Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Tor.com (New York, 2019). 1st edition, 1st printing. 208 pages. $17.99.
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Mythology. HTML: 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.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ladycato
The 1st book in the Wayward Children series, Every Heart a Doorway set an incredible standard that few other novellas or novels can ever hope to surpass. In all truth, I expect it to remain one of the favorite books I have ever read. The second book in the series, while good, completely lacked that
VERY HIGHLY. While not quite equal to the 1st book (a high bar, certainly), this is an incredible read and one I'm adding onto my brand new shortlist of novellas to nominate for awards next year. Katherine Lundy is a studious, serious young girl with her nose always in a book. When she stumbles upon a doorway at age 8, she soon finds herself at the Goblin Fair of legend, a place of magic, quests, and most importantly, RULES. As a child growing up in the 1960s, Katherine knows all about rules and expectations--wear a skirt, be obedient, get married, have babies. The rules in the Goblin Market, in contrast, are absolutely fair to all comers, regardless of plane of origin or gender. Katherine adventures and makes friends and goes between the Fair and earth again and again, and thinks she's learned about rules and fair play. She hasn't learned as much as she thinks she has.
I related very strongly to Katherine. I loved the angle that McGuire chose with the story. The emphasis is not on the action; the quests and fighting all take place off the page. Instead, the focus is on the fairness and unfairness depicted in both worlds. This might sound like it's boring, but it's not. McGuire is one of the best writers out there and she could make the telephone book a suspenseful read. That said, the storytelling voice is very thick in the first chapter, so if that opening leave you cold, do press on, because that certain voice does back off as Katherine takes the forefront.
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deep emotional connection for me. I have not had the opportunity to read the 3rd. Now we come to this 4th book, bestowed upon me by the publisher via NetGalley. How does it rate?VERY HIGHLY. While not quite equal to the 1st book (a high bar, certainly), this is an incredible read and one I'm adding onto my brand new shortlist of novellas to nominate for awards next year. Katherine Lundy is a studious, serious young girl with her nose always in a book. When she stumbles upon a doorway at age 8, she soon finds herself at the Goblin Fair of legend, a place of magic, quests, and most importantly, RULES. As a child growing up in the 1960s, Katherine knows all about rules and expectations--wear a skirt, be obedient, get married, have babies. The rules in the Goblin Market, in contrast, are absolutely fair to all comers, regardless of plane of origin or gender. Katherine adventures and makes friends and goes between the Fair and earth again and again, and thinks she's learned about rules and fair play. She hasn't learned as much as she thinks she has.
I related very strongly to Katherine. I loved the angle that McGuire chose with the story. The emphasis is not on the action; the quests and fighting all take place off the page. Instead, the focus is on the fairness and unfairness depicted in both worlds. This might sound like it's boring, but it's not. McGuire is one of the best writers out there and she could make the telephone book a suspenseful read. That said, the storytelling voice is very thick in the first chapter, so if that opening leave you cold, do press on, because that certain voice does back off as Katherine takes the forefront.
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LibraryThing member keristars
In an Absent Dream may be the best Wayward Children book yet. It tones down the moralizing narrative voice quite a bit, though the moralizing doesn't really go away, which had grown tedious after just one book.
When I finished Under a Sugar Sky, the previous book in the series, I had no interest in
Lundy is extraordinary in her ordinariness, except that she doesn't have any interest in the kinds of dreams and goals other people have for her, in 1964. When she finds her door, it's to the Goblin Market, where "Fair Value" is the rule. Everyone helps everyone else, but only in receipt of fair value. What that means is different for each person and situation, which I liked about the Market. But if you're greedy or lazy and don't return fair value, you will slowly turn into a bird. For some reason, only children are allowed to enter and leave the Market at will: another rule requires them to make a choice by age 18 to stay, or they are forever banished.
