The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Catherynne M. Valente
247 pages
Released: May 2011
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: library
★★☆☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

You're going to have to take my (admittedly short) review of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making with a grain of salt because even though I didn't like it, there are thousands of others who have absolutely loved it.  I wouldn't be mentioning it all with this rating if it weren't for the fact that it was voted for in my "What's Next" segment last Thursday... I figured maybe some of you would want to know how I felt about this book.

I think what surprised me the most about the book was the actual "ship of her own making."  The title kind of implies that September would be circumnavigating fairyland in her ship throughout the novel and while she does travel, the ship itself doesn't show up until near the end of the book.  I was beginning to wonder if it would show up at all!  I did think it was clever how she made her own ship, though.  It was probably my favorite moment in the book.

Catherynne M. Valente is a good writer, her language is very imaginative and fantastical, but my problem with the book was that I felt like the flowery language overshadowed the plot of the book.  Very simply, this is the reason I didn't entirely enjoy this book.

Two stars.  Like I said, take this with a grain of salt.  Everyone and their brother on Goodreads has really enjoyed this novel, but ultimately it wasn't for me.  I do think the odds of you liking it, however, are pretty good, so go give it a look.