The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

I just saw that this is not a stand alone which I would have expected and I'm surprised to find out there will be more. I don't know how they will possibly make another one. It ended perfectly to me.

Being a child September is quite heartless. Not all the way because she is twelve but enough that she didn't wave goodbye to her mother when leaving her to go to Fairyland on a flying leopard after the Green Wind asked her to come along with him. Unfortunately he can't get in because he has been Greenlisted because of the Marquess. She look only like a child. She chains most flying animals with iron which they are allergic too. She makes everyone be nice because if they don't they will be terribly punished.

So she's in this alone. She ventures into Fairyland and has four possible ways to go and probably because she is a little bit heartless and doesn't know what it's like to be brokenhearted she chooses to go down the path to Lose her Heart on account of the others sound to terrible. There she meets witches and by the end of her visit she's on a quest to take back a spoon from the Marquess. Along the way she meets a Wyvern who is not a dragon and is part library. He's name is A through L but is sometimes just called Ell. He can tell you anything with the letters A through L hence where he got his name. They grow into great friends.

She also meets Saturday who is a part or a child of the sea. He is an odd blue boy who is quiet yet strong whenever it comes down to anything concerning September. When he comes along is when I started letting the story take me in more. I was more transfixed on the belief that it reminded me too much of Alice and Wonderland which I was never able to read. I know I know. I'm crazy. Back to the book. Saturday and people like him are so confusing. He will see his life at different stages. His mother saw him before he was born and looked and looked for someone who looked like him. It's complicated...

The way the author tells the story is very whimsical. It kinds of reminds me of Lemony Snicket but she wasn't saying not to read it. She was just the narrator and talked about the story throughout. Sorry I can't explain it right. So anyways this book was crazy good. All she went through. It took me a little while like I said to fully immerse  myself in the book but when I did I fell in love with the characters.

I love the illustrations in this book. I love Ana Juan's style.

And that's it. I looked up the summary for the next book and it's interesting but kind of unnecessary to me. We'll see.