This is the first Door in the series that I find appealing, which may be why I like the book so much more than the others. I like the rules and logic, though there are some sinister elements that I'd love to learn more about, and which McGuire carefully elides since they don't directly affect Lundy's personal story. However, there are adventures and things which are part of her story and are skipped - because in a story about Lundy growing up and learning about adulthood, they are merely footnotes, too.
I might read the next book if there is one, I don't know. We'll see what happens when it shows up on the library's New Arrivals shelf.
When I finished Under a Sugar Sky, the previous book in the series, I had no interest in
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reading further. Certainly, I wasn't going to put effort into acquiring the book at all. But, like each of the previous installments, In an Absent Dream showed up on the New Arrivals shelf at the library, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to read a chapter or two.Lundy is extraordinary in her ordinariness, except that she doesn't have any interest in the kinds of dreams and goals other people have for her, in 1964. When she finds her door, it's to the Goblin Market, where "Fair Value" is the rule. Everyone helps everyone else, but only in receipt of fair value. What that means is different for each person and situation, which I liked about the Market. But if you're greedy or lazy and don't return fair value, you will slowly turn into a bird. For some reason, only children are allowed to enter and leave the Market at will: another rule requires them to make a choice by age 18 to stay, or they are forever banished.
This is the first Door in the series that I find appealing, which may be why I like the book so much more than the others. I like the rules and logic, though there are some sinister elements that I'd love to learn more about, and which McGuire carefully elides since they don't directly affect Lundy's personal story. However, there are adventures and things which are part of her story and are skipped - because in a story about Lundy growing up and learning about adulthood, they are merely footnotes, too.
I might read the next book if there is one, I don't know. We'll see what happens when it shows up on the library's New Arrivals shelf.
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LibraryThing member Storeetllr
I enjoyed visiting the Goblin Market with Lundy (sp?), but be aware it's a sad story - sadder than usual. To be so right for that world yet so torn, and then to make the decision she made. Nothing much happens either; if you're one who needs a lot of action, you might be disappointed. I wasn't -
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there was plenty else going on. I wish the ending had been different, but it had to be what it was. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisCarey
One of the students at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children in Every Heart a Doorway is Lundy. She's unusual even by the standards of the school, in that she is aging in reverse, growing younger, at least in body, rather than older.
This is Lundy's story. Her world, the world she stumbles into
It's a strange and magical world, and everything rests on a system of barter and the principle of Fair Value. The Goblin Market also allows people to go back and forth between their world of origin and the Goblin Market freely until the age of eighteen.
There are two catches to this. One is that, at eighteen, if you are debt-free in the world of the Goblin Market, you have to make a choice--take the oath of citizenship and stay permanently, or don't, and leave forever. The second is that, if at eighteen you are not debt-free, you don't have the option of leaving. You're stuck, with all the interesting ways the Goblin Market has of enforcing debt repayment.
It's clear from what we see of Lundy in Every Heart, Lundy managed to seriously miscalculate. This is the story of what, exactly, she did, and why. As always, it's an interesting story with interesting characters. The Goblin Market itself, and its Archivist, are interesting characters in themselves.
Another aspect of this story is Lundy's relationship with her father, who turns out to have his own history with the Goblin Market. This is an aspect we haven't seen in the earlier stories, because most worlds don't offer the easy back and forth that Goblin Market does. From Lundy's viewpoint, that's not necessarily an advantage.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
This is Lundy's story. Her world, the world she stumbles into
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through a doorway that shouldn't be there, is the Goblin Market.It's a strange and magical world, and everything rests on a system of barter and the principle of Fair Value. The Goblin Market also allows people to go back and forth between their world of origin and the Goblin Market freely until the age of eighteen.
There are two catches to this. One is that, at eighteen, if you are debt-free in the world of the Goblin Market, you have to make a choice--take the oath of citizenship and stay permanently, or don't, and leave forever. The second is that, if at eighteen you are not debt-free, you don't have the option of leaving. You're stuck, with all the interesting ways the Goblin Market has of enforcing debt repayment.
