Bringing Magic Back To England

I DID IT!!!!  I finally finished my big fat book!  Clocking in at a whopping 1006 pages of teeny tiny type complete with footnotes is the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  This book had been on my TBR pile for a while and got pulled out after Hubbin discovered a BBC version of the book.  Despite it's length the book was very readable and I am now ready to attempt to ramble about it.

The book is written as a bit of a history, complete with foot notes and follows two very different magicians the staid and cautious Mr. Norrell and the younger more fiery Jonathan Strange.   Essentially we are taken to an alternate version of Victorianish England (though there is a King on the throne not a Queen) where magic is accepted as part of life.  Being a magician is a respectable job and magic is talked about in all circles.  However, magic at this time is only theoretical.  Magicians are actually just men who study any sort of magical text they can get there hands on.  True magic has been gone from the realm of England for hundreds of years for some reason.  Enter Mr. Norrell, a scholarly little man who is obsessed with buying, reading and hoarding books of a magical nature.  To this end he has actually been able to perform real magic and is brought to England to become the authority and sole practicer of magic.  Mr. Norrell has in his employ a mysterious man by the name of Childermass who pretty much runs Mr. Norrell's life for him. To prove the respectability and genuine nature of magic, Mr. Norrell engages the help of a fairy, known as the Gentlman with the thistle-down hair, to bring the Lady Pole back to life after she dies.  The deal Mr. Norrell brokers with the

Gentleman essentially dooms the Lady Pole to be held in fairy whenever the Gentlman chooses. Along comes Jonathan Strange, a gentleman who has started practicing magic after a run in with the vagabond Vinculus who speaks a prophecy stating among other things that two magicians will bring back magic to England.  We then follow our two magicians as they use their own styles of magic, sometimes together and sometimes at odds to help England win a war, protect the country and try and discover lost spells.  Meanwhile the Lady Pole continues to be sucked into fairy at any given time, makeing her appear quit mad. The butler Stehpen black, a black servant who the Gentleman has taken a liking to does his best to support Lady Pole.  Strange's wife Arabella is the only other person who is able to be with Lady Pole.  Eventually the two magicians have a falling out.  Mr. Norrell wants to continue and keep a tight reign on all things magic while Strange wants to bring magic to the masses.  All kinds of stuff happens one of which is the unfortunate death of Arabella Strange.  Strange leaves the country to finish his book and recover from his wife's death and Mr. Norrell stays in London to fret and work with the government on improving the country.  Strange discovers that madness is the key to seeing fairy and finds a way to distill it to its essence and become mad at will.  With this madness he discovers the Gentleman has actually stolen Arabella to fairy to be a companion to Lady Pole and she is not dead after all.  After a battle of wills, the Gentleman wraps Strange in eternal night and Strange devotes his time to trying to find John Uskglass, the Raven King who brought magic to England in the first place.  More crazyness and mayhem and Strange finally comes to Mr. Norrell for help.  The two magicians work together to find a way to summon the Raven King and unintentionally give Stephen Black the power to finally defeat the Gentleman.  Lady Pole and Arabella are released and Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange, wrapped in their eternal night disappear from England.  Childermass, along with Vinculus assemble all who want to learn magic and utilize the power that now flows through England.  This my friends does not even begin to summarize the complexity of this book, the stories and the characters, I just do not have enough time or space to truly give you the gist of this book, so this will have to do.

World Building - This book has a very Jane Austinesque vibe when it comes to world building.  We get to see a variety of English places (and few other places in Europe) mostly through the eyes of the gentleman class.  It is a bit drearier and a bit harsher then true Austin, but the vibe totally comes through.  One extra aspect of world building is the realm of fairy.  I really very much enjoyed how the author built the world of fairy as being right next door to our world, complete with cross-roads and touch stones.  The best parts of fairy where the descriptions of the familiar with a fantastic twist.  Ever time I picked up this book I was easily able to slip into the worlds the author created.

Story - So this was an interesting book as far as story goes.  I am not 100% sure that there was an actual whole beginning, middle and end story or if it was more of a history with the reader just catching a slice of time.  There were bits of story, mostly connected with individual characters, but over all I felt that this was more of an old school history of an alternate place/time.  That being said, it was still a book that I could pick up and read and stay interested in so yeah.  Maybe it was that there were many many stories with in the framework of the history that kept it interesting...yeah, so not really sure how to describe it, but I liked it.

Character - This may be where the Austin feel really came through in this book.  The characters were many and varied and true to themselves.  Right when I was about to get tired of reading about a certain character or story line, bam the author switched to somebody else and it was awesome.  I particularly liked the Raven King as an overarching presence that was constantly felt but only once actually seen; Childermass who probably actually knew and understood more then any other character; Stephen Black a man who was kind, smart, brave, and searching to belong; Vinculus the vagabond man with all the answers and of course the Gentleman who tied everybody together.  The characters may be the best part of this book.

Editing - This was a very very long book and I want to be tempted to say that it could have easily been broken up...but you know what?  I'm glad it is one long self contained book.  It really gives the vibe of a history in this format.  For all it's length, the way it is broken up in parts and chapters makes it very very readable and the fun footnotes that are scattered through out just adds to the overall feel.  It was consistent, follow able and readable, editing for the win.

The Author - Ok so I really feel like the author and the way she wrote this book has to be talked about.  She started writing it in 1993 and did not actually publish the whole book until 2003, that my friends is dedication.  She worked on it in her spare time and had to work with trying to put all her ideas and fragments into a cohesive form.  I totally feel her and her writing style 'cause every time I try and write something I feel the same way.  I obviously don't have the patience she does, but it makes the book all that better for me that I feel a kinship with her thought process and writing style.

Fairy - I love love love old school English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish/Celtic style fairy land.  This book brought the old school ideas of stolen humans, especially children, timelessness, agreements between fairy and human kind, the glamour vs the reality of magic, just everything that I love.  I felt like I could go hunt down a fairy road and ride off and explore this whole other world behind the mirrors.  I have not read such a great take on the old school fairy in a while and I have to say I loved every second of it and totally want to read more about the Raven King...hint hint lol.

Manners - Ok ok I know I have mentioned the Austin feel of this book 100 times, but here it is again.  I am a Jane Austin fan, her ability to mingle peoples everyday lives with wit and story have always made her books a go to for me.  When an author can capture that style in a whole new book I am always happy.  This book had the feel of manners and little intrigues (along with the big stuff), just instead of marriages it was magic.  The combination of the Austin feel with the old school Fairy feel and then turning it into something wholly original is pretty epic.

Overall Impression - I liked this book, it is a book book, it is a book for people who like to READ!  This is not a book for the beach, or a quick pick me up, it requires concentration, time, and a love of reading.   That being said, it is a wonderful book, I give it 8 out of 9 viles of mad cat lady essence and recommend it to anybody who loves to read, likes Austen, magic, Fairy or just some good writing.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Triss, Not-Triss, Trista

On my epic trip of awesome I got a chance to read a book beginning to end.  I actually tossed this book in my back pack on a whim 'cause I had totally forgotten I had got it and stuck it on my shelf.  Turns out it was the perfect book to read as an October/Trip hybrid.  The book is Cuckoo Song by the ever creative Frances Hardinge.  The book, besides having a Halloween worthy cover also turned out to be a completely different read (in a good way) then I thought it would be.  What made this book so interesting, let's find out.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

