kriadydragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kriadydragon) wrote2012-06-21 09:53 pm
kriadydragon) wrote2012-06-21 09:53 pm
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Book Review - The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairy Land in a Ship of her Own Making
For me, I find the best word to sum up this book is fascinating, because it's both the typical "kid goes to magical land and has adventures" and not really all that typical after all. If anything, it's more like commentary on kids going to magical lands. I don't want to say satirical as it didn't strike me as being a satire. It was more like "here's the truth of it depending on who you are,"... or something. Or maybe more like "here's what it really means to have adventures, and it's probably not what you think."
And if that didn't make sense, I humbly apologize. I don't want to say too much and run the risk of giving too much away, especially since this story has such a wonderful twist that I really did not see coming.
One of the things I liked most, oddly enough, was the "villain" of the story. I've come to realize that I'm a bit of a sucker for villains you can sympathize with. That is, not villains you end up liking, and not villains you can excuse, but villains with a reason for being villains, reasons which actually make you feel kind of bad for them. Not that I don't like villains whose soul person is to make everyone miserable and makes the reader want to punch them in the face. But I seem to prefer villains that remind us of what it means to be human.
I also really liked (though I'm not sure how to describe this) how fairy land wasn't all sunshine and roses and obvious. I wouldn't say the world or the story was dark, because it wasn't. The word that, for some reason, comes to mind is unapologetic - like it should apologize but it won't, because this is the way that things are. Most of which was the fault of the villain, yes, but you're also given this sense that even without the villain there are still things about fairy land that aren't always fair or always kind, that while some are better for going to fairy land others are not.
In other words, fairy land wasn't what the hero of the tale thought it was going to be - or, more accurately, it wasn't what she wanted it to be, and yet she got exactly what she had wanted. It's a coming of age tale but the kind of coming of age that I felt was more realistic, since a lot of what it means to grow up involves coming to realize some difficult truths, which the character did in spades.
And if that didn't make sense, I humbly apologize. I don't want to say too much and run the risk of giving too much away, especially since this story has such a wonderful twist that I really did not see coming.
One of the things I liked most, oddly enough, was the "villain" of the story. I've come to realize that I'm a bit of a sucker for villains you can sympathize with. That is, not villains you end up liking, and not villains you can excuse, but villains with a reason for being villains, reasons which actually make you feel kind of bad for them. Not that I don't like villains whose soul person is to make everyone miserable and makes the reader want to punch them in the face. But I seem to prefer villains that remind us of what it means to be human.
I also really liked (though I'm not sure how to describe this) how fairy land wasn't all sunshine and roses and obvious. I wouldn't say the world or the story was dark, because it wasn't. The word that, for some reason, comes to mind is unapologetic - like it should apologize but it won't, because this is the way that things are. Most of which was the fault of the villain, yes, but you're also given this sense that even without the villain there are still things about fairy land that aren't always fair or always kind, that while some are better for going to fairy land others are not.
In other words, fairy land wasn't what the hero of the tale thought it was going to be - or, more accurately, it wasn't what she wanted it to be, and yet she got exactly what she had wanted. It's a coming of age tale but the kind of coming of age that I felt was more realistic, since a lot of what it means to grow up involves coming to realize some difficult truths, which the character did in spades.
no subject
However, it will not be for everyone. It relies heavily on the reader's sympathy and its cleverness lies chiefly in its vocabulary, sharp irony and use of paradox.
Have you read the prequel (of sorts): The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland for a Little While? It is Mallow's tale.
no subject
I'm not sure if I could handle Mallow's tale. Just getting the gist of it was depressing.