It's clear from what we see of Lundy in Every Heart, Lundy managed to seriously miscalculate. This is the story of what, exactly, she did, and why. As always, it's an interesting story with interesting characters. The Goblin Market itself, and its Archivist, are interesting characters in themselves.
Another aspect of this story is Lundy's relationship with her father, who turns out to have his own history with the Goblin Market. This is an aspect we haven't seen in the earlier stories, because most worlds don't offer the easy back and forth that Goblin Market does. From Lundy's viewpoint, that's not necessarily an advantage.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
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LibraryThing member lavaturtle
This is a compelling, ultimately tragic, backstory for one of the less prominent characters from [Every Heart a Doorway]. I loved the picture painted of the Goblin Market and its denizens, but the ending was heartbreaking.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
This series seems to be going backward... I recall Lundy as being at the school in the first book, though not any of the details about her. It's a fascinating story - though it's kind of nasty, the result when she can't choose because she loves both. We never get to see Mockery, either, only Moon -
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who's changed a lot, more than Lundy has, by the end of the book. A lot of the story, or at least the adventures, happen off-screen; the focus is very much on Lundy (Katherine) and her choices. Fascinating, and as rich as Seanan's work usually is. Show Less
LibraryThing member teknognome
A good story, with a definite narrative voice. I didn't remember Lundy from Every Heart a Doorway, but she's an interesting character here. The Market, with its ideas of fair value and how it's enforced, is fascinating. I'm not sure I appreciate skipping over large parts of Lundy's story at the
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Market, such as never meeting Mockery. Show Less
LibraryThing member tapestry100
Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series of books gets better with each addition, with the latest, In an Absent Dream, by far being the strongest story to date. Following the established every other book sequence, this volume tells Lundy's portal story, as she finds her door to the Goblin Market.
McGuire doesn't just write one hell of an amazing book, but she pushes us, the readers, to consider how we can actually be better people by understanding how we can, and should, be fair to each other. It's really quite a remarkable book. And her writing; it's more beautiful with every book. There are so many potential stories to be told, I hope deep down that she never leaves this series and continues to offer us such amazing books forever.
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McGuire offers up some serious ideas to ponder, such as idea of fair value for everything and what that means to either the recipient or the giver. It's some heavy ideas, and after finishing Absent Dream, I had to take some time to really mull over the notions that are put forth, and it really made me think about my own interactions with those around me and how the idea of fair value can applied to our real world.McGuire doesn't just write one hell of an amazing book, but she pushes us, the readers, to consider how we can actually be better people by understanding how we can, and should, be fair to each other. It's really quite a remarkable book. And her writing; it's more beautiful with every book. There are so many potential stories to be told, I hope deep down that she never leaves this series and continues to offer us such amazing books forever.
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LibraryThing member renbedell
A portal fantasy novella about a little girl discovering a fantastical world ruled by bartering of "fair value" and making her first friend. It is a wonderful story that has a lot of emotion, mystery, and coming of age elements. The little girl travels back and forth from the real world and the
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fantasy world, that shapes her as she grows up. This can be read as a standalone, but it is also a prequel to "Every Heart a Doorway". This book may be the best in the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookbrig
I didn't want to read this story because I was worried about being too attached to Lundy considering what we know about her from the first book. That said, I really loved this reimagining of the Goblin Market and I found the insight into Lundy's character much more intriguing than I expected.