Triss wakes up all befuddled.  She is told that she fell into the river and suffered yet another illness...which accounts for her inability to think straight.  As she recovers, her little sister Pen starts to freak out, telling her she is not the real Triss.  As Triss's memories start to come back we learn that the Crescent family has all kinds of private problems.  The oldest brother, Sebastion died in the war five years ago, Triss has been sickly ever since and Pen acts out to get some attention from her parents, away from the ever sick Triss.  All of this is covered with a veneer of civility and wealth as their father is a genius civil engineer that has single handedly revitalized their town.  Triss develops an insatiable hunger that concerns her parents.  She also starts to see her dolls move and supposedly catches her little sister placing a weird phone call.  Her father takes her to the doctor after becoming worried that her recent fever has left her a bit touched in the head.  She passes it off as sleep walking and is taken for a new dress to make her feel better.  Here she meets Mr. Grace who lets her eat as much as she wants. Triss overhears her parents talking about a mysterious person who may have been responsible for her fall in the river and she investigates.  She discovers a weird creature delivering letters to the desk in her dead brothers room.  When she reads the letters she finds that they are from Sebastion and talk about a horrible place that he is trapped in.  She captures the creature delivering the letters and gets the location of the Shrike, a being associated with the Architect who may be able to help her figure out just what is going on.  One day while she is supposed to be resting she notices Pen sneaking out and follows her.  She arrives at a cinema and follows Pen into a weird back room where she overhears a conversations between her little sister and a being known as the Architect.  Turns out Pen made a deal with this creature to take Triss away so that her parents could finally be happy.  However as part of the deal, the Architect had a cuckoo made that looks like Triss and has Triss's memories but was made of sticks, leaves and Triss's memento's.  She will only live for seven days until the Architect does whatever he means to do with the real Triss.  Understandably the changling Triss is upset about the whole thing.  Back at home, tension has risen to an all time high and the girls parents decide to take Triss to a specialist.  Not Triss, as she calls herself now is taken to see several people and eventually they end up at a little cottage.  After being tricked into revealing herself, Mr. Grace appears and tells her parents what she is, not their daughter, but a changling placed by beings called Besiders, which is a type of fey.  He tells her parents that they need to burn her so that the Besiders will bring back the real Triss.  Not-Triss is saved from burning by the appearance of Pen and the girls make a run for it.  They are taken care of by the wild and strong Violet, the fiance of their dead brother who is no longer welcome at the Crescent household.  Not-Triss and Pen follow the Besider directions and end up in the Underbelly and finally get the whole story from the Shrike.  Turns out that Besiders can only live where there is uncertainty and with the advance of maps and science their living ground is shrinking.  The Architect has learned to make impossible spaces to house the Besiders but needed a legit city guy to get them built.  He offered Mr. Crescent contact with his dead son in return for passing off the ideas as his own.  Eventually Mr. Crescent no longer wants to honor the deal and this angers the Architect who goes and makes a deal with Pen.  Pen asks the Architect to take Triss away because she felt her constant illness and spoiledness was making her parents unhappy.  The Architect has the Shrike make not-Triss to distract everybody until he can exact his revenge.  Pen and not-Triss...whom Pen renames Trista after a couple of adventures bond the two...hook back up with Violet to evade Mr. Grace and their parents.  They learn that the Architect has been bringing in Besiders to eventually move into a space he created in the city and plans to get his revenge by burying the real Triss alive.  Trista decides to help the real Triss, regardless of the Architects attempts to tempt her to help him by giving her ways to live past seven days.  Trista and the Architect face off and Trista grabs a stopped watch that had been keeping Sebastion suspended in the bad place and starts it again.  The Architect is defeated and Triss and Pen are reunited with their parents.  Trista uses the watch to stop time for herself and survive.  Trista and Violet decide to start a new life together while the Crescent family tries to figure out how to move forward.

World Building - This was a great and unique world, blending the familiar world of post WWI England with just a touch of the fantastic.  I feel the author blended the Besiders world very well with our world and showed exactly where and how the crossover was.  The world was built through action and observation which meant no long rambling descriptions to break up the narrative and I loved it!

Story - This story was so different from what I originally thought it would be.  This is in some ways the fault of the blurbs.  The way the description of the book and the one line "reviews" sound, I thought it would be a bit of a horror novel OR that Triss would take the whole book to figure out what she was.  Instead I got a story of discovery and relationships.  The story very much was about a family discovering who they really where and how they needed to relate to each other.  The focus was on Triss and Pen, but all the characters had their places in the story.  In the end the story was less about drawing out the suspense and more about discovery and growing.  It had a clear beginning, middle and end.  Very original story.

Character - I think one of my favorite aspects of the book was the author's treatment of the characters.  Every single character had...I want to say two faces.  There was the facade they showed the world for whatever reason and then there was their true selves.  This was the most apparent in not-Triss as she was literally not her true self and had to discover who she was supposed to be, but every single character had multiple facets.  The book did a great job at showing us how and why the society facade came about and why each character felt they had to show a different face to the world.  We also got to discover each characters true self, their motives, loves, hates, history and all the complications of being a living being.  Fantastic job with the characters.

Editing - Very good pacing for this story.  The combination of writing and editing was great.  None of this, let's draw out the mystery just for tensions sake.  The book was more about discovery and less about trying for a gotcha twist.  I felt like I got through this book very quickly.  My only tiny editing qualm would be that the last quarter of the book started to feel a bit repetitive with the girls constantly running, hiding, sleeping and repeating.  Overall though the pacing was spot on and the whole thing actually made great sense.  Good job.

