The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two

In the third installment of Catherynne M Valente's Fairyland series, September is growing up. She's worried she won't even be able to return to Fairyland this year, but that quickly becomes the least of her problems. She has to find her friends, confront her fate, battle a yeti, and deal with all the confusing emotions that come with growing up and falling in love.

Valente's prose is, as always, enchanting. The narrator shares more than a few insights and jokes with the reader. There's things September isn't ready to learn. Things that children reading this book would probably skip right over. Wisdom you only really earn by growing up the hard way, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when you can't provide easy shortcuts for the younger set.

This whole series is really just lovely to read. It's the sort of language you can get lost in, and I was moved to tears more than once. September's journey to adulthood is at once specific and common, and watching her grow is wonderful. And now, with her stuck in Fairyland like a cork in a bottle, I'm really looking forward to the next two books and seeing where this all ends up.

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