In an Absent Dream

It's always such a treat to get a new Wayward Children story. Each one is so very good. Fingers crossed Christopher is next.

im sad now

I read Every Heart a Doorway for the first time last year and I wrote a review for it which you can read here. I did a reread of it this year and read the rest of the books that are currently out including the short stories. I read them back to back so they kind of all got scrambled in my brain so I thought I would just write a review on the series as a whole. These books are weird but in the best way. You definitely have to suspend disbelief but if you can do that I guarantee you will have fun with this series. I love how many worlds we get to learn about in this series. Some sound delightful and some no so much. I loved the characters some more than others of course. These are all novella length. For the most part I felt like we got a full story and I wasn't left feeling like I was missing something but at the same time I wanted more from each of the stories. Not because I felt like I was missing something I just wanted to know more about the characters and what happened after the ending of the book. We do get that answer for some of the characters in proceeding books so that was good. I've enjoyed each of the stories equally. I don't think I could pick a favorite but I do have favorite characters some of which I am still waiting on stories for so I hope those are coming. Overall I had fun reading these with Destiny and I can't wait for the next release.  

Poor Lundy! I really appreciated seeing her backstory. Now I want to go back and reread book 1 because I know her better now. This series is so good!!

My favourite in this series so far!

5 stars fairly traded for this reading experience out of 5.

I think this was my favourite of the series so far. ‘the market' spoke to me, I guess.

The Goblin Market was an interesting place and the whole idea of everything needing fair value definitely makes you think. If I yell at someone, what is fair value for the person who was yelled at? Or for the onlookers that heard the yelling?

Very interesting even until the end. Choices made.

Each and every book in this series has been a joy to read and this one is no different. This one you cannot put down, it is the weird and unique story of Catherine Lundy! We met her in earlier books. This one shows the conflict in Lundy's mind about our ordinary world and one which is always fair. The give and take between Lundy and Moon were beautiful. I hope there is a book about Moon later in the series.

The concept of Fair Value is what I loved the most in this tale. I so wish to visit the Goblin Market once :) in my fairy dreams at least. “What's the Goblin Market?” you ask?

“It is a place where dreamers go when they don't fit in with the dreams their homes think worth dreaming. Doors lead here. Perhaps you found one.”

I am listening to audiobooks and they are fantastically narrated by the author.

While I liked the world in this, the story didn't do much for me. Probably because we already know how this story ends. I kept waiting for the axe to drop. Onto the next one!

Overall, this was a pretty tight novella, or maybe because the rule-based world that Lundy escapes to is more appealing to me.

Katherine Lundy disappears into a mysterious door in a tree that takes her to the Goblin Market, a world where the concept of “fair value” rules over everything. Need a place to stay? You need to provide an item or a service to return fair value back to the person who puts you up for the night. She meets an owlish young girl, Moon, and the aged Archivist who explains the world to her. Lundy, as she comes to be called in this world, occasionally returns to her original world especially when her adventures in the Goblin Market end badly. Soon, she needs to make the choice between one world or the other forever.

This is another “origin story” book where we find out the backstory of one of the main characters in the present timeline, and this time it's Lundy. I've just had to go and re-read a summary of Every Heart A Doorway, which I've completely forgotten about at this point, to refresh my memory on the role Lundy plays in it. In this one, Lundy shows herself to be a pretty relatable protagonist: she yearns to get away from the real world and the bullying that being the principal's daughter gets her, but at the same time she cannot quite forget the family who, flawed as they are, wants the best for her - or at least, what they think is the best.

I do wish Moon and the Archivist had a bit more memorable personalities, however. I don't remember Moon to be anything other than a mischievous owl girl who is Lundy's best friend in the Goblin Market with no other point to her storyline, while the Archivist felt somewhat like a vehicle for lore dumping.

The Goblin Market was a nice reference to the famous poem by Christina Rossetti. I last read that poem many many years ago so I can't quite remember the details of it, but I have a vague recollection that it might have been an allegory about children interacting with the “temptations” of adulthood and then eventually regretting it when they can no longer reverse things. There is a slight parallel to this in the story, but not a strong one.

Overall though, this was still a great installment for this series and I'm looking forward to the next one.

 This book made me so fucking sad. I love the fair value and the market. And I knew how it would end. Yet it broke my heart all the same. 

But yet again I loved the writing style, I'm so sad these books are so short 

4.5 to me the most fantastical and inventive and interesting and heartbreaking instalment of the series yet. a magical delight

I don't like Lundy :(

SPOILER

There was so much emphasis on the true names, but I guess that was just a red herring.

CAWPILE SCORE
C-9
A-8
W-8
P-8
I-7
L-7
E-8
TOTAL-7.86/10

Loved this book like all her others, but if she could stop writing such convincing heartache i'd appreciate it. I liked learning about the Goblin Market

What's not to like about goblins :)

This is (by far!) the best book of the series so far.

A wonderful book, like all the previous ones in this series. Short and sweet, but also just a little sad.

I generally enjoy the worlds that Seanan Maguire puts together more than the characters themselves, but this was still a four-star book for me even though I felt the focus was on the main character rather than the world. The combination of the main character being torn between two worlds, something I became more and more invested in as the book went on, and the glimpses into a world where everything is “fair” and if it is not, there are interesting consequences, gave me a little bit of everything I wanted.

Ok, so this just isn't how books work. McGuire leads us up to the climactic battle and then...the next chapter opens the next day as they recouped from their wounds. Not just once but again and again throughout the book. I know this is a Thing she's doing on purpose, perhaps focusing on the interstitial days that actually make up a life? But it's jarring and distracting and I never did like Lundy that much anyway. The setting, as always, is fascinating and creative but I just could not get into this.

Definitely the best of the Wayward Children novellas so far. 3.75 stars

this is the best one bye

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: In an Absent Dream

Raised in a household that thrived on rules, it's no surprise Lundy would find a world of logic and reason. In this prequel, readers will learn of the goblin market. A place where fair value is the only form of payment. There, Lundy will find her first friend and learn lessons that her world of school and books could never teach her. But every choice comes with a price, and you must follow the rules. Lundy will find that the consequences of her actions, are not always easy to live with.

Readers will watch as Lundy grows and tries to understand the differences between her world and the goblin market. As she travels between the two, she must decide which is her best choice, before the door to her chosen world closes forever. At first, it seems like such a simple choice, but nothing is ever easy.

You'll be captivated by this latest installment to the Wayward Children! Each book takes the readers through another doorway, to another world. And each one is as unique as the characters themselves. There are endless possibilities, and I'm certainly ready to see what else I can discover!

I really liked this one. I loved Lundy and Moon. This was much better than the last one in my opinion.