Reviews with content warning for Bullying - In an Absent Dream

God damn, I could genuinely read a million books in this series, this was so good! I didn't care much for Lundy when she was first introduced in the first book but seeing how she became the person we meet in book 1 was so engaging. The character prequels in this series are by far my favorites so far!

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takarakei's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My favorite so far in the series. Lundy’s backstory is about the transition from childhood to young adulthood. It is both poignant and heartbreaking to read. There is also an overarching criticism of the greed of our current society and it’s exploitative nature

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It's been awhile since I read the previous book in this series (Beneath the Sugar Sky), but starting all the way back with Every Heart a Doorway, this has been a comfort read sort of series for me. I felt very seen by the first book, and since then, while they are none of them particularly happy escapist reading, there is something comforting about the fairy tale story-telling vibes, even with the "be sure" cautionary aspects that each come with. So even though I haven't visited this series in awhile, settling in to read this fourth installation was wonderfully familiar.

In An Absent Dream tells Lundy's story (if you remember her from book one, she worked at the Home for Wayward Children), her own experience with mysterious doorways and visits to other worlds. Lundy is a serious young girl with few friends, who spends her time reading, enjoys understanding and following rules, and fully expects to grow up and settle down in the traditional "marry a man and start a family" type way. Her doorway takes her to a Goblin Market, a place with lots of rules, but rules following a very specific and rigid sort of logic about "fair value." She experiences wonderful and terrible adventures during her years in the market, mixed with mundane visits back to her "normal" life. And though she is sure she wants to stay in the market with her friends/family there, when the time comes that she is forced to make that choice, she finds she cannot, and instead, makes the kind of bargain that never ends well.

I recognized Lundy's name from the start, but it took a quick Google to actually place her. Once I had, the ending became...not a twist, knowing where she ends up (so I guess we could consider this book as a sort of prequel). However, having a sinking suspicion about where things end for Lundy did not, in fact, make me any less invested in the unravelling of her story. In this novella, I felt like it was an interesting choice to focus on Lundy's comings and goings from the market (and immediate surrounding times), while glossing over or summarizing the magical and dangerous adventures she has while at the Goblin Market. With this choice, McGuire focused more on the inevitableness of becoming an adult and the lessons therein. For Lundy, learning that you cannot have everything and still give fair value, sometimes you need to make choices, hard as they may be, is an impossible reality of growing up. And it led to a poignantly bitter ending that hurt to watch happen, but in the best kind of literary way.

As with the other stories as well, the naïve literal magicality of children and their POVs take center stage right from the start. In this case in particular, the highlighting of the remarkable in the ordinary was paired and conveyed so well with the fairy tale storytelling style. I continue to be impressed with the way McGuire can put into words abstract feelings or moments, like the way Lundy felt that expectations for her and her brother were different, even if never explicitly stated by her parents or when femininity turns from being an attribute to an expectation (from external forces). For all that these tender spots are, in real life, almost too subtle to describe, over and over she gets them exactly right. It's so viscerally accurate. And I really enjoyed the exploration of the idea of fair value, based on objective needs (versus wants), the intent behind the trade, and what people have/are able to give. It was a great way to look at market equality from a perspective of striving for idealism/utopia as a worthy goal, while also considering the framework with an open-minded awareness that, as with all things, it can be taken too far. Casting it all in a child’s level of perception and understanding is phenomenal for clearly communicating these concepts of fairness as subjective and not a fixed target. These youth-POV exploration of complex "adult" concepts is one of the things McGuire does best with this series.

With a few gorgeous illustrations sprinkled throughout, this was a notable addition to the Wayward Children series. Though it is not my favorite of the four so far, I still love the tangible life lessons and bittersweet moments of choice and growing up that McGuire manages to wrap in a magical, gossamer story. A lovely, tender reading experience.

“And it mattered. Small things often do.”

“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 are many good things in the world, and each of them happens for the first time only once, and never again."

“There is wanting, and there is needing, and when you want, you can make good choices, but when you need, it's important the people around you not be looking to take advantage.”

“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.”

“Some forms of fair value are less tangible than others.”

“It is so often easy, when one has the luxury of being sure a thing will never happen, to be equally sure of one's answers. Reality, it must sadly be said, has a way of complicating things, even things we might believe could never be that complicated.”

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daffodilcherry's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved this installment of the Wayward Children series, another prequel. I love the tragic aspect of these prequels, where we already know the ending before we start. Again I loved the worldbuilding of the Goblin Market, and the deeper characterisation of Lundy. Cynthia is a very pleasant narrator to listen to.
Wheelhouses: travel to another world, prequel, tragedy, immersive worldbuilding.

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