LibraryThing member SpaceandSorcery
Author Seanan McGuire never fails to surprise me with the different moods and unique quality of her writing: from the emotion-laden drama of the October Daye series to the balance between seriousness and humor of the Incryptid novels to the stark dread inherent in the Newsflesh cycle she writes as
The premise at the core of the Wayward Children setting is that there are doors that open toward weird, fantastical realms, and they open only for children whose roots in our primary world are not as deep as others’: in these places they might develop their potential in a way that the “real” world would never allow them to, but sometimes – either by accident or because of homesickness – they find their way back and are unable to adjust to their old reality. For this reason the school created by Ms. West (herself once a returned child) exists to help these youngsters adapt back to our world, or find again the way back to those realms, if they are lucky, the understanding being that once the innocence of youth is lost, once the gift of wild imagination dwindles in the face of more adult responsibilities, the doors stay closed and never appear again, effectively stranding the child forever.
Katherine Lundy is the middle child of a well-to-do family, but also a lonely one: her father being the school’s principal prevents her from forming any friendship with her school mates, so she takes refuge in books and the certainties offered by the rules she loves to obey. While she’s not outwardly unhappy – at some point we see how she’s unable to even entertain the concept of unhappiness – something is indeed missing deep inside, so that when one day a door appears in a gnarled tree on her path, she turns the knob and finds herself in the colorful, unruly and wildly amazing Goblin Market, a place at the opposite side of the spectrum of her quietly ordered life. The economy, if such a term can be applied, of the Goblin Market is based on the concept of fair value, an intriguing kind of barter system which sees the people incurring in too many unpaid debts transformed into birds. Tutored by the Archivist and helped by Moon, the first real friend in Lundy’s existence, she spends a year in the Market, leaving it only in the aftermath of a tragedy. Since Lundy is still a child (her first foray happens when she’s nine years old), the rules of the Market allow her to return time and time again until her eighteenth birthday, when she will have to make the choice to either stay or go away forever. Despite realizing that only in the realm beyond the magical door she can truly be herself, she feels the pull of her original family and finds herself torn between two equally powerful claims on her commitment, knowing that either choice will mean pain and loss.
Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series is her most pathos-laden work to date, not only because young people are at the center of it and their distress feels more poignant than it would if the characters were grown-ups, but because of its focus on the need to fit in, to belong – a feeling that everyone experiences sooner or later and that is more emphasized when it concerns kids, whose coping mechanisms are far less developed than those of adults. The author reminds us often that the doors don’t manifest themselves if the children have no real need for a different world than the one they live in, but this also means that those who walk through the doors sooner or later will have to face some hard choices. This is Lundy’s case, when she goes home for the last time to say goodbye to her family: her now-grown younger sister Diana lays her claim to Lundy because she wants the sister she never had, and Lundy must choose between the family of her blood and that of her heart.
Of all the enchanted worlds shown so far in this series, the Goblin Market is the most detailed one, painted with vivid images and peopled by lively characters, the place "where dreamers go when they don't fit in with the dreams their homes think worth dreaming": where until now we only saw glimpses of other realms, here we get a living, breathing place where colors are more vibrant and smells more pervasive – and I dare anyone deny that their mouths did not water at all those mentions of fruit and meat pies that Lundy buys from the centaur baker… The Market is also a stark contrast with Lundy’s drab home life, made of distant parents and a painful lack of friends, while the rest of the world expects her to sacrifice her drives and expectations on the altar of conformity: if her first venture into the Market is the product of accident and curiosity, the second time Lundy chooses to go there as an act of rebellion once she understands that she was “living in a world that told her, day after day after grinding, demoralizing day, that adventures were only for boys; that girls had better things to worry about, like making sure those same boys had a safe harbor to come home to”.
Choosing to follow the calling of her heart and dwell forever in the Goblin Market, Lundy will have to sacrifice her sister Diana's happiness, her desire to get to know the sister she knew she had but never had a chance to share her life with; on the other hand, choosing to follow the call of blood, Lundy will have to sacrifice herself - her dreams, her hopes, her true being. Here the starkest meaning of fair value comes to the fore with dramatic clarity, because it stresses the difference between wanting and needing, and as the Archivist told Lundy once, "When you need, it's important that the people around you not be looking to take advantage". And having to choose between wanting and needing can tear a person apart…
Poignant, heart-wrenching and powerfully evocative, In An Absent Dream is one of Seanan McGuire's strongest offerings to date, and a very recommended reading.
