In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, 4)

Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series
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
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Community Reviews
4.5 I have devoured this series over the past few days. I will definitely be rereading them - so many brilliant gems in each that I know I will pick up on more next time. This was a great way to end the year!! Can’t wait for book #5 📚
I honestly don’t know if I liked this or not. It felt very incomplete and rather than feeling like it was about a very fair and rule-based world, it felt very arbitrary. Possibly 2 stars. The first book has been, and remains, my favorite. In other words, the school from book one seems better to me than the worlds that the children prefer.