Review – The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne M. Valente (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1250023513
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Fairyland series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Quite by accident, September has been crowned as Queen of Fairyland – but she inherits a Kingdom in chaos. The magic of a Dodo’s egg has brought every King, Queen, or Marquess of Fairyland back to life, each with a fair and good claim on the throne, each with their own schemes and plots and horrible, hilarious, hungry histories.

In order to make sense of it all, and to save their friend from a job she doesn’t want, A-Through-L and Saturday devise a Royal Race, a Monarckical Marathon, in which every outlandish would-be ruler of Fairyland will chase the Stoat of Arms across the whole of the nation – and the first to seize the poor beast will seize the crown.

Caught up in the madness are the changelings Hawthorn and Tamburlaine, the combat wombat Blunderbuss, the gramophone Scratch, the Green Wind, and September’s parents, who have crossed the universe to find their daughter…”

This final book in the Fairyland series takes us back to September’s story. She has been crowned Queen of Fairyland and doesn’t really want the job. It is decided that there will be a race to find the Heart of Fairyland; whoever finds the Heart will be the Queen/King of Fairyland.

This is a beautifully written novel; it’s full of lush and creative descriptions just like all of the previous books in the series. This is a book that begs to be read out loud; the story glitters and sparkles with all the beautiful scenery and surroundings.

The story is very clever and I loved how it all wrapped up. In the end this is a story about the power of stories and there were many clever comments in here to that effect. The ending was beautiful, unexpected and completely perfect.

These books are not quick reads. You have to read them carefully to catch all the irony and humor interspersed with odd bits of wisdom. Sometimes I find this a bit frustrating at first but then I always settle down into the style and story and enjoy it immensely. This whole series is one of Valente’s most accessible series; some of her others are pretty ambiguous and out there.

Overall a spectacularly perfect ending to this amazing middle grade fantasy series. The writing style and creativity in here is amazing. While these aren’t necessarily easy reads, they are totally worth the effort. They are clever and witty and beautiful. I highly recommend to everyone.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge