Review – In an Absent Dream

From Goodreads: 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.

I loved every minute of this book. Of all the worlds that have been explored in this series it has been the world I am personally most drawn to. Its high logic was beautiful and terrible and I found myself wanting to cry for Lundy. Of all the doorways we have stepped through with the characters of this series the Goblin market seemed to have the most complexity and I was just drawn to it.

This follows the format that is held by the rest of the series. McGuire’s narration, reminiscent of C.S.Lewis in its tone, is calming and lyrical. She has a way of using language that fills the pages with so much information and story in a natural way. It feels like we get a complete story in such a short number of pages. She conveys huge amount of world building detail and this one was just stunning. The goblin market just seems so magical to me. Like all of her books we just get such a concrete sense of the world behind the doorway. We get to know its rules and its people, while also getting a glimpse of into the life of one that has encountered it and how they end up at the Home for wayward children once their worlds abandon them.

Despite knowing the outcome for Lundy from the previous books in the series I was so emotionally invested in her story, this made the ending hit hard even with prior knowledge and just made it a fantastic journey. Honestly, if you have enjoyed the previous books you will enjoy this one. I think eventually everyone will have a favourite world, find their door within this series and I think the Goblin market may be mine.