Fairyland, Book 2
Synopsis: 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. . . .
Review: I was really curious to immerse myself in the second volume of Fairyland after a first magical and colorful volume.
A year has passed since the end of the previous novel and September is now 13. But this girl hopes for returning to this magical country to see her friends she is missing so much. Yet no one comes to get her and nothing is possible. In any case until, according to two people, she manages to find a way to return to Fairyland. However, the world she left is different than it is now… Indeed, it seems that every person living here is losing his shadow disappearing in Fairyland below, causing them to lose powers and skills they might have before. But September is determined to understand what is happening and to go in that other universe to change the process. This is how she discovers that her shadow Halloween has since become the queen and is stealing all the shadows of the world to leave them the opportunity to live the life that they can actually have. But September is determined to oppose this and in this environment, she will discover the shadows of her friends and will understand that they are not exactly like the characters she had learned to love. Oh yes because they act quite differently and are quite complementary of the real ones. But while our heroine shares a new adventure, accompanied by some shadows but also by a new character, a dodo fun to explore, it could be that she realizes that nothing is all white or black and her research may well have a very different result.
I took a great pleasure in discovering this new novel and in returning once again with September in Fairyland. We can only appreciate all the characters that we discovered once and still hope to see them again in the next book. It’s pretty interesting to see that the girl keeps a cool head and does not try to be considered for something she’s not. She does not want to be queen or a princess but only herself and nothing else. Her confrontation with the shadows of the world fascinated me because it is true that everything is very different here but I was curious to see the differences with the original characters. Also I found the end really well done and everything was really touching. I’m curious to see what the author will present later anyway!
But that’s not all because we also have some bonus at the end of the book as Catherynne M. Valente visits this world she created and thus have a discussion with Ell that affects us particularly. It’s very touching to see her conversation with one of her creations.
In any case it was a very nice novel full of magic and characters we love. A very nice surprise once again and a story we should not hesitate to share.
Jennifer Bielman
The setting and concept sound pretty cool,
Melliane
it is and the story is so cute!
kindlemom1
This does sound like a really interesting read, thanks for putting it on my radar! 🙂
Melliane
yes it is! You should try, it’s a fun one.
Kirsty-Marie
I thought he cover style was familiar, glad you loved this one just as the first! I love when characters who inherit/heir of a throne/title that they don’t actually want it.
Melliane
yes it’s in the same theme as the first one. I agree it’s nice to see she is happy with the person she actually is.
Joy (Joyousreads)
It’s been such a long time since I’ve indulge in some elaborate fantasy read. This one sounds like something my kids would enjoy more, though. Great review, Melliane. Shows us that you don’t have any problems reading works outside of your normal reading choices. 🙂
Melliane
yes it’s nice sometimes to change. Even if I don’t do it a lot I confess.
anna@herding cats & burning soup
Even if you hadn’t liked this one (and yay that you did!) I think I would have needed it just for the title. lol
Melliane
yeah the titles are sooooo great! All of them.
Jenny @ Supernatural Snark
“She does not want to be queen or a princess but only herself and nothing else.”
LOVE that Melliane! It’s so nice to come across a young female character who’s happy with who she is and just wants to continue to be that girl:) I’ve heard good things about this series, glad to know you’re a fan of it as well!
Melliane
Me too. It’s nice to have a heroine like that who knows what she wants to be.
Charlotte @ Thoughts and Pens
Yay! I am glad that this one did not suffer from the second book syndrome, Mel. I am always always afraid whenever I am about to read part 2 because that’s usually the point wherein you can gauge whether the series is going to be a train wreck or not. Glad to know that this wasn’t the case with this book.
Lovely review!
Melliane
No it was ok, I think it’s cute light series so all the books are fun to read. But you’re right, it happens a lot.
Maja (The Nocturnal Library)
I still haven’t read these, although I promised a friend I would ages ago! I really need to do something about it, I keep hearing such wonderful things. I love the titles, the setting sounds fabulous and I’d surely appreciate the bonus material.
Melliane
They’re great and full of magic, they’re some really great reads.
Melissa (Books and Things)
I have been curious about this series when the first book came out. So glad you enjoyed this one and so I’m making sure it is on my wishlist as well!
Melliane
Yes you should try, I think you could like it as well.
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
Glad to hear this one is continuing in the same vein as the first book, and that you enjoyed it. It sounds like a modern fairy tale, so cute and magical!
Melliane
it’s exactly that, it’s really cute!
Heidi
I like the sound of the heroine and I love that this is full of magic. I haven’t heard of this series before, but now I want to know more.
blodeuedd
Now this sounds really fun 😀
kimbacaffeinate
Melliane this sounds so neat. I love the sound of the world and characters. I am glad you had such fun immersing yourself in this world again.
Braine Talk Supe
I still remember your review for the first one and I love the sound and look of this series, it’s so whimsical and a bit dark. My kind of fantasy
Melliane
It’s nice and different, I really like it.
LilyElement
Adding these to my TBR, sounds good!!
Kat Stark @ NotYetRead
Concept and idea sound really amazing, but is it too much in the MG realm?
Melliane
I don’t know what MG means.
Lola @ Hit or Miss Books
I need to start this series…! Thanks for the heads up, Melly! 😀
Melliane
it’s a really cute one.
ShootingStarsMag
Sounds very mystical! I really do want to read these. 🙂