Family - At it's core I really felt that this story was about the Crescent family and how they had to deal with the massive changes in their life.  They were a settled wealthy English family who's life was shattered by the war...as was most peoples.  They all did things to adjust.  Triss was "ill and sickly" so that her parents had somebody to take care of to take the focus off of their grief.  Pen, to young to understand acted out because she knew no other way.  The parents doing what they can to cope within the strictures of a very uptight society.  The whole family just trying to cope.  The catalyst of not-Triss forces the whole family to drop the veneer and really try and figure out why they act the way they do and to re-evaluate their relationships with each other.  The fact that it was magical style creatures that brought this all to a head just made it all that much cooler :-)

Discovery - I think I have probably used this term at least 100 times in this post, but I felt that it was such a prevalent theme that I am going to talk about it some more.  This whole book was about people discovering things...which is such a refreshing change from the gotcha twists, long drawn out secrets and endless telling of some other books I have read.  We get to discover along with our characters pretty much everything.  We learned about Triss and how she came into being.  We learned about the Crescent family history.  We learned about the tragedy of Mr. Grace.  We learned about the Besiders and their story.  Every thing that was discovered added to the story and gave us another piece to the puzzle.  I love reading stories like this, they feel alive.

Besiders - The treatment of the Besiders was pretty spot on.  From reading about a zillion various books, stories and studies of the old school fey, I felt that these slightly scary guys were great.  The Besiders paralleled the humans in their need to change and adapt.  As the humans had to grow and cope with the war and progress, so did the Besiders if they wanted to survive.  I especially liked that while humans needed and craved stability and certainty, the Besiders are a mirror image, needing uncertainty and chaos to thrive.  These were also not little flitting faires and regal elves.  These were wild, varied and on occasion dangerous beings who were just looking to survive.  They were the perfect mirror to our human characters and were utilized wonderfully.

Overall Impression - I loved this book.  It was not originally what I thought it was going to be, but it turned out to be so much better.  I know many people were disappointed when the book turned out not to be full on horror...but this just goes to show you not to judge a book by it's cover...or short description...or blurb.  I am finding I really enjoy this author and her slightly skewed look on everyday life without going overboard to the flat out weird.  It is a fine line to walk and so far I feel she does it beautifully.   I give it 8 out of 10 unruly scissors and recommend it to anybody who wants an engrossing read, Victorian style fantasy and isn't afraid to ask some hard questions.  I will be reading more of this authors stuff.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Second Star To The Right

Hola my favorite readers!  So my firehouse book club strikes again.  This time my a rather unusual version of my favorite Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie was slipped into my locker.  What made this version remarkable...and hence the loaning of it to me, is the very cool and interactive illustrations by MinaLima a British duo who met on the set of Harry Potter and now share their unique vision and love of books with the rest of us.  Ok, who's ready to ramble?  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

I'm sure that most of you know the story of Peter Pan, but if not here we go.  Mr. and Mrs. Darling are the slightly beleaguered parents of Wendy, John and Michael.  The children are looked after by a huge dog referred to as Nana.  One night, after poor Nana is banished from the house in disgrace over an incident with some nasy medicine the children are visited by the infamous Peter Pan.  Peter Pan along with his companion the sassy fairy Tinkerbell have come to the Darling children's window to look for his shadow.  He finds it and tries to put it back on with soap, getting himself a light teasing from Wendy when she wakes up.  She assists him in sewing the shadow back on and after some exchanges of kisses and thimbles agree's to go with him to Neverland and tell the Lost Boys stories.  John and Michael come along and after a bit of pixie dust they are on their way.  The jealous Tink almost gets Wendy killed when she convinces Tootles, the sweetest of the Lost Boys that Peter wanted them to shoot her.  Lucky for all involved it hit a button and bounced off, so instead of a funeral the boys build her a little house.  Many adventures are had involving the Indians, mermaids, Lost Boys, fairies, flying, hunting and all kinds of wondrous things that appeal to the young...and those of us who never really grow up.  Eventually Wendy tires of playing house with Peter and decides to take her brothers home.  Peter Pan is upset, but passes it off and sends them on their way along with the rest of the Lost Boys who want to come home and be adopted by the Darling family.  What the crew doesn't realize is that the notorious Captain Jas. Hook is waiting with his pirates above ground to capture them all. See there has been a great dislike between Captain Hook and Peter Pan ever since Peter cut off Hook's had and fed it to a crocodile...along with a clock that warns Hook when he is near.   Wendy and the boys are captured and the Captain slips poison onto Peter's medicine.  Peter wakes up and changes his mind about Wendy leaving and goes to drink his medicine.  Tink in an effort to save Peter, drinks the poison instead and almost dies.  Lucky for us we can bring back a fairy by clapping our hands.  Peter and Tink set out to rescue the rest of the lot.  There is much bravery, fighting, crocodiles, hooks, baiting, switching and all around mayhem and finally Peter prevails.  The children minus Peter all head home to the distraught and anxious arms of their parents.  After the whole story comes out, the parents agree to adopt the rest of the Lost Boys.  Peter continues to come back on occasion to take Wendy to Neverland for brief amounts of time, but his sense of time is skewed and one time he comes back and she is an adult.  Peter continues to come first for Wendy's daughter and then later her granddaughter.  This continues to this day.

World Building - This is a children's fantasy story set in old school London, and mostly in the amazing Neverland!  The world is built by the author in a way that makes you feel like you are talking to a young child.  The world is both very complete and everchanging according to the whims of the children.  Peter especially can change his little corner of dream land giving us a complete yet ever changing landscape on which the imagination plays out.  Seriously though, Neverland has it all, pirates, mermaids, fairies, natives, a group of Lost Boys, magic, mystery adventure, it is the ultimate fantasy destination.

Story - The whole story of Peter Pan always feels like an ongoing dream to me.  I like how the story for this book is pretty complete, the way it is told makes you feel like there were tons of stories before this one, and plenty to come.  The story of the Darling children is very fun, and exciting and keeps a readers interest no matter the age.  It is different in style then most modern day books, and has a definite tongue in cheek feel that I adore.  The author is able to both make one feel like he remembers being a child very well, while at the same time able to point out some of the absurdities of both children and adults.

Character - I love the characters in this book, they all play a role and are all special in their own way.  My favorites are of course Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Tinker Bell.  I love the sheer wild abandon of Peter Pan.  While he very much embodies the eternal child, selfish, willful, petulant when he doesn't get his way, he is more then that.  He is a wild spirit that can't bear to be tied down, he is freedom itself for good or bad and I totally identify with his good points and his bad ones as well.
 Captain Hook has always been one of my favorite villains.  To start with the guy is a pirate...which is always a good thing in my book.  He is also apologetically mean and violent towards pretty much everybody, but the author does give him several moments of reflection in the book.  There are multiple places where we see Hook reflect on how and why he got to where he is.  We see him be strong and anti-heroic and we see him hurt and scared, a very well rounded villain.  Tinker Bell is just a sassy ball of energy and she is my role model teeheehee.  I mean the girl has attitude like nobodies business, defends what's hers, flies AND shows bits of bravery and selflessness when really needed..yep my kind of girl.  So yeah, good characters.

Editing - The style of the book is the omniscient narrator who talks directly to the reader.  It works perfectly for this book as the narrator is snarky guy who sets the tone perfectly.  The editing is well done and the book flows perfectly and simply as befitting a children's book.

Quotes - Peter Pan is one my favorite books to quote.  I could fill pages and pages with the most perfect little gems.  "Second star to the right and straight on till morning"  "To die will be an awfully big adventure" "When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.”  “Never is an awfully long time.”  “All children, except one, grow up.”  “Oh, the cleverness of me!”  “Pan, who and what art thou?" he cried huskily. "I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg.”  I could go on and on, but then I would pretty much just retype the whole book.  I just love the phrasing of so much of this book, it really appeals to me.

The Play - This book actually started out as a play that the author expanded into book form.  As a theatre junkie AND a huge fan of this story one could say that it is a match made in literary heaven.  I have seen the play live many times and my Mamma bought me the Mary Martin version on VHS for me to watch over and over and over again.  This is the definition of pure imagination to me and I love every fairy assisted drop of it.

Illustrations - I have several versions of this book all with different and amazing illustrations.  Since this post was inspired by the MinaLima version that is what will be used to illustrate this particular post...there will probably be other posts with other illustrations.  This book lends itself to so many styles of art and interpretations that I could probably collect a thousand different artistic versions, all with their own amazing takes on the various characters, places and situations.  This particular version not only has some very cool illustrations, but there are also many interactive elements that really add to the atmosphere of the books.

