#in an absent dream

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children series)

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children No Solicitations No Visitors No Guests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Fantasy, portal fantasy, mystery, magical realism, boarding school, novella, series, adult

Imperial Radch series (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy, Provenance, Translation State, and other stories) by Ann Leckie

Endorsement from submitter: "Breq/Justice of Toren is a ship AI and doesn't have a gender. The Radchaai language only has one pronoun for people, so (almost) everyone in the empire is she/her, to the point that they're infamous for failing to correctly guess which pronoun to use with outsiders."

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

Science fiction, space opera, far future, series, adult

[the-lavender-creator]

Is there a Wayward Children fans discord server btw or do I need to make one proper

[sophiesbookishthings]

August Reads

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

This book reminded me a lot of Ella Enchanted for some reason. It had a very similar vibe with the love story and the adventure. Wit/Hoid was the narrator which was delightful. I always love a good immortal silly guy who's actually wise and powerful that shows up all the time. Also this book has pirates, so big selling point for me. And I thought the whole spore thing going on with Tress's planet was really cool. 12 moons is a bit excessive though lol. I really liked this book a lot, it was fun. Definitely a book I'll be rereading at some point I think.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Book of Bill by Bill Cipher Alex Hirsch

Oh Gravity Falls my beloved. This show is still like top 10 for me tbh. It just fits my brand of weird so well. And idk if I was always like this or if I'm like this because of Gravity Falls lol. I can't believe we got new content in 2024. Also, Ford and Bill are totally exes. Mabel's right.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Circe by Madeline Miller

I will always love a good greek mythology retelling. I was (and will always be) a Percy Jackson kid at heart. I will admit, though, I didn't know a ton about Circe going into this, as I often confused her and Calypso. But as per any mythology based book I read, there were a lot of ventures to wikipedia to learn a bit more about who's who and what else they were involved in. Oddly enough, though, I hated The Odyssey when i had to read it in high school. If there's 1000 Odysseus haters, I'm one of them, etc., etc. or whatever. But Penelope (my beloved) was done right in this book. I also liked that Circe is a morally grey protagonist in the story. She does a lot of stuff that is not really very good, but I support women's wrongs so I thought she was super interesting. And altogether i just really liked this book. There's something about the way Madeline Miller writes that hits just right for me.

4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

I love the Wayward Children series so much. I was a lot like Lundy as a kid. Very about rules and books and pretty alone. I really found the goblin market super intriguing and I think it's one of the worlds from the series I would do best in. It's all about fair deals so it can be harsh at times but it was always fair. I knew the end of the book was coming since Lundy was a character in previous books but it did still hit hard.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

More Wayward Children! The main character of this book was intersex, which I didn't actually know going into it, but it was neat cause I don't think I've ever read a book with an intersex character before. I really liked the setting of this book. The Hooflands seem to be one of the least harrowing worlds in the series. I loved the centaurs that took care of Regan. They were fun.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

This one was really good. I've had this book for a while now and I just haven't got around to reading it until now and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. I really liked both the main character and the love interest, which is kinda rare for me. The whole concept of a girl that's quite literally followed by death was really cool and very well done. I'm excited to read the rest of the series, which I believe is recently completed.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm trying so hard not to finish all the Sanderson books (but mostly the stormlight archive) before Wind and Truth comes out in December. So I'm reading standalones and definitely not Rythm of War. Tell me why this book took me so long to finish though. I've read stormlight archive books in less time than this took me. It wasn't even that I disliked this book in any way I just don't think it grabbed me as much and I struggled to make myself sit down and read it. This book was super heavy on the politics and religious aspects of the plot and I think that may have been what caused it to drag for me since I tend to be a bit more interested in the magic aspect of fantasy books. But luckily that did pick up a bit more toward the end. But anyway! I loved Sarene in particular. I thought she was so cool. She was manipulating the hell out of people the whole book and I loved it. The end did make me interested see what Sanderson will do in the sequel.

3.75/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

[franticvampirereads]

This was different than I was expecting. It’s fun and adventurous but also bittersweet. I loved that Lundy found and lost herself in the Goblin Market. And found that her choices had more consequences than she anticipated. It was also nice to be reminded that Lundy wasn’t always the villain and that she had a door too.

Somehow this book had more of a fairy tale feeling than the previous books, which was really nice. I really enjoyed getting to explore the Goblin Market and would love to explore it more. Maybe we’ll get to visit it again in another book? I’m giving In An Absent Dream four out of five stars. And as always, I’m looking forward to the next book in this series!

Reading Challenge Prompt Fills:

PopSugar 2023: historical fiction (starts in the 1960’s)

Shop Your Shelves: my precious (aka a fantasy book)

[goodgrammaritan]

Adults seemed to view mannerly children as somehow Superior, and hence deserving of better treatment. It was silly at best and dangerous at worst—some of the nastiest bullies in school were capable of pulling out exquisite manners at the drop of a hat...

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

[shesamreads]

"To be a child is to be a visitor from another world."

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (11/27/23)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (6/10)

This book was just way too long for the story it was telling. It easily could have been 100 pages shorter. I did like a lot of the emotional moments concerning the romantic relationships, but there is so much filler that it just go incredibly boring at the end. Also, Cassandra Clare does this thing I like to call "no romance left behind" which is when everyone in a book is paired off by the end, even ones that don't really make sense or seem rushed, such as Gabriel and Cecily. The plot in this book was just overall lacking, coming off as extremely simplistic and far too convenient. Luckily, Tessa and her romantic relationships sort of saved the day; the epilogue did make me tear up, hence why this book is not dropping to a 4 or even 3.

