The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home
The Fairyland series, Book 5
Catherynne M. Valente
Square Fish
Fiction, MG/YA Fantasy
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: When last we left September - the human girl who rode the Leopard of Little Breezes with the Green Wind from Omaha to Fairyland, who had grand adventures and met wild beings and faced terrifying foes and made many mistakes but never ever gave up - she had been suddenly and unexpectedly crowed Queen of Fairyland... but not for long. The world of Fairyland is old, perhaps older than any other world, and has had more than its share of Kings and Queens and Emperors and Princesses and Prime Ministers - and, to be honest, it has had enough. Now all the rulers of the realm have been restored from their various exiles, endings, and extinctions, and only one may rule. The royal Stoat of Arms declares a Cantankerous Derby: a race across Fairyland, to find the world's Heart and bring it to the finish line, winner take all.
September didn't even want to be the Queen; it seems a thankless job, prone to abrupt and painful and lethal termination. But everyone else in the race has either proven themselves a tyrant or seems likely to turn into one. Besides, the Stoat explains, as the current Queen, she's as obligated to attend the Cantankerous Derby as a fox is obligated to attend a hunt. Thus begins a race the likes of which even a land as chaotic as Fairyland has never seen before, one with the highest of stakes and longest of odds. And this time, the girl from Omaha who has been so brave and lucky and clever may find that she's not brave or lucky or clever enough to survive, let alone win...
REVIEW: Valente brings the Fairyland series to an end in a spectacular fashion. September, now seventeen (again, after having spent a while in her forties due to the time dilation effects of Yeti proximity), has come a long, long way from the Mostly Heartless little girl who thought a trip to Fairyland sounded like a splended and harmless way to get out of washing the dishes. Her friends have grown with her (literally, in the case of the Wyverary A-through-L), and they've accumulated more allies (and enemies) through their travels. As appropriate for a race (and typical for the series), the tale takes off almost from the first page, winding through all manner of wild, borderline hallucinatory imagery and characters and personifications of concepts. Valente's Fairyland makes Lewis Carroll's Wonderland look downright mundane, with even incidental characters feeling full and rounded despite their peculiarities. Beneath the surface, as usual for the series, are deeper themes and commentaries that older readers will pick up on even if they might slip over younger heads. The tale revisits a few old faces and places while venturing into new territory, building to a fine climax that feels slightly rushed, but is ultimately more than satisfying enough to earn a solid fifth star. The whole makes for a fine and fascinating story.
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