Overall Impressions - This is with out a doubt one of my absolute favorite stories.  It has everything I love about reading, fairies, mermaids, pirates, adventures, quests all of it.  I love the huge scope of imagination, I love the unlimited potential for pretty much anything to happen, I love the mix of children and adults, I love the idea that you never have to grow all the way up.  I just love it!  I give this book 10 out of 10 never birds and will read it over and over again.
Happy Reading Everybody!

Faery Reel

Sometimes I find a book that redefines how I may look at reading, or a genre, or life in general. The book The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling was one of those books.  I picked it up 'cause it looked pretty and was hooked.  I had never been into short stories before this collection, but the sheer magic of a lot of these stories is why I started reading in the first place and it has become a go to book for when I need a dose of magic in my life.  Here are a few of my favorites.

CATNYP by Delia Sherman - This story may have had a lot to do with why I kept reading the collection. Libraries, books, New York and faeries, I'm not sure a story can get a whole lot better.  Add in my favorite library lions and you have the recipe for a perfect story for me.

Tengu Mountain by Gregory Frost - This take on traditional Japanese demons is both cheeky and a wee bit scary in turns.  This is also one of the first stories to make me want to go research beyond the English/Celtic faeries.  I love to read this out loud to my Hubbin.

Never Never by Bruce Glassco - I love this take on the Peter Pan story.  This one focuses on Captain Hook and Tinker Bell (my two favorite characters) and shows us the importance of villains, finding your place and the eternal need to find lost things.  Also makes me want to go chill on the moon.

Screaming for Faeries by Ellen Steiber - Another story that blends humor and something much deeper.  This story is one I automatically flip too every time I open this book.  The idea of screaming for faeries appeals to me and seems like a good way to attract the little buggers, and I have to admit that the more traditional faery in this nontraditional tale makes me smile big smiles.

The Dream Eaters by A. M. Dellamonica - This quirky tale involves an eccentric clothing designer, a street kid turned cop, and a world that faeries decorate using the dreams of humans.  I love the look and feel of the faery cities within our own cities and the rules and bargains one must make to visit there.

To be honest only picking a couple stories to share with you is hard as I love pretty much every story in this book.  I love that there is a combination of old school faeries, Japanese demons, elves from the Philippines, kitsunes, undines, oak things, and every type of fae from every country you can think of.  This book has at least one story for everybody and is my happy place faery book.  It is also chock full of authors who's other books I am now eager to read which makes it a win for every body.

What is your go to faery book?  What book got you into a new genre?  Do you believe in faeries?

Shadows Of Faries

I have this book for a couple months and was just waiting for the right time to read it, I really wanted to get the full environmental experience, cozy blanky, comfy reading chair, hot cider/glass of wine, and time to actually read!  I finally got it all together on a regular basis and got to read the much anticipated The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente and perfect illustrations by Ana Juan.  This book is the sequel to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making which immediately earned a spot on my forever favorites bookshelf.  As with all sequels I was a little nervous, a little excited and a lot curious.  To see what happened read on as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

These books are a little hard to sum up as far as plot goes because so much of the book is words and imagery, but I will give it my best shot at a bare bones idea, and you will just have to go read it to get the full effect.  We find our girl September turning 13, which as anybody who as ever turned 13 knows is a big deal.  This is the age where you start your path to adulthood, but can still clearly remember being a child.  September is longing to go back to Fairyland and her friends the Wyverary A-Through-L (known as Ell) and her dear Marid Saturday.  She also misses her father who is away at war, and her mother who has to spend many an hour working on airplanes.  Eventually Saturday makes it back to Fairyland, landing in a glass forest.  She is taken in by Hreinn a group of people who can put on and take of a reindeer skin in the style of a Selkie.  They inform September that the shadows are disappearing and magic along with it.  It has gotten

so bad that they are now rationing magic in Fairyland. September figures out that the shadow she had given up in her last adventure to save a child is now ruling Fairyland-Below and is somehow stealing the shadows and magic for herself.  September acquires a new red coat (YAY!) goes through a door shaped like a girl and heads down to Fairyland-Below.  She immediately runs into the shadow of Ell and quickly meets up with the shadow of Saturday.  They both seem very similar to their unshadowed counterparts, but with a dark wild streak.  September starts her journey at the Duke of Tea and the Vicereine of Coffees family abode, here she learns about Prince Myrrh who sleeps in an unbreakable box at the bottom of the world, and is destined to rule when he is awakened.  September runs into a traveling Goblin market and acquires a friend in the shape of a DoDo named Aubergine who is skilled in Quiet Magik and a beautiful copper Watchful Dress.  September finally meets up with her shadow, the Hollow Queen who uses a creature called the Alleyman to siphon of shadows from Fairyland-Above.  The Hollow Queen and September talk about the shadows and magic.  Halloween (as the Shadow September is also called) states that she is merely freeing the shadows to live their own life, finally having choices and freedom, that fact that she is slowly killing Fairyland-Above and by proxy (since Fairyland-Below is dependent of Above) the eventual demise of Fairyland-Below does not change the

