think Down Among the Sticks and Bones could be topped, but I stand corrected. What a way to start off 2019.
“It is an interesting thing, to trust one’s feet. The heart may yearn for adventure while the head thinks sensibly of home, but the feet are a mix of the two, dipping first one way and then the other.”
The Goblin Market is everything I dreamed of as a child. Even before we reach the Market for the first time, I was in love. The description of the magical tree containing Lundy’s door captured my imagination on its first appearance. I felt that it was a perfect visual representation of the spirit of the Market. It is a “good tree,” one made for enticing children to play in its shade and climb its branches. Its leaves are every possible shade of green, with no two exactly the same shape. It is blatantly magical before the door it holds is even revealed.
“Home always shrinks in times of absence, always bleeds away some of its majesty, because what is home, after all, apart from the place one returns to when the adventure is over? Home is an end to glory, a stopping point when the tale is done.”
While I was a happy child with an amazing home life, I related to Lundy deeply on multiple levels. I was a very social kid, and yet I had an insanely hard time developing relationships with children who weren’t relatives. Adults loved me, but there was something about me that made me easy for kids to overlook until I hit the age of twelve. I think one of the major reasons for this stems from the other way in which I relate to Lundy: an insane love for and attachment to the written word. Until she stumbled into the Goblin Market, Lundy walks through life with her head perpetually stuck in a book. However, Lundy’s entire worldview changes when she steps into the Market for the first time and finds her true home. The question is, can she stay?
“Your life is the biggest bargaining chip you have. Before you choose where to spend it, be sure you understand what you’re getting in return.”
I loved the descriptions of the Market. It was lush and enticing but left plenty to the imaginations of the readers. The rule of fair trade, as well as the other rules that govern the Market, are interesting in their duality of simplicity and complexity. But my favorite aspect of the Market is the idea that it is actually its own entity, whose interpretation of the rules is law. There is both a freedom and a rigidity to the Market that would have absolutely captured me as a child, as it has evidently done with so many other children. Believe it or not, kids thrive on a certain amount of rules as long as they aren’t stifling., and the Market hits the perfect balance. Everything has a price, and debt makes itself visible so that you can’t claim that what you owe slipped your mind. But is the Goblin Market really an incredible haven, or does it set out to entice and ensnare? If it’s a haven, why does it only call children to itself, and close its doors to them if they don’t decide to become citizens before the age of eighteen? If the Market truly wanted them to be sure, wouldn’t it call them as adults instead? There are so many questions raised by and about the Market, and yet it’s hands down my favorite of McGuire’s portal worlds so far.
“Following the rules didn’t make you a good person, just like breaking them didn’t make you a bad one, but it could make you an invisible person, and invisible people got to do as they liked.”
There was nothing I didn’t love about this novella. The characters, the motivations, the settings, and the concept were all amazing. (Side note: I want to be the Archivist when I grow up. She’s warm and cool, motherly and friendly while still maintaining the aloofness and lack of bias needed to fulfill her role in the Market. I thought she was perfection.) While all of these elements were beautifully rendered, what grabbed me once again was McGuire’s prose. She has such a stunning way with words. I kept reading the same sentences over and over again, sometimes even reading them aloud because they felt so velvety on the tongue. 
“No one serves their friends by grinding themselves into dust on the altar of compassion.”
What blows my mind about In an Absent Dream is the fact that, going in, I already knew how it was going to end. And yet the ending still absolutely wrecked me.  I’m baffled by how much Lundy’s story impacted me emotionally. Do I recommend this book? Without reservation, to anyone and everyone. Whether you read fantasy or literary fiction, whether you love YA or hate it, whether you’ve read the preceding books in the series or not, In an Absent Dream is absolutely worth reading. While having read Every Heart a Doorway first is suggested, as you will first meet this book’s protagonist within its pages, it’s not required. And if you happen to be a fan of the Labyrinth, Bowie’s cult classic film, you will undoubtedly have a soft spot for the Goblin Market as presented in these pages. 

“It was not, perhaps, a happy ending. But it was what they had, and so we shall leave them to it as we head on, ever on, toward the next, patiently waiting door.”
This is a stunning story exquisitely told, and it deserves to be read.

In an Absent Dream will be published January 8th, 2019. All quotes above were taken from the uncorrected proof, and are subject to change upon publication.

My favourite of the four I've read. Though I still believe they are way too short.

this was definitely my favourite so far! it was the most fairy tale-like one, including the inevitability of how lundy and her relationships unravel her. ah how i love a story where the ending is predetermined because the characters are who they are!

jana

definitely my favorite in the series so far!! i love lundy—how clever she is, how much heart she has—and i loved the enticing yet insidious vibes of the market, and i don’t know if it’s just been a while since i’ve last picked up a book in this series and have forgotten how much i enjoy seanan mcguire’s writing but it was especially stunning this time around.

Sabetha Danes

Each of these book is more impossible to put down than the last. 

So many doors and choices, how can one be sure? It's too perfect to be true, and you know you're more sure than you could ever be but still that one drop of you wants to have more time to decide. With each book that leads us through a door we get to the see the world that meshes so well with the child, it becomes more apparent how hard this choice is to make. Even when you know you're sure. 

I absolutely adore the way this series is laid out. As with book 2, we are following Lundy through her door, to make impossible choices over the course of 10 short years. Her story is heart wrenching and raw. Similar to the children we've met before her, but unique enough to be truly hers. 

The cast of characters in her door world, plus her original world are well crafted and bring so much to the story. Each of them are making their own choices, and all have unique traits, that would have changed the events had they not been there. 

You will adore these books if you love poetic fantasy, that speaks in truths, yet riddles. Books that make you question your own self, and if you are making the best choices for you. As with the previous installments, there is commentary on the modern family, and family values in general. 

I can't wait to read the next one!

These books are literal (or literary ha ha) crack

Also this is the first series i've EVER read where the strongest/best books were books #2 and #4. I mean really. Usually you have second book syndrome and in series that have a #4 usually that doesn't turn out to be one of the best of the series, even if the overall series remains great. So that really says something. Books #2 and #4 have been my favorites.

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In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

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