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ashleylm's review
4.0
As usual, a lovely book--but probably my least favourite of the four so far. Not because of the shift in protagonist (Hawthorn/Tom is terrific), but because the plot rather meandered ... around page 180 I started feeling like the book was starting, but it was actually closing in on an ending.
Despite that one criticism, a less-than-perfect book from Ms. Valente is about 100 times more rewarding than most author's best efforts!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
Despite that one criticism, a less-than-perfect book from Ms. Valente is about 100 times more rewarding than most author's best efforts!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
bibliotheca_draconum's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
ekatemari's review
4.0
This book is utter nonsense… you’re going to love it.
Let me first say that Catherynne Valente has more imagination in one fingernail than most people do in their whole body. You can just imagine her as a hyperactive, hyper-creative kid who’s just seen Fairyland and wants to tell you all about it and she can’t wait for even one minute, no she can’t. It’s the sheer volume of words and references and, frequently, nonsense that hurtles at you like the cascade of a waterfall that you couldn't stem if you jammed all your arms and legs into it.
At the start it feels a lot like that – that is, overwhelming and a bit like paddling against a commanding torrent of colours and lovely words and fantastic items that leaves you with very little room to breathe, much less grab hold of a tree branch for long enough to get your bearings. (The branch would probably turn out to be a boa constrictor, anyway.) But after a chapter or so you get into the swing of things, pick up a few native words and shrug on an ethnic jacket; you learn how to salmon upstream. And it’s easy, mad riding the rest of the way.
The story begins when a young troll by the name of Hawthorn is spirited away by the Red Wind and her Panther of Rough Storms and sent into the human world as a Changeling – an out-of-place little mischievous creature that is, for all intents and purposes, anarchy incarnate.
But of course, this isn’t actually where the story begins.
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is the fourth in the Fairyland series and, while it can stand independently, much like a small child, it would be much better off being supported on one side or the other by its mum or one of its older siblings. That is to say: alone it is very good, but in line with its forerunners it would be glorious. I say this having not read the others, mind – it’s just that, towards the end of the book in particular, characters from the other books are mentioned and I think you’d enjoy these mentionings more if you had the faintest idea of who they were on about. The beginning of the book, too, launches confidently into an assertive stride and you can immediately feel the presence of the narrative stepping stones that led to this one.
After Hawthorn is recast as a small human child, he is completely and utterly confused and crestfallen. The oven and the chandelier won’t speak to him, his mother (who is clearly a witch) makes him toys that won’t come alive, try as Hawthorn might, and his father is quick to point out that he isn’t normal. But life must go on and our small troll with it, and so Hawthorn grows into a human boy: Thomas Rood. Along the way are the hurdles of school and other kids and being normal, and Thomas must do his best to fit in even as he forgets all about his real heritage. That is, until one day, when a carefully orchestrated (and not entirely normal) accident changes everything and stirs awake the troll deep inside…
The book is absolutely wonderful and incredibly creative, entirely comfortable in its well-worn fantastical shoes. It also often reminded me of Dianna Wynne Jones’s work (which is a great compliment as she is one of my favourite writers) in the way that it followed its protagonist around and, again, in the cameos of old favourites towards the end of the book, much like Howl’s resurgence in Castle in the Air (and I shan’t say more about that, only that you must read Howl’s Moving Castle if you haven’t already!). Another similarity is the use of illustrations and a brief summary of the upcoming adventure at the head of each chapter in the form of, for example, ‘Chapter 1: Entrance, on a Panther. In Which a Boy Named Hawthorn Is Spirited Off by Means of a Panther, Learns the Rules of the World, and Performs an Unlikely Feat of Gardening’ – a style that I absolutely adore.
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is an extraordinarily fantastic book, rivalling Alice in Wonderland in nonsensicality and Howl’s Moving Castle in poise; get this book if you are a fan of either. Perfect for humans, trolls and fetches of all ages (ok, maybe ten and up, give or take). I will be picking up The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, the first in the Fairyland series, sometime rather shortly.
I was sent an ARC copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
For full review complete with short excerpt, visit The Little Crocodile
Let me first say that Catherynne Valente has more imagination in one fingernail than most people do in their whole body. You can just imagine her as a hyperactive, hyper-creative kid who’s just seen Fairyland and wants to tell you all about it and she can’t wait for even one minute, no she can’t. It’s the sheer volume of words and references and, frequently, nonsense that hurtles at you like the cascade of a waterfall that you couldn't stem if you jammed all your arms and legs into it.
