Friday, February 20, 2015

Blog Tour: Review of The Boy Who Lost Fairyland + Giveaway


As many of you guys probably know, Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland series is one of my favorite middle grade series, and I'm so excited to celebrate the release of The Boy Who Lost Fairyland that I wanted to share my review and give a copy away to one lucky winner.  If you're worried about spoilers for The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, or The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon In Two, just click on the title of the books to see my reviews.  If you want to check out the full blog tour schedule, go .

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When a young troll named Hawthorn is stolen from Fairyland by the Golden 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.

Time magazine has praised Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland books as "one of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century." In this fourth installment of her saga, Valente 's wisdom and wit will charm readers of all ages.

(Summary from GoodReads)

I have to admit that I was dubious upon hearing that the newest Fairyland book featured new characters.  Even though it’s book four of the series, Valente’s writing is still charming, lovely, and poignant.  I loved how Valente introduced the concept of changelings and The Boy Who Lost Fairyland had some great set-up for book five, even if at times the plot did get a tiny bit confusing.

The Boy Who Lost Fairyland starts off differently from other books in this series—it actually begins in Fairyland.  You would think relating to Hawthorn would be hard since he’s a troll, but that wasn’t the case for me.  He lives in the human world and has a lot of human experiences.  I slightly preferred Tamburlaine, though, because she was so self-assured and lived in a houseful of books.  

There were a few moments when I struggled with the plot threads of this story, but it all tied up brilliantly in the end.  Some fantastic new magic is introduced in this book, and I loved seeing how that played out.  Plotwise, though, I loved the last two chapters because of the set-up for the next book, which I expect will be beautiful and heartbreaking and epic.  

Fairyland and Valente still have me under their spells.  The Boy Who Lost Fairyland introduces memorable characters and wonderful magic.  Valente’s latest is exactly what the second to last book in a series should be: it made me want to spend just a couple more minutes in this world, and made me desperately crave book five. Disclosure: I received a digital galley of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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To celebrate the release of The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, I'll be giving a copy to one lucky reader.  If you're interested, check out the rules and fill out the form below.
*One reader will win a hardcover copy of The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente.
*You must be 13 years of age to enter.
*Open to U.S. only.
*Giveaway will close on March 6th at 11:59 p.m.

11 comments:

  1. I don't know about Winterspell but I'm really looking forward to reading The Boy Who Lost Fairyland. I originally thought that the Fairyland series was only going to consist of three books. You can imagine how excited I was when I discovered last fall that there would be two more books. The books are works of art...inside and out.

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  2. I was so excited when I heard that there would be more Fairyland books! Cat Valente is a wizard with words.

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  3. So excited to see this series continue!

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  4. I love love love this series I have in,y read the first one so far but my secret valentine just got me all the others so this would competel my collection. I an nuts over all things FAE!! It's also nice to read MG now and then teens can be so melodramatic in YA.
    ❤️Britt

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  5. My cousin loves this series so I'm entering for her. :)
    Mary G Loki

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  6. I love the Fairyland Series, and I 'm excited to see how this new direction of the series turns out.

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  7. I'm so excited for this book! (No, like, literally. I honestly gasped when I saw someone was giving it away!)I loved reading about September and her wyverary. I'm interested to see who this new character is and how the series will continue. Thanks for such a great giveaway!

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  8. I'm excited about the release of the new Fairyland book but I'm also really enjoying being introduced to all the great blogs on this tour. Thank you.

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  9. I didn't love the third book as much as the first two, but I'm looking forward to this one!

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  10. I'm excited that I'm not the only troll trapped in a boys body.

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  11. Very excited for the latest Fairyland book!

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