Reviews tagging 'Death'

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

35 reviews

annlouise's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

4.5

Finished reading: March 26th 2024

"Being bruised doesn’t make you bad, unless you’re a peach, and even a bruised peach is good for making jam."

I've been following the Wayward Children books for years now, but somehow I fell behind with the most recent installments. I recently read book seven, and I decided to make Lost In The Moment And Found a priority after rediscovering my love for this series. And I'm glad I did! This is without doubt one of my favorite novellas of the bunch even though there are parts that are hard to read. Lost In The Moment And Found is quite dark as it focuses on child abuse, grooming, gaslighting and death of a parent among other things. I could really appreciate the author's note, which made it easier to read some of the more triggering scenes... This novella is not all sad though, as it has the same whimsical dose of magical realism with the strange thrift shop and the main character traveling to unknown worlds. Still, even at the shop there is a lesson to be learned, and again Lost In The Moment And Found is a lot darker than expected throughout. I could appreciate how everything was wrapped up in the end though, and I will be looking forward to the next one.

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megj23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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beefthedwarf's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire - 4.59

Review Summary:

I could be wrong, but I get the strong sense that the author listened to some common critiques, and took a lot of measures to remediate those flaws in this installment. I’ll admit, I had my reservations because of how short the book was — not even 150 pages! — and was sure that Seanan McGuire would fall into the familiar pitfalls of lackluster climaxes.

I am glad to say I was wrong. I believe this book has some of the strongest plot structure and pacing since Down Among the Sticks and Bones. It completely revitalized my (eternal) love for the Wayward Children series, and I can’t wait to read Mislaid In Parts Half-known.

Lost in the Moment and Found revisits one of my favorite parts of Seanan McGuire’s writing. She has the uncanny ability to drop some of the most mind-blowing world-building in small, throwaway lines. We had only a few, scant pages of Elodina and Eider, experienced mostly through their journal entries, but we learned an incredible amount of information about their worlds. It’s not exposition, either — it’s the way they speak, the things they care about, the things they think to notice. The fact Seanan McGuire gave me a huge cosmic glimpse at a Library world with a circulation-themed religion is just… wow <3

I also gotta say, I appreciate the content warning at the beginning of the book. I didn’t expect it, given that the series is not shy in the least about dark topics, but it’s appreciated nonetheless.

Exhaustive Review (spoilers):

World/System/Premise
The setting/location/time, the magic system(s), story premise, etc
Examples: “London, 1881”, “magic utilizing tarot cards”, “a world ruled by necromancers”

Was it engaging / interesting?

Rating: 5 - The world/system/premise was fascinating and engaging the entire time with very few exceptions, if any.

I know the books are standalone, but one really does benefit the most from reading the whole series in order. Lost in the Moment makes several references to worlds we’ve already visited, and thickens the plot of what the Doors mean.

I was petty and almost took a star off because 50% through I felt like my favorite aspect of the Doors — that they suck in and spit out hero children — was defanged into some pseudo ~life works in mysterious ways~ bullshit. However, I was wrong. The book cements that while the doors may put wayward children where they need to be, that doesn’t stop the denizens of those worlds from exploiting children — even to death. As Vineta says, “Promises aren’t binding unless we agree to them.”

How fleshed-out was the worldbuilding?

Rating: 5 - The world/system/premise was strongly fleshed out, with a lot of thought put into how it works. Unanswered questions can typically be answered in text, or excused by an ongoing mystery/information not yet revealed.

I hope we revisit the categorization map from Every Heart A Doorway soon. I like the slowly building knowledge of the Doors and the worlds who understand them.

Writing Style / Prose
Sentence structure, vocabulary, style of prose, and overall accuracy and readability of the writing itself.

Spelling / grammar / formatting errors

Rating: 4 - One or two small slip-ups

There was a capitalization error on page 101. A few words that should have been plural were instead singular.

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure

Rating: 4 - Mostly mature and readable. A little too verbose / simplistic at times. Sentence structures are mostly easy to follow.

I want to eat Seanan McGuire’s prose with a fork and knife, chewing dutifully 20 times before swallowing. However, sometimes her sentences are a little clunky.

Internal / External Dialogue

Rating: 4 - Characters mostly talk like real people. You can tell who's talking and when. There was a reasonable amount of internal / external dialogue.

Characters in the WC series have a habit of suddenly becoming a vessel for exposition or preaching. It’s jarring, because people don’t really just talk like that, but it’s not book-ruining.

The internal dialogue and train-of-thought of our POV character was strong in Lost in the Moment. The beginning was a bit of a slog, but important for Antsy’s character. For only 150 pages, I got over it.