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Mira Grant, this author can use a wide variety of voices, making each book an engaging surprise. With the Wayward Children series McGuire delves into the realm of fairy tale, employing a language more suited to this genre, more… poetic for want of a better word, and with In An Absent Dream she reaches lyrical heights that touched me deeply and made this book the best of the series so far.The premise at the core of the Wayward Children setting is that there are doors that open toward weird, fantastical realms, and they open only for children whose roots in our primary world are not as deep as others’: in these places they might develop their potential in a way that the “real” world would never allow them to, but sometimes – either by accident or because of homesickness – they find their way back and are unable to adjust to their old reality. For this reason the school created by Ms. West (herself once a returned child) exists to help these youngsters adapt back to our world, or find again the way back to those realms, if they are lucky, the understanding being that once the innocence of youth is lost, once the gift of wild imagination dwindles in the face of more adult responsibilities, the doors stay closed and never appear again, effectively stranding the child forever.
Katherine Lundy is the middle child of a well-to-do family, but also a lonely one: her father being the school’s principal prevents her from forming any friendship with her school mates, so she takes refuge in books and the certainties offered by the rules she loves to obey. While she’s not outwardly unhappy – at some point we see how she’s unable to even entertain the concept of unhappiness – something is indeed missing deep inside, so that when one day a door appears in a gnarled tree on her path, she turns the knob and finds herself in the colorful, unruly and wildly amazing Goblin Market, a place at the opposite side of the spectrum of her quietly ordered life. The economy, if such a term can be applied, of the Goblin Market is based on the concept of fair value, an intriguing kind of barter system which sees the people incurring in too many unpaid debts transformed into birds. Tutored by the Archivist and helped by Moon, the first real friend in Lundy’s existence, she spends a year in the Market, leaving it only in the aftermath of a tragedy. Since Lundy is still a child (her first foray happens when she’s nine years old), the rules of the Market allow her to return time and time again until her eighteenth birthday, when she will have to make the choice to either stay or go away forever. Despite realizing that only in the realm beyond the magical door she can truly be herself, she feels the pull of her original family and finds herself torn between two equally powerful claims on her commitment, knowing that either choice will mean pain and loss.
Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series is her most pathos-laden work to date, not only because young people are at the center of it and their distress feels more poignant than it would if the characters were grown-ups, but because of its focus on the need to fit in, to belong – a feeling that everyone experiences sooner or later and that is more emphasized when it concerns kids, whose coping mechanisms are far less developed than those of adults. The author reminds us often that the doors don’t manifest themselves if the children have no real need for a different world than the one they live in, but this also means that those who walk through the doors sooner or later will have to face some hard choices. This is Lundy’s case, when she goes home for the last time to say goodbye to her family: her now-grown younger sister Diana lays her claim to Lundy because she wants the sister she never had, and Lundy must choose between the family of her blood and that of her heart.
Of all the enchanted worlds shown so far in this series, the Goblin Market is the most detailed one, painted with vivid images and peopled by lively characters, the place "where dreamers go when they don't fit in with the dreams their homes think worth dreaming": where until now we only saw glimpses of other realms, here we get a living, breathing place where colors are more vibrant and smells more pervasive – and I dare anyone deny that their mouths did not water at all those mentions of fruit and meat pies that Lundy buys from the centaur baker… The Market is also a stark contrast with Lundy’s drab home life, made of distant parents and a painful lack of friends, while the rest of the world expects her to sacrifice her drives and expectations on the altar of conformity: if her first venture into the Market is the product of accident and curiosity, the second time Lundy chooses to go there as an act of rebellion once she understands that she was “living in a world that told her, day after day after grinding, demoralizing day, that adventures were only for boys; that girls had better things to worry about, like making sure those same boys had a safe harbor to come home to”.
