Fantasy Book Critic: Lost In The Moment And Found by Seanan McGuire (Reviewed by Shazzie)

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OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, Alex and Locus Award-winning Wayward Children series, theOctober Daye series, the InCryptid series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, avast collection of creepy dolls, horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She won the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 became the first person to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot. In 2022 she managed the same feat, again!

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: 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 this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….

Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, thistime), she discovers that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.

And stepping through those doors exacts a price.

Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.

FORMAT/INFO: Lost in the Moment and Found is the eighth novella in the Wayward Children series. It is written in third person point of view and contains thirteen chapters split over four parts, and has a page count of 160. It will be published by TorDotComPub on January 10, 2023 in hardcover, audio and ebook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: I am really lucky to have discovered the first book in the Wayward Children series on Goodreads because of a very well-written review. Since my read of book one, I have eagerly waited for each novella in the series, and ensure that I have the time to read it as soon as it reaches mykindle upon release. Now imagine, if you will, my excitement at the receipt of a review copy ahead of release.

"People should be themselves, not just part of a classification."

For the uninitiated, the Wayward Children is a series of urban portal fantasies of eight novellas this far, each that focus on a different character, or a set of characters, with common themes of identity and acceptance. They are strange, beautiful, one sitting reads that are thought provoking, yet read easy. Thisbook focuses on Antsy, who runs away from home to escape her stepfather, and comes across a door that takes her to a shop in a world of talking birds and more, one in which she is taken care of and feels safe.

Like each of the previous instalments, this book can be read independently of the others. Personally, I think one Seanan's greatest achievements is that someone who has read all the previous instalments will be able to enjoy this book with the same level of comfort as someone who hasn't read the ones before it, and at the same time, not find it repetitive. The other thing the author does really well is give each protagonist across the series a distinct voice, without losing any narrative quality.

"She didn't like the idea of being alone with him even more than she didn't like the way he looked at her sometimes."

In a touching show of consideration, the author has added a note at the beginning of the book that discloses that it does contain themes of grooming and adult gaslighting in the early chapters, with the reassurance that Antsy, the protagonist, runs away before anything can actually happen. After Antsy's father dies of a heart attack, her mother starts seeing and then marries a man who makes her uncomfortable for no evident reason, one she can't even put a finger on. She runs away as things get to a stage where she feels that he could turn her mother against her, and eventually get his way with everything.

The beginning chapters showcase her grief at parental loss and her grudging resignation that her stepfather is likely to be around her and her mother forever. The later chapters show her find her way around the shop where the lost things go, and her discovery of the truth behind the establishment of the shop. This book has a particular focus on the idea of loss in multiple forms, and talks of those things that can't be found, once gone. All of this is done in the typical Seanan way that is engaging and blunt, in a way that kept me thinking of the topics the book raises a lot longer than it took me to read it thoroughly.

CONCLUSION: This is a highly recommended read for those who want to read something compelling and bittersweet. Readers who are familiar with the series are going to be delighted at yet another entry of high quality, and the others will likely find here a read that might just urge them to pick up the rest. As is characteristic of every novella before this one, it shows us that we have much to learn.