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

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There is the second book in a series and the main character, September, returns to fairyland for an additional adventure.

In the first book, September gives her shadow as payment to save another child from being taken to under-fairyland. September’s shadow now rules fairyland and taking all of fairyland’s shadows.

This book had many of the same great things as the previous one – September is a great and this book has some nice development with her character. I found the shadows of her friends a bit predictable and missed the fun they brought to the previous book. While this book tried to have them being fun, they just never felt the same as A-through-L and Saturday in the first book. It is darker then the first book as September sees what her shadow has done while ruling Fairyland and stealing the shadows from Fairyland above. September also dwells a bit on what will happen with her growing up since she turns 13 in this book.

The theme of growing up is interesting and I did like how it brought interesting questions but I think for me, it also was part of while this book didn’t work as well for me as the previous one. September is losing her “wild bits” as she grows up – just like the shadows are the wild bits and magical parts of their solid counterparts in Fairyland above. I missed the light-hearted and happiness that came with the previous book – and growing up isn’t all about losing the wild parts.

This book was beautifully written and enjoyable. I just missed the lighter touch the previous book had at times. 3.5 Stars.

I received this book through the Amazon Vine program.