The Boy Who Lost Fairyland
2015 • 235 pages
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
When a young troll named Hawthorn is stolen from Fairyland by the Red Wind, he becomes a changeling – a human boy -- in the strange city of Chicago, a place no less bizarre and magical than Fairyland when seen through trollish eyes. Left with a human family, Hawthorn struggles with his troll nature and his changeling fate. But when he turns twelve, he stumbles upon a way back home, to a Fairyland much changed from the one he remembers. Hawthorn finds himself at the center of a changeling revolution--until he comes face to face with a beautiful young Scientiste with very big, very red assistant.
Series
5 primary books7 released booksFairyland is a 7-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2011 with contributions by Catherynne M. Valente.
Reviews with the most likes.
What a pleasant surprise! My initial outrage over the interruption of our story turned quickly into delight. Admittedly, I'd grown a bit tired, by the last book, of the same old, same old. This book approaches things from a different angle. That in itself ends up being a wonderful thing, but even more wonderful is the return of the imaginative storytelling—and creative and whimsical prose—that captivated me in the first place.
My terrible internet ate my review of this book (thanks, Comcast. I hope Catherynne Valente reinvents you as a horrible, inept beast-thing.)
Valente takes this moment to take a hiatus from the plot and September. It's an odd choice in the penultimate book of a five book series. It works in that by backing off to a new character, she recaptures some of the wonder and joy that makes the Fairyland series so special. And by sticking her Changelings into the Real World, Valente gets a chance to play with a different kind of fantasy, which is a great deal of fun. But I must admit I was less invested for the absence of September. Also, great swathes of this book feel quite rushed; it reads more like a novella than anything else.
The summation of my opinion is of course heavily swayed by Valente's bottomless imagination, which is still on full display here, with a post office staffed by Benjamin Franklins, delivering changelings; every type of tree imaginable, a knitted combat wombat and much more. Valente is a true master...but, as much as it pains me to say it, the early parts of the series were better.
