In an Absent Dream

Seanan McGuire

Jan 2019 · Wayward Children Book 4 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Cynthia Hopkins

About this audiobook

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

Ratings and reviews

Of all the sequels to Every Heart a Doorway, this one may be the best sequel, which recaptures the magic of the series; this is odd because this one is mid-20th century, and a backstory novel instead of a contemporary one. (While I did love book #2 and #3, they were vastly different in tone, so I didn't get the same 'vibe' from them?) It wonderfully encapsulates the particular loneliness of being in a place you can't call home, but also tied to it in a way that makes you feel guilty about leaving it. Lundy's story is as much about her finally finding a place to call her own as it is a cautionary tale about wanting more than you need. Lundy, being born at a time where women were still being forced into a particular version of femininity, spends her formative years in the Goblin Market, learning the rules of a High-Logic world (I had forgotten about the High-Wicked part) while also having her first close friendship with Moon, a citizen of the place. Being a stickler for rules, she fits right in there, and finds comfort in the ordered life of a world where everything is based on fairness, and that determines her attitude to most situations. As she grows up and keeps returning to her home, she is also being torn by the responsibility she feels towards her family, and the guilt over causing them pain by leaving to go to a place where she feels happy is tearing at her soul. Her mentor, and maternal figure, the Archivist, tries to guide her more self-sacrificing tendencies towards a sense of fairness, but circumstances, as well as personal losses make her hesitate and want to hold on to everything that she can. In this novel, particularly, McGuire builds the world so detailed, and with so much love that you can feel Lundy's emotional turmoil at every turning point in her life. I particularly identified with so much of her struggle, especially towards the end. Even knowing how it all ended (as told in book 1), keeping the story of the character such a interesting mystery for a reader - that was a neat bit of writing. Additionally, I loved the exploration of a selfless friendship in a world where each interaction with another person is guided by what is essentially an equivalent exchange principle. Lundy's and Moon's friendship, while occurring mostly in between the lines (until I reached the ending, I found this to be lacking), was explored in the way that said a lot about Lundy's character development and her later choices. Finally, I would recommend reading this in audio if possible. Hopkins does an amazing job with a (mostly) child protagonist, and wonderfully voices the other characters as well. Vocalization for emotional scenes was on point, and really gave it that effect that pushed this book into the 'amazing' zone.

About the author

SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the Wayward Children series, beginning with the Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning Every Heart a Doorway, the October Daye urban fantasy series, the InCryptid series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot.