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lipstickitotheman's review
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Child death, Physical abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
bookboxbabe's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
any book in this series that focuses on one character in their world i’m going to love
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Gaslighting, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND is an excellent addition to the Wayward Children series, featuring a girl who runs away from a danger lurking in her home and finds herself in a shop for lost thing. It features an exploration of innocence and experience which is full of care, handling distressing topics of abuse and exploitation with a mix of the mundane and the fantastical, ultimately supporting Antsy's agency and ability to make her own choices about her life.
I like the glimpses of other worlds and more information about non-human people of many kinds. Characterization and worldbuilding blends together in a mutually reinforcing way to make it feel like a connected multiverse of portals and random cultural exchange.
This book deals with grooming and gaslighting in a way that I appreciate as someone with similar trauma to Antsy. It makes it very clear how she's in danger and shows how frightening it can be to be gaslit by someone with an indeterminate but significant amount of control over one's life.
The even numbered books in the Wayward Children series, such as this one, have sometimes been erroneously marketed a standalone books within a larger series. This is to the author's great consternation. They are not stand alone, they are more like the bottle episodes of a TV show. Like a bottle episode, there’s a great deal of backstory, worldbuilding, and sometimes even characters who are explained in the more temporally linear bits of the series, e.g., the odd numbered books. This means that, as a sequel, LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND has characters and a story which in one way is very specific and very self contained. It is about Antsy, why she fled from her home, how she found the shop, how she grew, and what she eventually learns about the price of her time there. It features a fascinating bit of worldbuilding, and does much for the lore in the series, answering questions the reader may or may not have thought to ask, as well as whatever Antsy herself wonders. It does not precisely wrap up anything left hanging from the previous books, but the way it ends implies some very good and interesting things about what the next book in the series might hold. There’s a moment in the middle that briefly places it in time in relation to events previously shown in the series. Emotionally, the ending feels like whatever the comforting equivalent of a cliffhanger is, like the promise of a good surprise.
I like the glimpses of other worlds and more information about non-human people of many kinds. Characterization and worldbuilding blends together in a mutually reinforcing way to make it feel like a connected multiverse of portals and random cultural exchange.
This book deals with grooming and gaslighting in a way that I appreciate as someone with similar trauma to Antsy. It makes it very clear how she's in danger and shows how frightening it can be to be gaslit by someone with an indeterminate but significant amount of control over one's life.
The even numbered books in the Wayward Children series, such as this one, have sometimes been erroneously marketed a standalone books within a larger series. This is to the author's great consternation. They are not stand alone, they are more like the bottle episodes of a TV show. Like a bottle episode, there’s a great deal of backstory, worldbuilding, and sometimes even characters who are explained in the more temporally linear bits of the series, e.g., the odd numbered books. This means that, as a sequel, LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND has characters and a story which in one way is very specific and very self contained. It is about Antsy, why she fled from her home, how she found the shop, how she grew, and what she eventually learns about the price of her time there. It features a fascinating bit of worldbuilding, and does much for the lore in the series, answering questions the reader may or may not have thought to ask, as well as whatever Antsy herself wonders. It does not precisely wrap up anything left hanging from the previous books, but the way it ends implies some very good and interesting things about what the next book in the series might hold. There’s a moment in the middle that briefly places it in time in relation to events previously shown in the series. Emotionally, the ending feels like whatever the comforting equivalent of a cliffhanger is, like the promise of a good surprise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, and Child abuse
Moderate: Grief, Death, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
Minor: Physical abuse, Child death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Sexism, Misogyny, Excrement, and Blood
soulpromise's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia and Child abuse
Minor: Child death
The author makes it very clear in a disclaimer before the story begins that the child protagonist gets away before being sexually harmed.calicat42's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is about lost children being called by Doors to be found, and through literary magic, it’s like I, too, as the reader, walked through the Doors with Antsy and got lost in the Shop. As an adult who deeply relates to Antsy, it felt like I healed with her as the story moved forward. Many pages passed where I forgot the point of the book, just waiting for the next Door to open. Time flew by as I finished the book in one sitting—very fitting for the novel. In a moment of comic relief, I ended the book and said, “well, it’s a good thing I have therapy tomorrow morning!”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness
Minor: Pregnancy
thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
What a heartbreaking book! This series is always very good with it's theming, but this one is a step above the rest in that regard. I loved Antsy as a main character and wanted so badly to just give her a hug. I also loved the peeks into other worlds we got here, and I appreciated that we actually got to learn a little about the doors for once. What holds me back from giving this 5 stars was really just personal taste. This book is pretty relentlessly bleak/sad, and that tempered my enjoyment somewhat. Still, this was a really strong entry in series I love dearly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse and Pedophilia
Minor: Child death
grooming of a child by a parental figurepeggychecksitout's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Since absolutely inhaling the Wayward Children series back in 2021, I’ve really come to look forward to this time of year when we we get the next installment in the series.