Hollow Queens mind.  September embarks on a journey to find the sleeping Prince Myrrh and goes on a spectacular adventure, culminating in meeting up with the shadow of Maud, formerly known as the Marquess, formally known as Good Queen Mallow from the first book.  Above Maud is sleeping to prevent her return to the Human World, but below her shadow is free to move around.  Taking Maude and the shadow of Iago the Panther of Rough Storms with her September enters the labyrinth and after more adventure finally awakens the sleeping Prince Myrrh.  It is discovered that he is actually Maud's son (it all makes sense in the book I promise) and he refuses to reign over Fairyland-Below just because some story says he is supposed to.  September goes back to Halloween and discovers a way to put her shadow and herself back together, but Halloween begs her not too, asking to be allowed to continue to live a separate life. A plan is made for the shadows to return to their Above counter parts on occasion, replenishing the magic and ensuring that Fairyland-Above and
Below remain magic and separate from the mundane Human world.  September also discovers that the dreaded Alleyman is the shadow of her father, brought by the Hollow Queen to try and recreate her family. September takes her fathers shadow back with her to the Human world, where she discovers her father has returned (injured but alive) from the war.  The family and shadows (well most of them anyways) reunited ends our tale...until next time.
Again a mere synopsis cannot capture even a billionth of the story, because the story does not come from a single plot, but a ton of mini stories, little adventures, quick moments, and various encounters.  This book is just as wonderful in a different way from the first one.  In the first one everything was wondrous, September had no experience with these strange worlds, but used her young and practical mind to adapt and grow.  In this book September thought she knew what to expect, but did not count on things changing in such a drastic way between visits, especially herself.  I read in an

interview with the author that she wanted to write the September series about the girl growing up, each book seen from an older perspective and I think this book shows that wonderfully.  To me September longing to go back to Fairyland, giving it the patina of nostalgia, remembering the best parts and glossing over the bad and then finding it not at all what she remembered is like going back to a childhood home and realizing that the magic apple tree is just a tree, that may have even been removed by the new owner.  As before, amidst the magic, impossible characters and stunning imagery there is a story of a little girl who is now a teenager and trying to understand what that means. Aside from September there were some other really cool things unique to this book.  In the first book September is told that she will come back once a year because she ate Fairy food.  In this book we take it one step further and many underworld myths are referenced. Especially the myths of the Greek Underworld.  Persephone and her pomegranates are mentioned several times and the tale of Orpheus is alluded to a couple of times.  The river of Lethe has been turned into the Forgetful Sea and there is even a Minotaur.

 These references were all there, relevant and usually twisted into something unique to Fairyland-Below.  The zillions (I know I'm in a big number mood today) of tiny details and characters that come together to make this a whole is perfect fodder for later imaginationing (that is totally a word, I swear).  I did find (and I felt this way about the first book too) that this book was more conducive to reading 1 or 2 chapters at a time and letting all of the glorious words and imagery sink in.  This is not a bad thing, 1) it makes the book last longer (YAY) 2) it is such a packed book that almost every word produces a whole scene in your head and if you just plow through it you will get overwhelmed.  Ok so I am rambling again, in case you can't tell I adored this book just as much as the first one, as much for its differences as for its similarities.  If you loved the first one you will love this one, if you have not read either of them, then STOP AND GO READ THEM RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! Oh and also the illustrations are again the perfect touch.  I give this book 10 out of 10 Cups of Elephant's Fiery Heart!

What was your favorite part of this book?  How excited are you for the third one?  Am I the worlds pickiest places/times to read certain books reader ever?

The Book Lover Art

I saw this piece by Karen Alibone and just fell in love

The Book Lover

I just adore the circusy/fairy/impy/booky vibe this picture gives off.  I also love that there is some color to it as well.  Happy Reading Everybody!