At the start it feels a lot like that – that is, overwhelming and a bit like paddling against a commanding torrent of colours and lovely words and fantastic items that leaves you with very little room to breathe, much less grab hold of a tree branch for long enough to get your bearings. (The branch would probably turn out to be a boa constrictor, anyway.) But after a chapter or so you get into the swing of things, pick up a few native words and shrug on an ethnic jacket; you learn how to salmon upstream. And it’s easy, mad riding the rest of the way.
The story begins when a young troll by the name of Hawthorn is spirited away by the Red Wind and her Panther of Rough Storms and sent into the human world as a Changeling – an out-of-place little mischievous creature that is, for all intents and purposes, anarchy incarnate.
But of course, this isn’t actually where the story begins.
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is the fourth in the Fairyland series and, while it can stand independently, much like a small child, it would be much better off being supported on one side or the other by its mum or one of its older siblings. That is to say: alone it is very good, but in line with its forerunners it would be glorious. I say this having not read the others, mind – it’s just that, towards the end of the book in particular, characters from the other books are mentioned and I think you’d enjoy these mentionings more if you had the faintest idea of who they were on about. The beginning of the book, too, launches confidently into an assertive stride and you can immediately feel the presence of the narrative stepping stones that led to this one.
After Hawthorn is recast as a small human child, he is completely and utterly confused and crestfallen. The oven and the chandelier won’t speak to him, his mother (who is clearly a witch) makes him toys that won’t come alive, try as Hawthorn might, and his father is quick to point out that he isn’t normal. But life must go on and our small troll with it, and so Hawthorn grows into a human boy: Thomas Rood. Along the way are the hurdles of school and other kids and being normal, and Thomas must do his best to fit in even as he forgets all about his real heritage. That is, until one day, when a carefully orchestrated (and not entirely normal) accident changes everything and stirs awake the troll deep inside…
The book is absolutely wonderful and incredibly creative, entirely comfortable in its well-worn fantastical shoes. It also often reminded me of Dianna Wynne Jones’s work (which is a great compliment as she is one of my favourite writers) in the way that it followed its protagonist around and, again, in the cameos of old favourites towards the end of the book, much like Howl’s resurgence in Castle in the Air (and I shan’t say more about that, only that you must read Howl’s Moving Castle if you haven’t already!). Another similarity is the use of illustrations and a brief summary of the upcoming adventure at the head of each chapter in the form of, for example, ‘Chapter 1: Entrance, on a Panther. In Which a Boy Named Hawthorn Is Spirited Off by Means of a Panther, Learns the Rules of the World, and Performs an Unlikely Feat of Gardening’ – a style that I absolutely adore.
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is an extraordinarily fantastic book, rivalling Alice in Wonderland in nonsensicality and Howl’s Moving Castle in poise; get this book if you are a fan of either. Perfect for humans, trolls and fetches of all ages (ok, maybe ten and up, give or take). I will be picking up The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, the first in the Fairyland series, sometime rather shortly.
I was sent an ARC copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
For full review complete with short excerpt, visit The Little Crocodile
ohnoflora's review against another edition
4.0
MUCH better than Book 3.
The first two thirds in which the changeling Tom/Hawthorn tries to navigate the human world are as strong as anything Valente has written before. It is utterly charming (WOMBAT! WOMBAT! ONLY WOMBATS! I AM THE WOMBAT PRINCE OF CHICAGO!) and can very much can be read as being about a neuroatypical child bumping up against unfathomable rules and being constantly told that he is Not Normal.
I'm so glad that we had characters doing things and characters to actually care about rather than a wodge of description and endless monologues. I hope this bodes well for book five...
Spoiler
, although (weirdly) I thought it lost its spark a little (but only a little) when the characters returned to FairylandThe first two thirds in which the changeling Tom/Hawthorn tries to navigate the human world are as strong as anything Valente has written before. It is utterly charming (WOMBAT! WOMBAT! ONLY WOMBATS! I AM THE WOMBAT PRINCE OF CHICAGO!) and can very much can be read as being about a neuroatypical child bumping up against unfathomable rules and being constantly told that he is Not Normal.
I'm so glad that we had characters doing things and characters to actually care about rather than a wodge of description and endless monologues. I hope this bodes well for book five...
iamshadow's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
davidscrimshaw's review
5.0
This is book 4 in a series. I loved books 1 and 2, but found book 3 a little dark and not as playful. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is back to the playfulness and delight with words that I love in this series.
If you felt like you didn't fit in with the other kids or know someone who didn't, this could be a great book for you.
If you felt like you didn't fit in with the other kids or know someone who didn't, this could be a great book for you.
stacers1973's review
4.0
As usual, a beautiful blend of whim and whimsy under-laid with some hard truth, laid out with fun and beautiful language. And just enough snark. Grin. LOVE the series.
be_like_the_squirrel_girl's review
4.0
A troll is turned into a Changeling and sent to Chicago in the latest installment. Valente is my favorite fantasy author; her writing is so vivid it gives me sensory overload when she describes the colors and textures of Fairyland.
