Valente, Catherynne M. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Rebels There.

Valente, Catherynne M.  The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Rebels There.    Macmillan/ Feiwel & Friends   258p      $16.99     

978-0-312-64962-3       2012       ms/hs   E-BN            Fantasy    

In this novel, the sequel to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, September returns to Fairyland more than a year later, to find that all is not well.  Her shadow, calling herself Halloween, is stealing shadows and magic from Fairyland-Above and taking them to Fairyland-Below.  September wants to set things right and restore the balance to all of Fairyland.  She discovers that shadows can be tricky and act quite differently from their corporal counterparts.  Without her happy companions in a physically dark and psychologically darker world, this sequel has a much darker and unhappier feel.  Even the pace seems slower and the text overly wordy.  The luscious descriptions and quirky places and characters that fill Fairyland with wonder are still present, however.  The author is adept at slipping minute detail into the plot, which later proves to be important to its successful resolution.

As September is maturing, this sequel has lost some of the enchantment and happy wonder that filled the first book.  It is a slower and more difficult read, better suited for older or more accomplished readers.  The line-drawing illustrations which introduce each chapter are charming.  They help the reader visualize some of the bizarre characters.

Fairies–Fiction, Adventure–Fiction                         --Joan Theal