the girl who fell beneath fairyland and led the revels there

When you come across a book that is wise, true, good, and is also entertaining and wild, you have found a treasure (and some would say, a friend for life).  These sorts of books seemed to be all over the place in childhood, but as soon as the reader is of age to actively search them out, they go missing.  We could spend years speculating about the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ – are children’s books better?  Do adults lack time and motivation to discover that wonder? But that is not the point.  The point, dear friends, is to share just such a find, that you may enjoy it too.

September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows—and their magic—to the world of Fairyland Below. This underworld has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween does not want to give Fairyland’s shadows back. 

Fans of Valente’s bestselling, first Fairyland book will revel in the lush setting, characters, and language of September’s journey, all brought to life by fine artist Ana Juan. Readers will also welcome back good friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. But in Fairyland Below, even the best of friends aren’t always what they seem…

Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland books are rare treasures.  With the first, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, I was gobbled up by the magic and imagination and feeling evoked by the story.  With this second book, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, I was more alive to its nuances, to the changes and differences between it the first adventure, and fascinated by new characters and new world.

September has finally returned to Fairyland.  After a year of hoping and wishing and being watchful every day of the week (except Sundays), she is back.  However, all isn’t quite what it was when she left – Fairyland has morphed and changed and dear friends are far away.  In addition to that, September is growing up and (as the narrator remarks) growing a heart, and this makes things more complicated than ever.  However, her mission is clear: she must travel to Fairyland-Below and stop the shadow exodus.  September is joined on her mission by a new cast of characters, and the adventures she has will not only challenge everything she holds dear, but teach her to think slantwise and sideways as well.

What was absolutely enchanting about the first Fairyland book? Answer: the world and its tone.  Valente’s vision of Fairyland is unique and fanciful and turns traditional tales halfway around while adding a dollop of whipped cream to the top for good measure.  Combine that setting with a witty, kind and knowing narrator, and the story seems meant to leap into your heart.  In this second installment none of the charm is lost, but there is a slightly darker edge, a loneliness that wasn’t there in the first. September (and the reader) must work harder to trust and find friends – she weighs her actions, hesitates – all the things that creatures do as they grow up.  It makes for haunting reading.

In all, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland is a spectacular sequel, and a book that deserves a place on your shelf.  It has a character named Halloween, which is practically perfect for the season.  I urge you to read it and its predecessor and fall in love with the magic of Fairyland.

Recommended for: fans of magic and wisdom and stories that fit all times and all ages.

Fine print: I picked up an ARC of The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There at BEA in June 2012. 

a feast in fairyland-below

One of my favorite books last year was Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.  The story combined all of the magic of Fairyland with the heart of a brave heroine and the superior writing of a classic.  I came away in awe of Valente’s talent with words, and as soon as I heard about a sequel, I knew it would be a book to feed my soul.

And speaking of food… there is nothing quite like a description of magical victuals, is there?  This scene comes from a Feast (which always precedes a Revel) on page 120 in The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There.

“The central boulevard of Tain, which A-Through-L could have told them was called Fool’s Silver, erupted with long tables full of the delights of a dozen cuisines.  Goblin tarts and Nuno honey in rock-crystal jars, steaming Spriggan pies of heartberry and blisspeach and pumpkin and moonkin that got bigger and smaller as you grasped for them, green and healthful Gnome soups overflowing with hexweed, passionpoppy leaves, thrallbulbs, memory-mums, and ropes of good, sweet basil and sage.  Glashtyn oatcakes and hay-muffins with golden crusts, Dryad rain-stews and sunnydaise sauces, braided flame-bread for Ifrits and seastone pastries for Marids, genuine cloud-roasts and piles of grilled dunkel-fish and the Jarlhoppes’ special feverblossom coffee.  The Scotch-wights had been saving their best Pining Peat for the occasion—and of course the Wyverns’ beloved radishes scattered here and there on the tables like drops of blood, among charm-tortes shaped just exactly like old books, brown and buttered and crackling.”

Oh, that passage makes me hungry!  Hungry for the food of never, of dreaming and seeming.  I might try a little baking magic of my own one of these days and come up with a recipe for Spriggan pies or Gnome soups (I’m sure it would involve wishing). 

Tell me, have you ever been tempted by otherworldly dishes as described in a book?

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking!

waiting on wednesday (25)

I’m participating today in "Waiting On" Wednesday. It is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, and its purpose is to spotlight eagerly anticipated upcoming releases.

Last fall I took up a magical book, and it both broke and healed my heart.   It was full of the beauty and care of excellent fantastical writing.  Which is to say: Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making was quite good at turning my emotions inside out, and sending them back to me with an extra helping of ‘well, wasn’t that WONDROUS?’  It is no surprise, then, that I am looking forward with glee and expectation to a second novel-length adventure in Fairyland.  Valente’s The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There releases on October 2, 2012 from Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan).

You’ve been waiting for another adventure in Fairyland... 

And now it’s finally here! Valente’s fans will be thrilled to revel in the lush settings, rich characters, and evocative language of September’s newest sojourn in Fairyland. 

After all the waiting, dreaming, and planning, September has made it back to Fairyland. However, all is not well there. The last time she visited Fairyland, September sacrificed her shadow to save another. Now, that shadow has become Halloween, the Hollow Queen. As ruler of Fairyland Below, Halloween is stealing shadows from the folk of Fairyland, and with them, their magic. September, determined to set things right, embarks upon a quest to Fairyland Below, a dark, wild place where everything is “slantways, sideways, and upside-down” – even the shadows of her dearest friends, Ell the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday.

What books are you waiting on?