Is there anyone who writes a more beautiful, poetic prose than Seanan McGuire?
In an Absent Dream is the fourth book in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. The concept is that children who find their way to the door to a different world then find a world that is perfectly suited to them. And the lesson learned is that a ‘perfectly suited’ world may have very unexpected drawbacks.
Our central character here is Lundy. She is a very mature young lady who is quite certain that she knows what she wants (and it isn’t in the current world). She wants a world that is perfectly logical. In this world she could bargain in the Goblin Market and be certain that everything was fair and reasonable.
While she does feel that this was the right decision for her, she visits her family before her decision is final and she receives a lot of push from her sister who was hoping Lundy would be in her life for a long time to come.
This is quite possibly my favorite of the four books in the series to date. There was something that was both magical and real in this volume that I don’t remember feeling before. Perhaps it’s because I felt we spent a fair amount of time in the real world as opposed to the magical world for Wayward Children, and that helped ground me a little more (and while I could be very wrong about this, it’s certainly how I am remembering the other books).
Lundy’s maturity (or at least what she believes to be her maturity) also really helps here. The ‘wayward’ aspect becomes more of a self-diagnosis rather than a truly ‘lost’ child who has no better option. It’s hard to feel sorry for Lundy, even though she is still a child, because she plots her own course so carefully.
These books of McGuire’s … the Wayward Children series … are dangerous. They are dangerous because they are beautiful and they hold so much promise, which makes them so appealing. But one can get lost in a McGuire novel just as easily as a wayward child can get lost in the world.
Looking for a good book? In and Absent Dream is the fourth book in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series and it is a beautiful piece of fantasy literature.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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In an Absent Dream
author: Seanan McGuire
series: Wayward Children #4
publisher: Tor
ISBN: 0765399296
hardcover, 208 pages
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