Emotional Impact

Rating: 5 - The prose consistently elicits strong emotions with appropriate impact.

Elodina’s diary was exquisitely beautiful.

Plot Flow
Pacing, plotline, scene structure, act structure, approach to climax, etc.

Pacing

Rating: 4 - Slow beginning / middle or too much action that does not affect enjoyment.

I’m not a fan of adults trying to write how six year olds think. Especially Antsy, who was maybe the youngest POV character yet in the series. The beginning was hard for me to get through, but it was fine.

Scene Structure

Rating: 5 - There is a clear path between scenes; if it’s unclear due to the complexity of the story, it can be cleared up upon a satisfying re-read.

Plot vs. Character Interaction

Rating: 5 - There is a balance between the characters affecting the plot and the plot affecting the characters. Every advancement to the plot is understandable and explained by character interaction.

God — the ways the adults around Antsy exploited her, even in minor ways that were hard to notice until it was too late, was so well done. The way they were so quick to put her to work, the parallel between the merchant protecting Antsy and protecting her from getting ripped off to Antsy finding out how much Vineta and Hudson were exploiting her childhood… this was a great example of a compelling interpersonal plot that isn’t about moving mountains. Even Antsy’s failure to stop the exploitation was thematic at its core.

Approach to Climax

Rating: 5 - Easy to identify rising action and climax. The plot drums up anticipation for the resolution.

The little mysteries of what, exactly, Antsy was forgetting, were so satisfying once the pre-climax began.

However, one improvement I would have done to the plot would be to include any sort of moth foreshadowing whatsoever. That would have had a strong payoff when it came time to introduce Elodina.

The Ending
The conclusion of the story, including climax, post-climax, and epilogue.

Satisfaction

Rating: 5 - Extremely satisfying; elicits strong emotions.

I’m gonna lay down and stare at the ceiling for a while.

Loose Ends

Rating: 5 - Ties up all loose ends. Unresolved conflicts are purposeful to generate excitement for the next installment.

I wouldn’t say that Antsy failing to stop the exploitation was a loose end. It was thematic to the ongoing abuse of children in the door worlds.

Characterization

The handling of characters, their personalities, motivations, and relationships to each other

Personality, Goals, and Motivations

Rating: 5 - The characters’ goals, motivations, and personal feelings are clear. Readers get a strong image of who each character is.

Oh I got a strong image of what kind of character(s) Hudson and Vineta were, alright. Antsy’s motivations could have been stronger, but honestly, she was a traumatized grieving 7 year old. She wasn’t even really a whole person yet. Since that was part of the tragedy, I didn’t take any points off for it.

Relationships

Rating: 4 - The relationships between the characters are a strong point but are sometimes fumbled / not utilized to full potential.

I feel like Antsy missing her mom and, perhaps, worrying about her baby sister who was left behind to be (presumably) raised by a pedophile could have been utilized by the book more. But, again, she was a 7 year old who’d basically been dissociating since she was 5, and then shaken like a piggy bank the other 2 (8?) years. I’m not holding that against her.

~Vibes~
The atmosphere of the book, that je ne sais quoi.

Connection To Readers

Rating: 4 - Resonant at many parts with readers.

I’m being unfair, I suppose, but I can’t pick a 5 for a WC unless it captures the magic of the first or second books for me. Lost in the Moment was strong, though, especially for readers who lost their childhood to something or other.

Originality

Rating: 5 - Feels very unique, in a way that’s rarely, if ever, done.

The Itch

Rating: 4 - Only somewhat scratches an “Itch”, but is overall satisfying.

I keep craving the magic of Every Heart a Doorway, and I am always looking for it, like a squirrel looking for nuts.

Score: 4.59

There’s No Accounting For Taste!
The bonus round where I arbitrarily add or take away points based on my own personal preferences ;3

Pros:
Strong focus on platonic (non-romantic, non familial) relationships — +1

I liked the connection Antsy formed across time with Elodina and Eider.

Sorting fiction (sorry-not-story, I want to know what Warrior Cat clan I’d be in) — +1

It’s not sorting fiction, per se, but I do like to imagine what kind of world would have sucked me in when I was 11.

Cons:
Unrepresented Representation — -2

Seanan McGuire doesn’t have a lot of characters of colors in her Wayward Children series, and there’s yet to be a main character of color. Vineta was not a main character, but it was nice to have a South Asian woman … until it was revealed that she was callously siphoning children’s youth, and there was an illustration where her hair picks were replaced by literal sticks with leaves. Sad to say, however, that this is actually the most normal character of color. Other COC seem to want to remind the reader once per page of all the demographics they represent.

2 for, 2 against. No change in rating :)

Content Warnings