The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1)

by Catherynne M Valente

September is a twelve-year-old girl, Somewhat Grown and Somewhat Heartless, and she longs for adventure. So when a Green Wind and a Leopard of Little Breezes invite her to Fairyland - well, of course, she accepts (mightn't you?). When she gets there, she finds a land crushed by the iron rule of a villainous Marquess - she soon discovers that she alone holds the key to restoring order.

As September forges her way through Fairyland, with a book-loving dragon and a boy named Saturday by her side, she makes many friends and mistakes. But while she loses her shadow, her shoe and her way, she finds adventure, courage, a rather special Spoon, and a lot more besides . . .

Reviewed by tellemonstar on

5 of 5 stars

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ABsolutely fabulous! If you love The Chronicles of Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Faraway Tree then you will love this book. The narration of the book is perfect - even younger readers would like this, although the library rated it a Young Adult. Like in the Narnia adventures the narrator refers directly to the reader throughout the book, but it doesn't break the story - the whole time you are reading it you feel like you are having a story told to you. The characters names and the descriptions of the environment remind me of The Faraway Tree stories which were childhood favourites of mine, and the characters themselves would not be out of place should the show up in a Lemony Snickett novel. An absolutley must read for anyone who grew up with those series' and everyone else who enjoys an unconventional heroine and her tale.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 19 August, 2012: Finished reading
  • 19 August, 2012: Reviewed