Choosing to follow the calling of her heart and dwell forever in the Goblin Market, Lundy will have to sacrifice her sister Diana's happiness, her desire to get to know the sister she knew she had but never had a chance to share her life with; on the other hand, choosing to follow the call of blood, Lundy will have to sacrifice herself - her dreams, her hopes, her true being. Here the starkest meaning of fair value comes to the fore with dramatic clarity, because it stresses the difference between wanting and needing, and as the Archivist told Lundy once, "When you need, it's important that the people around you not be looking to take advantage". And having to choose between wanting and needing can tear a person apart…
Poignant, heart-wrenching and powerfully evocative, In An Absent Dream is one of Seanan McGuire's strongest offerings to date, and a very recommended reading.
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LibraryThing member fred_mouse
This fourth book of the Wayward Children series did not speak to me the way the others have. In fact, I struggled a lot with it, reading a bit, putting it down and walking away for days, weeks. There is nothing wrong with it as a book -- beautifully written, great world building, fascinating
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characters, etc etc. It just... didn't add together as a story for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
As a child, Lundy wanders into the Goblin Market, where you can’t ask for things without risking unruly debts, and where fair value must always be paid, lest you be transformed into a bird. She finds a friend, Moon, and a mentor, the Archivists (no true names is another rule), and when she goes
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back to 1960s America, the constraints she finds often send her right back. But she’s going to have to choose before she turns eighteen, and this is not a happy tale. An interesting entry into McGuire’s Wayward Children series, though not my favorite. Show Less
LibraryThing member Strider66
Pros: interesting character, evocative writing, quick paced
Cons:
Katherine Victoria Lundy is content to be the friendless principal’s daughter so long as she can read her books. When a mysterious door appears before her one day, she opens it and finds a new world, one with strict rules of
This is a novella and so can be read in a couple of hours. It’s a great, fast paced story that’s hard to put down. I liked Katherine’s no nonsense behaviour and the world where people state what they want and try to deal fairly with one another (or risk discipline). I can understand why she’d want to live there as there’s something comforting in the idea of knowing that no one can take advantage of you.
I thought her choice at the end was believably difficult, with several sides to consider.
The writing was quite beautiful at times. Almost lyrical even.
While part of the Wayward Children series it easily stands alone and you don’t need to have read any of the others to fully grasp the story.
This is a great series and a good alternate starting point.
Cons:
Katherine Victoria Lundy is content to be the friendless principal’s daughter so long as she can read her books. When a mysterious door appears before her one day, she opens it and finds a new world, one with strict rules of
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fairness. She has until she turns 18 to decide which world she wants to live in, a choice that gets harder the closer the deadline comes. This is a novella and so can be read in a couple of hours. It’s a great, fast paced story that’s hard to put down. I liked Katherine’s no nonsense behaviour and the world where people state what they want and try to deal fairly with one another (or risk discipline). I can understand why she’d want to live there as there’s something comforting in the idea of knowing that no one can take advantage of you.
I thought her choice at the end was believably difficult, with several sides to consider.
The writing was quite beautiful at times. Almost lyrical even.
While part of the Wayward Children series it easily stands alone and you don’t need to have read any of the others to fully grasp the story.
This is a great series and a good alternate starting point.
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LibraryThing member AngelaJMaher
This is Lundy's story. Although part of the series, it is its own standalone tale. The events of the first book in the series come after this, but it could work to read it either side of it.
An intriguing tale, even if you know Lundy's ultimate fate. A beautifully imagined world and unforgettable
An intriguing tale, even if you know Lundy's ultimate fate. A beautifully imagined world and unforgettable
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characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
Review to come on Dec 25th per the publisher request.