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (9/10)

Continuing my Wayward Children run, Beneath the Sugar Sky is a really good installment. I love that we got the return of Kade and Christopher, who I missed, and the new characters, Cora and Nadya, are quite fun. Nancy was also there for a short time, and I loved seeing her in her element. I really liked Cora, who is great plus size representation and really addressed how being fat affects everything in our world and can worm into your brain. I am obsessed with the worldbuilding of Confection and the foray into how all the worlds are built and how they're laid out. I really hope there are more stories that involve visiting multiple worlds and exploring how they work.

Lodestar by Shannon Messenger (9/10)

This was an amazing installment in Keeper of the Lost Cities. It feels like something has truly changed for the first time in a while, instead of the back-and-forth that usually happens between the Black Swan and the Neverseen. Major developments occurred with terrible consequences for both sides, and we got what I would consider the first major character death as Calla in Neverseen had only been introduced that book. The relationship between Sophie and Keefe also developed quite a bit, and we got some real conflict within the group since the Alden debacle in Exile. Finally, there is some progress in the romance department. They're still, you know, like fourteen/fifteen, but considering how much this series hints at it, I'm glad we're starting to see concrete development. Finally, that ending had me gagged. Not only was the climax ridiculously tense but there is a twist at the end that made me immediately want to start Nightfall.

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (16%)

This book is hitting a little too close to home...as a goody-two-shoes reader who had like two friends growing up, Lundy feels like a callout. I am so excited to see a Goblin Market-based world, as I've read other books like that and they're always incredibly fun.

Cinder Ella by S. T. Lynn (8%)

This is part of a little project I'm doing, and I can't say much about it so far. I'm a little hesitant about the writing, as it has been clunky in a few places, but I'm really interested to see the story of Cinderella under a trans lens.

Rising Storm by Erin Hunter (7%)

I'm back on that Warriors grind, you guys. I swear I am going to read this entire series, even the later ones I never got to that are supposedly terrible. I also might be working on a project concerning them... Anyway, gotta love the Tigerclaw/ShadowClan foreshadowing.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (3%)

It's always thieves in high fantasy novels. I'm not sure what the obsession with them is, but I feel like 60% of high fantasy protagonists are thieves. Anyway, I'm loving the magic system so far, so hopefully the plot and characters will hold up!

[beabliophilia]

Hello, how are you?✨

Last month I reread and annotated my used (and sadly a bit damaged) copy of In an Absent Dream, which is my favourite out of the Wayward Children series and the only one I physically own (why are these books so expensive despite being so short 😭)

I normally only underline cute sentences with a pencil, but I really liked the experience of rereading a favourite book and writing down my thoughts. It really helped me understand what I liked in the story and why this one has a special place in my heart ✨

Do you annotate on your books like it is so trendy now, or do you keep them pristine? 👀

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpCsQRArrtr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[madlovenovelist]

Book Review – ‘Lost in a Moment and Found’ (#8 Wayward Children) by Seanan McGuire

A girl runs away from an unsafe home to work in a mystical shop… Genre: YA, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+ No. of pages: 146 Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go. If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here. If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back. And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed…

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

reading in an absent dream and feeling the emotion and turmoil and everything. they do not waste words, not on adventures because they know we know how to create them, but the inside of Lundy's head, and the goblin market..... i was so appalled by it at first yet i have a weird craving for it now, it feels like a blanket albeit seemingly cruel at times... then i remembered i was 20... this is my first time reading these stories at an age that could never reach them itself and its so strange, i feel like something is stuck in my throat at the thought that magic of my books cannot reach me anymore, even if i were to fall in them

[sheilajsn]

Serie Wayward Children de Seanan McGuire

La serie Wayward Children de Seanan McGuire es una serie que yo descubrí el año pasado e, inmediatamente, se convirtió en una de mis favoritas. La serie cuenta, hasta ahora, de ocho libros y un noveno que se va a publicar ahora en enero. Every Heart a Doorway Down Among the Sticks and Bones Beneath the Sugar Sky In an Absent Dream Come Tumbling Down Across the Green Grass Fields Where the…

[ninsiana0]

Read IN AN ABSENT DREAM by Seanan McGuire if you love ordinary & remarkable children, goblin markets, birds, besties, delicious pies, wanting & needing, losing yourself in books to avoid the pain of reality, loopholes, pencils, fair trade, being sure, sisters & debts.

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

WOTN: In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

In An Absent Dream: A Fanciful and Dangerous World to Be Found In An Absent Dream brings us back to the world of the Wayward Children, a series written by Seanan McGuire. This is a universe in which doorways to other worlds can be found, but only for those that could potentially belong. This is the fourth novella in the series thus far, which tells us a few things. For one, we get to see a bit…

[soup-du-silence]

"In Jamil's dream, Kalim won't exist. "In Jamil's dream, HE'LL be housewarden and Kalim will be his servant." Actually I think he's too codependent for all that, maybe he just wants a break and a fruity drink and then he'll be right back on his grind. That's my theory, anyway.

[franticvampirereads]

Today really feels like summer. It’s sunny and hot and I’ve got a TBR list a mile long. Here’s my July TBR:

Winter’s Orbit

Psycho

Coyote

In An Absent Dream

Muscles & Monsters

This One Summer

Into The Drowning Deep

Nothing To Lose

Captive Prince

I’m so excited to dive into all of these! 😊

[goodgrammaritan]

She had been able to find a doorway and disappear into an adventure, instead of 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.

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire