After reading the first of Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland series on sort of a whim, I immediately bought the rest of the series, hoping that the sequels would live up to the first. And book #2 did not disappoint! In fact, I think I enjoyed it even more than the first. It’s a bit darker, and a bit richer, and a bit more profound.
Our protagonist, September, has been out of Fairyland for a year, living in Nebraska with her mother while her father is off at war. Of course, she pines for Fairyland, always wondering how she’ll get back. And one day, she does get back, by catching a boat going over her backyard’s amber waves of grain through a tear between Fairyland and Nebraska.
If you’ve read the first book, you’ll know that September gave away her shadow in a deal to save a creature she hardly knew. In this book, she realizes that that act, although one of mercy and kindness, has led to something dark and sinister…immediately upon her arrival, she sees that magic is seeping out of Fairyland and, as in her real life in WWII-era Nebraska, everyone must make do with magic ration cards. September knows that somehow, it’s her shadow causing so much trouble. She determines to set things right, and to do so she must go to Fairyland-Below, where her shadow has taken a name, Halloween, and rules as Queen of the shadows with the shadow-counterparts of September’s friends from book 1. And meeting her shadow-self and her shadow-friends is just the beginning of her Quest.
There are so many things to love about this book: The charm and sheer imaginative-ness of the inhabitants of Fairyland (Blue kangaroo miners! A lady Minotaur! Shadow cats!) The deft way that Valente writes September–now 13, not quite a child, with moments of heart and grown-up-ness, but still young enough to be wild and fierce. The wide, wide array of female characters–not “strong women” characters, just characters who happen to be female because why not? The charmingly self-aware exploration of common fairytale themes–the price of a first kiss, for instance, and meeting the minotaur in the middle of the labyrinth. The creative exploration of shadows as embodiment of both positive and negative “hidden” aspects of the “real” characters’ personality. The wonderful denouement that, as in the first book, is satisfying without being cruel to the story’s villains, complex without being confusing, and profound without being preachy.
In short, I will be buying these books for all my nieces and nephews this Christmas, and a couple grownups besides.
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