This latest addition follows Antsy, who runs away from a home that has become unsafe for her, when she stumbles across a Door that leads her to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go. It’s a strange nexus world, where anything lost finds its way to the Shop (So Many Socks), and where many mysterious Doors that lead to fantastic worlds come to rest. Antsy meets some new companions, who teach her how the Shop is run, and who explore the mysterious Door worlds with her. But as time goes on, it becomes apparent that maybe not everything at the Shop is as it should be…
I really loved this book. I loved the idea of the Shop, I thought the book raised some interesting questions surrounding the Doors and why/how they exist, I loved the couple of callbacks to previous books and characters, and above all, I loved Antsy. McGuire’s writing continues to be absolutely sublime, and the way she is able to balance the bitter and the sweet, the heartbreaking and the magical, and the poignant with the enchanting, really shows how phenomenal of a writer Seanan McGuire is.
I want to take a moment to touch on the events surrounding Antsy’s home life at the beginning of the book, in regards to her experiences with loss, grief, and a very specific and distressing childhood trauma. I want to stress how important it is to check the content warnings for this book, and to read the authors note at the beginning of the book. I think McGuire’s note, and really the way she wrote Antsy’s story throughout the entire book, handled an incredibly important but incredibly heavy topic with a lot of grace and compassion.
I’m so fond of the world/s that McGuire has crafted throughout the series. I wish these books were not novellas, but instead 400+ page books, because whenever I am reading one, I never want to leave the worlds, and I never want the book to end! But I will read this series for as long as Seanan wants to keep writing it.
This latest addition follows Antsy, who runs away from a home that has become unsafe for her, when she stumbles across a Door that leads her to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go. It’s a strange nexus world, where anything lost finds its way to the Shop (So Many Socks), and where many mysterious Doors that lead to fantastic worlds come to rest. Antsy meets some new companions, who teach her how the Shop is run, and who explore the mysterious Door worlds with her. But as time goes on, it becomes apparent that maybe not everything at the Shop is as it should be…
I really loved this book. I loved the idea of the Shop, I thought the book raised some interesting questions surrounding the Doors and why/how they exist, I loved the couple of callbacks to previous books and characters, and above all, I loved Antsy. McGuire’s writing continues to be absolutely sublime, and the way she is able to balance the bitter and the sweet, the heartbreaking and the magical, and the poignant with the enchanting, really shows how phenomenal of a writer Seanan McGuire is.
I want to take a moment to touch on the events surrounding Antsy’s home life at the beginning of the book, in regards to her experiences with loss, grief, and a very specific and distressing childhood trauma. I want to stress how important it is to check the content warnings for this book, and to read the authors note at the beginning of the book. I think McGuire’s note, and really the way she wrote Antsy’s story throughout the entire book, handled an incredibly important but incredibly heavy topic with a lot of grace and compassion.
I’m so fond of the world/s that McGuire has crafted throughout the series. I wish these books were not novellas, but instead 400+ page books, because whenever I am reading one, I never want to leave the worlds, and I never want the book to end! But I will read this series for as long as Seanan wants to keep writing it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Child death, and Pregnancy
woodsofthebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
it was really good - i loved learning more of Antsy’s backstory, i just usually like the books in this series with more expansive casts more
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Child abuse
Minor: Physical abuse, Child death, Death, and Sexual assault
there is an author’s note in the beginning warning the reader of the contents. the things i’ve added are directed towards childrenmilliebot_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Another bittersweet entry in the Wayward Children series. This one is a mix of the heaviness of dealing with a really tough, very real topic (cw: childhood abuse, hints of intent of worse abuse - though thankfully it's not depicted in detail) with the extra-magical nexus of doorways and lost and found shop. In this book our heroine can access many doors and also helps to run a very intriguing shop where lost things from all worlds go. I enjoyed the atmosphere, but the beginning and end of this book are fairly sad.
As usual McGuire has created more fascinating worlds and more likeable, relatable characters. Antsy's experience with her step father had me remembering my own experiences with my dad's girlfriend as a young kid, and while my story is nowhere near the same, it brought back a weird sort of reflective hurt that some of the other entries in this series haven't done for me.
My only "complaint" is that I would have liked to see even more worlds and magic. But I guess I'll just have to wait for the next one!
As usual McGuire has created more fascinating worlds and more likeable, relatable characters. Antsy's experience with her step father had me remembering my own experiences with my dad's girlfriend as a young kid, and while my story is nowhere near the same, it brought back a weird sort of reflective hurt that some of the other entries in this series haven't done for me.
My only "complaint" is that I would have liked to see even more worlds and magic. But I guess I'll just have to wait for the next one!
Content Warnings
Minor: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse
leanne_miron's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia
Minor: Child death and Murder