A Man With An Agenda

This book kept staring at me from the new release shelves, and I couldn't resist it. The 'Wayward Children' series has entranced me even since I discovered it almost two years ago. McGuire uses the short length of the stories and the subject matter of the series itself to delve deep into the many facets of troubled childhoods.

I've had moments of disappointment with the series in the past, that's true, but only because I will always want deeper and more explicit answers than McGuire wants to give. Most storytelling, especially when it deals with the deep wells of adolescence and responsibility, requires a veil or two to coax the reader towards insight. Clear prose is desirable, bald prose not so much.

Sorry to be hedging around the point. 'In An Absent Dream' is the best entry yet in the series. McGuire tells the story of Lundy, a minor character in 'Every Heart a Doorway', and crafted a powerful story in her origins in our world and in the Goblin Market. More so than any other characters in this series I felt a sense of kinship with Lundy and sympathized with the choices she felt compelled to make.

Each of these stories can stand alone and publication order is almost always the most correct way to go about these things, but I wouldn't hold it against a reader if they wanted to read this one second.

Wayward Children

Next: 'Come Tumbling Down'

Previous: 'Beneath the Sugar Sky'