Fairyland 1

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"You can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief."

After reading the first book of the Fairyland series, I cannot wait for the next books! This is a story of a young girl and her adventures in Fairyland and it was highly recommended by my sister. I can find influences from some of my beloved stories like "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".

Valente has a unique style of writing. I agree with my sister when she said it reminded her of Lemony Snicket's style except that this book is more whimsical and poetic and that there are no explanations of difficult words. There are a lot of unfamiliar words in the book, but I found it very distracting to look them up every so often. Despite this, I think the book would make a perfect bedtime story for both kids and adults alike.

Having mentioned that, I think this book is an adult story masquerading as a fairy tale. It is enchanting and wonderfully written. It felt like being in on a secret that only I, as a reader, share with the narrator. The story is funny and touching in unexpected ways. Even the ending caught me off guard.

To know more about the book, you can watch the book trailer here.



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