This series of novellas can really be read out of order so reading this one first will not ruin any of the other stories. Katherine is a bookish girl with no real friends due to her father being the principal at school. One day she finds a door
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
This series of novellas can really be read out of order so reading this one first will not ruin any of the other stories. Katherine is a bookish girl with no real friends due to her father being the principal at school. One day she finds a door
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in a tree that takes her to the Goblin Market. Everything is exchanged for fair value and if you don’t give fair value you accrue debt and can become a bird. Katherine goes back and forth between the worlds and can’t wait to make her final decision on her 18th birthday. But everyone wants what they see as a fair value trade from her on both sides of the door. A great story and we meet Lundy again in this one after meeting her in the first book, Every Heart a Doorway. Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
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LibraryThing member iftyzaidi
The fourth book in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, though it could probably be read as a standalone too. McGuire's novellas continue to be beautiful, unexpected, compelling and twisted takes on traditional fairy tales. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member flying_monkeys
Perfect! Deserves ALL the stars, not a measly five. Dare I say, better even than Every Heart a Doorway...
LibraryThing member widdersyns
No surprise that I adored this. Beautiful. Seanan keeps knocking it out of the park with this series.
LibraryThing member readinggeek451
Another prequel to the wonderful Every Heart a Doorway.
Katherine Lundy is a quiet, bookish, rule-following child without any friends. When she encounters a tree with a door in it, she cautiously enters, and finds herself in the Goblin Market. The Market has a lot of rules, about fair exchange and
Surprising, inventive, and deep.
Katherine Lundy is a quiet, bookish, rule-following child without any friends. When she encounters a tree with a door in it, she cautiously enters, and finds herself in the Goblin Market. The Market has a lot of rules, about fair exchange and
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paying one's debts. One of the biggest rules is that she can come and go as she wishes until she is 18; then, unless she has become a citizen, she can never return.Surprising, inventive, and deep.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Katherine Lundy finds a door to the Goblin Market where promises are transactional and where she has to decided before she's 18 if she wants to stay or if she wants to be with her family and see them grow up or if she wants to be in a place that feels more like home and more rational to her than
It's an interesting meditation on where you can belong and different ways of belonging.
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her ordinary home.It's an interesting meditation on where you can belong and different ways of belonging.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Of all the stories so far in this series I appreciate Lundy's character the most, I don't know why, but something about the slightly withdrawn bookish but still active and imaginative person appeals to me.
The rest of the novella is much as the previous ones, alternating between Lundy's home life,
Charming, sad, and altogether wonderful.
The rest of the novella is much as the previous ones, alternating between Lundy's home life,
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which is far from disfunctional but sufficient for the appeal of a doorway, and her time in the alternate world. This is a proto-typical Goblin Market, not run by goblins but any being who appreciates bargaining. The magic of market enforces Fair Value, a nebulous term but based on capacity and earnestness. Those who shirk their deals gain debts to the Market - normally gradual transformation into a bird. It's not clear what value the Market gets from the new creatures. Lundy is curious, although even answers have a price, but friendship has it's own rewards without debt.Charming, sad, and altogether wonderful.
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LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
In an Absent Dream
(Wayward Children #4)
by Seanan McGuire
This goes back to one of the characters in book one. This is her life. This is my favorite book of the series so far! Lundy is lonely and loves to read and not play with dolls to train to be the perfect wife and mother. She finds a tree with a
A world where bargains are based on fair value agreed on by both sides. Punishment for not following up on your bargain is determined by the world. Turning into a bird slowly.
There's a door open to come back and forth between
worlds. She had to decide by the age of 18 to stay on one side or the other. The ending was...WOW!
(Wayward Children #4)
by Seanan McGuire
This goes back to one of the characters in book one. This is her life. This is my favorite book of the series so far! Lundy is lonely and loves to read and not play with dolls to train to be the perfect wife and mother. She finds a tree with a
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door that leads to a goblin world.A world where bargains are based on fair value agreed on by both sides. Punishment for not following up on your bargain is determined by the world. Turning into a bird slowly.
