The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M.Valente,  248 pages Catherynne Valente’s third novel in the Fairyland series brings the reader back to the vivid magical world she created in The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making and The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. While the second book added on to the world below Fairyland, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two adds on the sky above fairyland as September explores its crescent moon. Returning to September’s Nebraska prairie, we find her fervently preparing to be whisked back to Fairyland and to her wyverary and marid friends. 14 year old September is determined to wait with the patience of adulthood as she tries her heart at the being grown up. However, she wonders if maybe she will be too grown up for the Winds to bring her back to Fairyland as her birthday passes her by. But the Blue Wind whisks her away, although reluctantly and unexpectedly. September’s journey isn’t into fairyland proper this time but to the mysterious moon above it, full of new creatures and wonders to discover, and maybe an old friend or two as she finds a way to save Fairyland’s moon from being split in two by a vengeful Yeti. As Valente again expands upon the whimsical and sometimes dangerous world outside of Nebraska, she explores childhood, and what growing up means and what it doesn’t have to mean. Just as she explored 13 year old September’s new heart in The Girl Who Fell Beneath…, in The Girl Who Soared…, she explores the implications of growing up, defying your “fate”, and looking past appearances to name yourself, rather than letting others decide who you should be. In a way that permeates the writing style for this entire series, Valente teaches these lessons with a conspiratory tone to the reader through her self-aware narrator that does not preach, but rather uncovers for the reader and September what feels like a realization of truth rather than a lecture. Though the prose is often overly flowery and occasionally wordy to a fault, the effect is an otherworldly whimsy. However, as a book for children, the structure can get overly complicated. It would be easy for even an adult to get lost in Valente’s twists and turns in prose. When this book gets it right, it is spot on; however, when it loses focus it seems trite and the whimsy overdone. Thankfully, The Girl Who Soared… gets it right 85% of the time, but it is the weakest book in the series. The moon just does not capture the same wonder that Fairyland and Fairyland Below do in the first two books of the series. It is more of a series of encounters with the fanciful world rather than a whirlwind tour. Maybe that is the consequence of growing up for September and her reader, that what seemed so wonderful lacks a little luster now. However, the book does make its comebacks throughout to just enough hold onto the wonderful world built by Valente. Children will especially identify with September’s struggle to find out who she is and how to determine that as she starts to grow up. And with a striking cliffhanger ending, it is worth reading as a prelude to September’s next journey. That may be the function of this book; it is a long exposition for what Valente has set up to be an exciting journey in the next chapter of the Fairyland saga.