Reviews - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

2.07k reviews for:

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Catherynne M. Valente

4.06 AVERAGE

aramintapdf's review

4.25

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

delightful and lively and gorgeous. I love you September and Ell and Saturday and Green and Key and Gleam and THE MARQUESS!!

tawnibear's review

4.0

Really unique and enjoyable, but weird and hard to follow at times. Review to come!

I had such high hopes for this book that I bought it new the first time I saw it in person(and I never buy new books). Put my favorite bookmark inside and started reading immediately. But then I started finding it harder and harder to make myself pick up and read at the end of each day. I finally admitted defeat and skimmed the ending, which wasn't hard when each chapter title includes a tagline loosely describing the events of that chapter: An Audience With The Marquess...In Which September Meets the Marquess at Last, Argues Several Valid Points but Is Pressed into Royal Service Anyway, Being Consoled Only by the Acquisition of a Spoon and a New Pair of Shoes

At first the descriptions were quirky, but they became irritating. Why should I read a chapter after it has already been summarized for me first?

The book as a whole had a feel that someone wanted to create the next Alice in Wonderland meets Narnia and The Wizard of Oz, but failed to put any originality into it. The characters were very underdeveloped, the writing went on and on about details that didn't matter to the plot, and the story felt formulaic. Everything that happened seemed to happen because it was supposed to, and not because it wanted to. Nothing came to life for me the way books should.

merelhoutman's review

3.0

3.5

simina_lungu's review

5.0

My goodness! What is it with so many one and two-stars reviews for this one? This was a delight start to finish, a children's book done right, that doesn't patronize, is fun, filled with imagination, with a relatable heroine and a lot of twists and turns. I see in it the hidden meanings you spot in fairy-tales, but I also see it as an entertaining story in itself. I know 100% I would have enjoyed it as a kid, and I definitely enjoyed it as an adult. I can't wait to read the sequels. I initially had a lukewarm opinion of Valente, but now I'm willing to give her another try, because she is an incredible, versatile writer.

abstract_vision's review

5.0

adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

this book feels like a cross between Lewis Carrol's "alice in wonderland" and "the phantom tollbooth" by Norton Juster. we follow a little girl named September who get swept away (willingly) by the green wind into a dimension called fairyland. the beginning already captivated me, but the interesting plotline and the unique characters got me to stay throughout.