Here's one of my favorite passages: "School-time runs separately from usual time, like a certain country on the other side of the Equator, or the other side of a dream. School-time spins up and sputters and whirlwinds, all hopped up and in a hurry. Only once Summer comes round again, with its bindle full of adventures and bendings of rules and unwatched, unfettered, unending days in the sun does time return to its favorite pace, slow and golden and warm. But with the seasons, Summer disappears, off on its own wanderings and exploits and love affairs with the Equinoxes."
Here's one of my favorite passages: "School-time runs separately from usual time, like a certain country on the other side of the Equator, or the other side of a dream. School-time spins up and sputters and whirlwinds, all hopped up and in a hurry. Only once Summer comes round again, with its bindle full of adventures and bendings of rules and unwatched, unfettered, unending days in the sun does time return to its favorite pace, slow and golden and warm. But with the seasons, Summer disappears, off on its own wanderings and exploits and love affairs with the Equinoxes."
bleepnik's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
What a pleasant surprise! My initial outrage over the interruption of our story turned quickly into delight. Admittedly, I’d grown a bit tired, by the last book, of the same old, same old. This book approaches things from a different angle. That in itself ends up being a wonderful thing, but even more wonderful is the return of the imaginative storytelling—and creative and whimsical prose—that captivated me in the first place.
pickett22's review
4.0
Shhhhh, gently Becky, for the first time ever, you are the first of your friends to have read a thing. Shhhhhhhhhh, you are the only one to be caught up now, so tread carefully.
Too short, too short, too short.
This is the quick sip of tea when it is still too hot to drink properly and I have to wait before I can have more. It's the small corner of Jasmine's cookie that I can't have more of because it will make me ill.
Now, Becky, stop here and look at what you've done. Both of these are examples of things that will hurt you if you are not careful about it, if you are not patient and wait until the time is right. Miss Valente is like that too. "Here are some friends to play with for a few minutes, but be careful, because they only speak the truth and you might not be ready for it, or it might not be ready for you."
The narrator offered very early to let me hold her hand, and I did through most of it, although I must admit I was usually swinging it with impatience... very sorry Miss Narrator, I shall try to be quieter next time. And while I am not quite grown up yet, but still rather one of the big kids, I see now what I didn't before. I see now what she was trying to tell me in the first interlude. And while I understood what she was saying, I was still annoyed and impatient because it took EVER so long to find September and Saturday and Ell, and it is SUCH a little book after all. Mostly I was bitter about the first interlude because I didn't WANT to understand what she was saying, I WANTED September, and I wanted to be allowed to be petulant about it. And that's probably part of why I couldn't have her when I wanted her. Mostly it was because the story was not ready and partly because I wasn't. I don't know what I would do without this narrator, she is very excellent.
So even though I worried my way through this book, I remembered by the end that I trust Miss Valente. Even if it hurts it will still be true, and really that's why I come to her.
Even so, this is a long wait with only a sip of tea and a very small piece of cookie.
Too short, too short, too short.
This is the quick sip of tea when it is still too hot to drink properly and I have to wait before I can have more. It's the small corner of Jasmine's cookie that I can't have more of because it will make me ill.
Now, Becky, stop here and look at what you've done. Both of these are examples of things that will hurt you if you are not careful about it, if you are not patient and wait until the time is right. Miss Valente is like that too. "Here are some friends to play with for a few minutes, but be careful, because they only speak the truth and you might not be ready for it, or it might not be ready for you."
The narrator offered very early to let me hold her hand, and I did through most of it, although I must admit I was usually swinging it with impatience... very sorry Miss Narrator, I shall try to be quieter next time. And while I am not quite grown up yet, but still rather one of the big kids, I see now what I didn't before. I see now what she was trying to tell me in the first interlude. And while I understood what she was saying, I was still annoyed and impatient because it took EVER so long to find September and Saturday and Ell, and it is SUCH a little book after all. Mostly I was bitter about the first interlude because I didn't WANT to understand what she was saying, I WANTED September, and I wanted to be allowed to be petulant about it. And that's probably part of why I couldn't have her when I wanted her. Mostly it was because the story was not ready and partly because I wasn't. I don't know what I would do without this narrator, she is very excellent.
So even though I worried my way through this book, I remembered by the end that I trust Miss Valente. Even if it hurts it will still be true, and really that's why I come to her.
Even so, this is a long wait with only a sip of tea and a very small piece of cookie.