Reviews

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente

mebius's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jameshaus's review

4.0

I liked this one a little better than the first actually. Another delightful PG acid trip disguised as a YA novel. Some very nice lines. My favorite: "I am the dark anchor at the bottom of the world."

onsafari's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful

4.0

silquesoleil's review against another edition

5.0

The feminism is strong in this one. That was a thought I had a lot while reading. Compared to reading the first book, I didn't stop quite as often to let a line sink in, although the quality of the writing did not decrease, nor did the book lack anything. I was simply not sucked into the book as much, despite my constant interest in the well-executed story.
Perhaps it was because I had finished Deathless recently - which is darker and dazzling, which contains more hurt and loss and slightly dysfunctional relationships and which left me raw and confused.

This is another kind of book.
It is lovely and strange - Queer - and deserves kudos for having a heroine who once again follows her own decisions, and who recognizes when she is not, who stands up for herself.
There are so many interesting side characters, most of them female, antagonists that are anything but black-and-white and can we appreciate for a second that it wrecks society's stupid idea of purity when it comes to the matter of kisses and also the assumption that romantic love is more important than platonic one?

Spoiler

There is a point at which September expresses a bit of regret for having had her First Kiss taken (unvoluntarily) and having given quite a lot of kisses to her friends too - which to her count just as much. And Saturday responds:

"Why should I care about your First Kiss?" he said. "You can kiss anyone you like. But if you sometimes wanted to kiss me, that would be all right too." His blush was so deep September could feel the heat of it.

So despite First Kisses serving quite well as currency in Fairyand, the reader is not given the toxic idea that you have to save yourself up for 'the one'.

Basically this book is great and anyone should read the series, no matter how old they are.

serafim's review against another edition

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

brnrdshaw's review

3.0

3.5

I had a hard time getting into this book like the first one. I think my issue with this series is the character goes to all these new places and they are all magical and different. So the author describes every magical thing. Because of that, the book has more description than plot and dialogue. I really enjoyed the parts where the plot was going fast or the characters were interacting. Or the parts where the narrator was more involved. But I liked it enough to continue reading this series.

thriftygeek's review

3.0

It was interesting, but I had a hard time staying focused reading it. It was like my interest could only hold so long. I found myself taking a break from it and reading another book.

solarmuser's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

shellystilger's review

5.0

Wonderful. Lyrical prose, delightful characters, completely original. I loved every minute.

lexieb's review

5.0

magical and strange and a little bit perfect. I love this world, and this series, and this everything.