★★★★★ Lost in the Moment and Found, by Seanan McGuire
Be sure! This one cuts deep.
Lost in the Moment and Found
Seanan McGuire
Be sure! This one cuts deep.
If you, like me, worked your way to Lost in the Moment and Found through the previous books of the Wayward Children Series, then you know the drill, or think you do. You already know that Wayward Children books are portal fantasies. The portals look like doors, which always have the warning "Be Sure" above them. The children usually plunge through them heedlessly, without knowing what they need to be sure of.
But this one is different. It is obviously deeply personal for Seanan McGuire, rooted in some childhood horror that she only hints at. Lost in the Moment and Found begins with its own "Be Sure!", although not in those words. They are in the Dedication and the Author's Note. Even if you are a person who skips the front matter of every book, I advise you to pay attention this time, and Be Sure!
The first four chapters of Lost in the Moment and Found were very hard for me to read. They are saturated in a creeping dread, and I knew exactly what I dreaded. Fortunately, as McGuire reassures us
Antsy runs. Before anything can actually happen, Antsy runs.
Antsy runs, and she finds a door with the words "Be Sure!" over it, and a story ensues, about which I will reveal no more details. It is not sweet and kind, but it is powerful.
If you are familiar with McGuire's October Daye and Incryptid series, then you know that McGuire is a deep planner. Before she begins writing, she has almost a decade of writing thought out and has envisioned dozens of novels. In October Daye, she tells us of novel eight, The Winter Long "Everything I have done with October’s world to this point has been for the sake of getting here, to the book that you now hold in your hands." Similarly in Incryptid it is novels 9, 10, and 11 that she took aim at when she begin writing ten years earlier.
Although McGuire doesn't tell us so in so many words, it seems clear to me that Lost in the Moment and Found is a hinge point that she planned six years ago to reach. I don't love all the Wayward Children books, but this one made the long journey worthwhile.