The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an amazingly and gloriously smart YA.

It's not only a fun and delightful quest and beautiful flight of imagination, but it's also rife with tons and tons of literary and mythical allusions, whether oblique or referenced almost directly. It's keeping my adult brain most occupied and thrilled and slathered in smarts.

And how in the world can such a tale also be written so smoothly and cleverly that a young child can follow it without a care in the world?

Answer: Catherynne M. Valente.

Seriously, people. She writes as if her pen were Michaels fiery sword or as if she were drawing from the long-brilliant tradition of the best snarky English authors, and Valente is American. *gasp*

Shadows are magic and allow you to have magic, you know, and the lady of teas and the mister of coffees have a way of masterfully messing up your drink.

One word of warning, though. The Revels don't actually happen until the very end. Sorry for the spoilers. The rest of the book is sheer adventure.


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