The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, by Catherynne M. Valente, was published in 2016 by Feiwel and Friends. It is the sequel to The Boy Who Lost Fairyland.
Spoilers for the Fairyland series.
This final book in the New York Times-bestselling Fairyland series finds September accidentally crowned the Queen of Fairyland. But there are others who believe they have a fair and good claim on the throne, so there is a Royal Race—whoever wins will seize the crown. Along the way, beloved characters including the Wyverary, A-Through-L, the boy Saturday, the changelings Hawthorn and Tamburlaine, the wombat Blunderbuss, and the gramophone Scratch are caught up in the madness. And September’s parents have crossed the universe to find their daughter. Who will win? And what will become of September, Saturday, and A-Through-L?
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home is a delightfully perfect ending to the Fairyland series. It resolved things in ways I wasn’t expecting, and yet as I read those resolutions, I couldn’t help but think how well they fit with the characters as we knew them. September’s desire to go home warring with her desire to stay in Fairyland was perfectly resolved at the end, making such complete sense that although the series is finished, I am happily content.
I’m also glad that we got some final resolution with the Marquess, who was my favorite part of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Many things from that book were brought back and her resolution was quite sweet and a good way to resolve that character. However, I do think Prince Myrrh was a bit of a wasted character and a little pointless to include since he doesn’t do anything.
Blunderbuss the combat wombat was probably my favorite part of the book, and the description of her’s and Ell’s kiss at the end was hilarious. I also liked the fawning over Agatha Christie and the Cantankerous Derby in general.
I do think the part with September’s parents was a bit sudden and I didn’t really buy the fact that they so readily agreed with the “Let’s all stay in Fairyland!” idea, but it had a really strong Oz vibe to it, as this whole series in general has had, so I rolled with it even if it seemed a little contrived.
The Girl who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home is a perfect ending to a wonderful series, which started strong with the first book, wobbled a bit on the second and third, and hit a home-run on the fourth and fifth. This last book had a few minor things I didn’t like, but overall, this has been one of my favorite series to read and it had such a good ending that I’m not even sad that it’s over—I’m that satisfied.
Rating: 4/5
Recommended Age Range: 12+
Warnings: None.
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
“I know I ought to have come as soon as I heard Greenwich Mean Time sounding off at you, but I couldn’t stop looking at the Human section. So many books I’d never heard of! SO many titles I couldn’t understand? What’s a Wuthering? Why is it Important to Be Earnest? I am always earnest. Why would anyone not be?”
Leaf's Reviews 