There's a door open to come back and forth between
worlds. She had to decide by the age of 18 to stay on one side or the other. The ending was...WOW!
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LibraryThing member AliceaP
In my quest to read books that feature LGBTQIA characters, the Wayward Children series came to my attention. [A/N: It's a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning series so it's not as if I accidentally stumbled across it.] Not all of the novellas in this series feature LGBTQIA characters but they do explore
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gender identity and nonconformity in general. Fantasy and sci-fi have historically been used as a vehicle to explore these ideas and McGuire does it with particular skill especially considering these books are all novella length. (I truly marvel at how much she packs into such small books without it seeming rushed or awkward.) After reading the first in the series, Every Heart a Doorway, I bought the rest of the set and have taken my time to really savor her writing. The 4th book in the series, In An Absent Dream, follows Lundy who travels to the world of the Goblin Market where everything is ruled by logic and reason. Back in the "real" world, Lundy is known as Katherine and up until the point she walks through her magical doorway she is a solitary figure who flies below the notice of most people. But her time in the Goblin Market changes her and the way that others (especially her family) perceives her. One of the themes that McGuire explores through her books is the feeling of 'otherness' that most kids experience at one time or another but she uses the framework of fantasy to illustrate this point beautifully. (I'd love to tell you how she does it in this book but it's a major part of the storyline and ya'll know I don't abide by spoilers.) Suffice to say, this book and the series in general is a delightful way to spend an afternoon (or several). 10/10 Show Less
LibraryThing member khenkins
Seanan McGuire writes hypnotic prose, especially at the beginning of In An Absent Dream where she describes 8-year-old Katherine Lundy's distress, pain really, at the expectations for her in her 1960s middle-class life. She is, as described, “invisible” – her real self is invisible to her
A Wayward Children novella, this narrative allows Lundy to find a portal to a land that is based on giving and receiving “fair value.” It's a Goblin Market, full of shops and stalls, negotiations and, dangerously, debt. Lundy, as she's called in this land, can move back and forth from her old to her new world; she does so through her adolescence.
Since she must choose only one before her 18th birthday, we see Lundy representing the almost paralyzing fear, when on the brink of maturity, that one cannot balance all of one's desires. Lundy loves and desires to be with her younger sister as she is growing up; she loves her best friend Moon in the Market world and requires her courage and counsel, she wants to be a wise adult, someone like The Archivist in Goblin Market world.
The reader aches along with Lundy. She also resides in the first book in Wayward Children, Every Heart a Doorway. Readers of this book know Lundy's “future.” Readers of In An Absent Dream will be mesmerized by the tale, but should remember that like Grimm's fairy tales, not everyone lives “happily ever after.”
I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher. This is an honest review.
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parents, teachers, peers. This self needs structure and rules that are fair, fair for her, not based on generalizations about her gender or class.A Wayward Children novella, this narrative allows Lundy to find a portal to a land that is based on giving and receiving “fair value.” It's a Goblin Market, full of shops and stalls, negotiations and, dangerously, debt. Lundy, as she's called in this land, can move back and forth from her old to her new world; she does so through her adolescence.
Since she must choose only one before her 18th birthday, we see Lundy representing the almost paralyzing fear, when on the brink of maturity, that one cannot balance all of one's desires. Lundy loves and desires to be with her younger sister as she is growing up; she loves her best friend Moon in the Market world and requires her courage and counsel, she wants to be a wise adult, someone like The Archivist in Goblin Market world.
The reader aches along with Lundy. She also resides in the first book in Wayward Children, Every Heart a Doorway. Readers of this book know Lundy's “future.” Readers of In An Absent Dream will be mesmerized by the tale, but should remember that like Grimm's fairy tales, not everyone lives “happily ever after.”
I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher. This is an honest review.
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Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novella — 2020)
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novella — 2020)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2019-01-08
Physical description
204 p.; 8.55 inches
ISBN
9780765399298