The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente (Fairyland #3) (audio)

September finds herself back in Fairyland, of sorts. She has landed on the moon and there finds her faithful friends, A-L and Saturday and learns that she must save the moon from a Yeti.

“There is no such thing as a people who are all wicked or even all good. Everyone chooses. But even they, even they looked at people and saw only tools. No one is a cup for another to drink from.” 

How beautifully written are these books? So lovely and musical and lyrical.  And infinitely quotable. There are so many passages that I wanted to mark and highlight but you can't really do that with an audio book. I'm going to have to buy them just for that purpose. Though I will admit that there were a few times I felt like the characters said 100 words when 10 would do.

I was happy to have the real A-L and Saturday and not just their shadows like in the last book. It was nice to have the gang all back together. It's once again a simple quest story with September encountering all manner of quirky and outlandish characters. The moon was an interesting setting and I wonder where there is to go next especially with it ending as it does.

Catherynne Valente narrates this one as she did the first. Her narration is growing on me though it is still not as good as a professional like the last book.  I think it's her voice for September. There is something about it almost like a whine that I don't like. Still she is getting better.

8 hours, 23 minutes.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente (Fairyland #2)

September longs to go back to fairyland. But when she falls into it almost by accident she finds it much changed. It turns out the shadow she lost has become Halloween, the Hollow Queen, of Fairyland-Below and who is stealing all the shadows and thus the magic out of Fairyland-Above. September sets out to find her shadow and try to set to rights what Halloween has done.

For there are two kinds of forgiveness in the world: the one you practice because everything really is all right, and what went before is mended. The other kind of forgiveness you practice because someone needs desperately to be forgiven, or because you need just as badly to forgive them, for a heart can grab hold of old wounds and go sour as milk over them.

This I enjoyed more than the first one. The first lacked a charm for me that I found here. I don't know if it was just a better mood for me, a better narrator or if it is just a better book. But I liked Fell Beneath Fairyland and September's adventures in Fairyland-Below. September encounters the shadows of her beloved friends, Saturday and A Through L who are and are not just like their counterparts. September learns with her new and growing heart about betrayal and love and what makes someone real. And that people, and yes even shadows, are not black and white characters but grey too. And also that everyone longs for something, even a shadow. I think there is a whole lot to this books beyond the surface story if you dig deep and look hard. But the wisdom is laid there on top too. It was all in all a labyrinth type story with many quirky sweet elements to it. I look forward to the next book.

 S.J. Tucker is the narrator and I am so happy they got a professional narrator for this book. As I've said before I am not a big fan of author read books and I didn't enjoy Valente as the narrator of the first book. Tucker's voice acting adds to the story and made me want to continue. I  enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit.

8 hours, 21 minutes

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente (audio)

One day September is brought into Fairyland by the Green Wind and his Leopard of Small Breezes. There she accepts a quest to retrieve a Spoon from the not very nice and very bureaucratic ruler of Fairyland and in the process she makes some very good friends and learns some very hard lessons.

Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency and the throwing of erasers. This is why we must close them up into thick, solid books, so they cannot get out and cause trouble.

I have an odd affinity for books with long titles. I don't know why but it makes them more intriguing. I had a hard time with this book though. I don't know what it was. I started it in book form and couldn't get into it, then switched to audio thinking that might help. And I guess it did. I wasn't fond of the narrator (see below) but the story is fun and sweet. It is sort of Alice in Wonderland crossed with The Chronicles of Narnia tinged with The Phantom Tollbooth and The Neverending Story. It's a modern fairytale. The illustrations in the actual book are lovely. As for the story itself, it wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. This is an infinity quotable book and I love that. But I just had a hard time with getting into this book. It was good, just not going to be one of my favorites. Still I enjoyed the story. I think it was really well written and the ending was spot-on wonderful. September is fairly sympathetic character despite the author's insistence that all children are heartless. And I found the Marquess an incredibly interested and layered character for a villain.

I'm not a fan of author read audio books. I find that while most authors can do a passable job, it's still not as good as a professional. Some authors are really good at it (see Libba Bray and Neil Gaiman) but others should just stick to their day job. Catherynne M. Valente is just okay. Her voice is too unprofessional to my liking and I think a real audio book narrator would have elevated this book to another level. Valente was just passable. I was pretty happy to find that the next book in the series has a real narrator.

7 hours,  16 minutes